The Thai government has ambitious plan to further promote the use of biodiesel. However, there has been insufficient consideration on the environmental effects of oil palm expansion in Thailand. This paper focuses on the effects of oil palm expansion on land use. We analysed the direct land use change (dLUC) and indirect land use change (iLUC) caused by the oil palm expansion and its effects on ecosystem services supply. Our analysis shows that between 2000 and 2009 dLUC related to oil palm expansion was more prevalent than iLUC.

Conflicts persist between forest dwelling communities and advocates of forest conservation. In Thailand, a community forestry bill and national park expansion initiatives leave little space for communities. The article analyzes the case of the predominantly ethnic Black Lahu village of Huai Lu Luang in Chiang Rai province that has resisted the threats posed by a community forestry bill and a proposed national park. The villagers reside on a national forest reserve and have no de jure rights to the land.

The desperate search for ways to combat climate change gives rise to new mitigation policies and projects, with questionable impacts on people and the environment. Among these mitigation projects is the increasing support of large-scale ‘sustainable’ forestry plantations as part of the broader Clean Development Mechanisms. This paper discusses several problems that may arise from such plantation projects, especially the missed mitigation potential through the involvement of local actors in protecting biodiverse forests.

Cambodia has long had a difficult mix of resource wealth and weak land governance, a function of its legacy of enduring postwar conflict and neoliberal development policies of the 1990s. Since 2012, however, its government has undertaken a series of self-described ‘deep reforms’ aimed at overcoming the poverty, land conflict, and unequal rural landholdings created during the 2000s, when over 2 million hectares of economic land concessions were allocated to private companies.

Conservation Agriculture is a response to sustainable land management, environmental protection and climate change adaptation and mitigation. FAO promotes the adoption of Conservation Agriculture principles (minimal soil disturbance, permanent soil cover and crop rotations) that are universally applicable in all agricultural landscapes and cropping systems.

本《可持续土壤管理自愿准则》在全球土壤伙伴关系框架内通过一个包容性进程编制。准则旨在用作参考，为投入其中的广大利益相关者提供可持续土壤管理方面的一般性技术和政策建议。准则已在全球土壤伙伴关系第四届全体会议（2016年5月25日，罗马）上获得通过、在粮农组织农业委员会第25届会议（2016年8月29日，罗马）上获得批准并在粮农组织理事会第155届会议（2016年12月5日，罗马）上获得最终批准。

The aim of the practical guidelines presented in this document is to support the adoption and usability of the criteria and indicators (C&I) for Sustainable Management of Forests and Rangelands (SFRM) adopted by the 22nd Session of the Near East Forestry and Range Commission (NEFRC). The guidelines are based on the review of existing literature and on consultations with national experts and relevant institutions in Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia regarding challenges identified in the use of the prop osed C&I for SFRM.

This issue contains stories on country level activities and news and updates on events, publications and trainings relater to the gender work in FAO in Asia and the Pacific. There is a report on FAO's contribution to the Sustainable Development Goal Five (SDG5) and a feature article on Isan Indigenous Thai Silk Yarn production.

To meet growing population demands for food and other agricultural commodities, agricultural land-use intensification and extensification seems to be increasing in the Abbay (Upper Blue Nile) basin in Ethiopia. However, the amount, location and degree of suitability of the basin for agriculture seem not well studied and/or documented. From global data sources, literature review and field investigation, a number of agricultural land suitability evaluation criteria were identified.