In recent years, prices of agricultural land have increased quickly, actually doubling and tripling in many parts of the world. This land value reassessment has been prompted by rising crop prices and perceived land scarcity. But even as the value of land rises, land degradation continues and…
Common-pool resource management is a critical element in the interlocked challenges of food security, nutrition, poverty reduction, and environmental sustainability. This paper examines strategic policy choices and governance challenges facing Cambodia‘s forests and fisheries, the most…
This paper reports on outcomes and lessons learned from a 15-month initiative aimed at strengthening collective action to address natural resource conflict in Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Lake. Employing the Appreciation-Influence-Control (AIC) model of participatory stakeholder engagement, the…
This study aims to assess CO₂ levels in China, based on the dry air column-averaged mixing ratios of CO₂ measured by the Scanning Imaging Absorption spectrometer for Atmospheric CartograpHY (SCIAMACHY) instrument on board ENVISAT and emission inventories. A land cover and statistical data set,…
South Asia is one of the most densely populated regions of the world, where despite a slow growth, agriculture remains the backbone of rural economy as it employs one half to over 90 percent of the labor force. Both extensive and intensive policy measures for agriculture development to feed the…
In situ measurements of soil moisture are invaluable for calibrating and validating land surface models and satellite-based soil moisture retrievals. In addition, longterm time series of in situ soil moisture measurements themselves can reveal trends in the water cycle related to climate or land…
We used the process-oriented niche model CLIMEX to estimate the potential global distribution of serrated tussock under projected future climates. Serrated tussock is a drought-tolerant, wind- and human-dispersed grass of South American origin that has invaded pastures in Australia, Europe, New…
Flood-prone ecosystems in South and Southeast Asia are traditionally farmed with deepwater rice followed by post-flood rice culture during the dry season. During the
flood season, the same land is inundated, creating an open-access water body subject to multiple uses by multiple users.…
Watersheds face a range of degradation challenges associated with human activities, such as pollution, deforestation and changes in sediment generation. The way they are managed has a profound cascading effect on natural resources and communities in the wider basin. Although watersheds play a…
This paper explores the potential benefits of working to improve the resilience of complex adaptive systems in agriculture and aquaculture through engaging in diverse partnerships among different types of research and development institutions, and the people in those institutions. We use five…
Reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD ) should focus on places where such emissions occur. Protected Areas (PAs) are, in theory, protected and hence, should have no emissions associated with land use/land cover change. In practice rotection is incomplete. Can PAs be…
This working paper reviews the experiences of the Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF) with 14 “small
grants for impact” that were contracted in early 2006 and operated for periods of 12 to 18 months. For a total
investment of under US$1 million – less than the equivalent of a…