Ahead of a seminar in Brussels, Andrew Hilton, an FAO expert on land tenure, underlines the need for open dialogue with the private sector when implementing the Voluntary Guidelines.

The purpose of this brief is to share insights on agriculture and NAPs with national-level decision makers in developing countries and Least Developed Countries (LDCs), multilateral agencies, UNFCCC negotiators and donors. This brief explores how countries are overcoming the biggest challenges in developing NAPs, outlines examples of successful cross-sector adaptation planning, explores influence and leverage necessary for successful NAP processes, and offers specific recommendations.

Central Asia is often associated with
the silk route or road, the longest overland trade route
connecting China to Europe and one of the oldest in history.
Growth opportunities and the future prosperity of the region
are highly dependent upon the efficiency of its internal and
external supply-chain connections, which is the focus of
this report. Supply-chain connectivity depends on the
quality of the infrastructure on specific routes. This study

This paper uses resource-based cereal
equivalent measures to explore the evolution of China's
demand and supply for food. Although demand for food
calories is probably close to its peak level in China, the
ongoing dietary shift to animal-based foods, induced by
income growth, is likely to impose considerable pressure on
agricultural resources. Estimating the relationship between
income growth and food demand with data from a wide range of

A data set of key macro-sustainability
indicators, constructed after several fact-finding missions,
and World Bank methodologies on estimating wealth accounting
are used to study Mauritania's wealth, which is
estimated to be between USD50 and USD60 billion. The
country's produced wealth represents roughly 12 percent
of total wealth, much less than in lower-middle-income
countries; by contrast, natural wealth represents

This paper presents a somewhat novel
approach to explore the economic contribution of ecosystems.
It develops linked models to capture connections between
resource stocks and flows and the resulting microeconomic
and macroeconomic impacts. A bioeconomic model is developed
that is imbedded into a computable general equilibrium (CGE)
model. Incorporating imperfect regulation, the bioeconomic
model characterizes optimal policies, while the CGE model

This paper reports on a randomized field
experiment that uses price incentives to address economic
and gender inequality in land tenure formalization. During
the 1990s and 2000s, nearly two dozen African countries
proposed de jure land reforms extending access to formal,
freehold land tenure to millions of poor households. Many of
these reforms stalled. Titled land remains the de facto
preserve of wealthy households and, within households, men.

In Lao People's Democratic Republic
(PDR), the value of trade has risen rapidly over the last
decade with both imports and exports increasing by average
annual rate of 24 percent. This report examines the trade
logistics of Lao PDR. A trade and transport facilitation
assessment was performed using a standardized toolkit and
methodology developed by the World Bank to evaluate the
quality of the logistics services. The assessment focused on

This report evaluates the requirements
for an assessment of climate change impacts on agriculture
to guide policy makers on investment priorities and phasing.
Because agriculture is vital for national food security and
is a strong contributor to Brazil's GDP growth, there
is growing concern that Brazilian agriculture is
increasingly vulnerable to climate variability and change.
To meet national development, food security, climate

Since 2004, Sri Lanka has pursued inward
looking policies that have encouraged import substitution,
especially with respect to agricultural commodities. This
report provides empirical evidence to inform the policy
dialogue over the impact of current trade and price policies
on the incentive framework for agriculture in Sri Lanka.
This analysis provides a quantitative assessments of: (1)
the level of support to farmers producing import-competing

Yet the current situation differs from
2007-2008 in critical respects. First, recent international
price increases are more widespread across agricultural
commodities than in 2008, when price spikes were led by few
grains such as wheat and rice. Second, natural resources are
affecting food production: land and water constraints are
more binding than in the past and weather induced production
shortfalls are more of a factor now than it was 2008.