A large-scale project – “The Stalin plan to transform nature" of 1948 changed the landscape of the Orenburg region. Inthe second half of the twentieth century in the region laid the foundations for the modern scheme of agroforestry frame. Thebasis of agroforestry frame of the Orenburg region became the State protective forest strip in the direction of the Vishnevayamountain – Chkalov – Uralsk – Caspian sea along the banks of the Ural river, a distance of about 1080 km. Treeless areas(less than 1%) mainly concentrated in the east region with average extent of forest cover of 0.5%.

This paper attempts to provide an interdisciplinary concept of the bio-economy in the context of environmental changes in the Polish agriculture. Various definitions of bio-economy have been presented and its place in the sustainable development theory has been described. The aim of this paper is to present the environmental changes in Polish agriculture in the context of the bio-economy. For this purpose uses the information published by the Central Statistical Office and Eurostat. To showcase and presentation methods were used descriptive and tabular.

Vietnam has pilot-tested a payment for forest environmental services (PFES) program in an effort to restore and protect forest areas, some of which have been severely degraded by the excessive cutting of trees by small-scale farmers planting annual crops on steep, sloping lands. The pilot program implemented in southern Vietnam seems to be successful, yet the program in northern Vietnam has not produced the desired rates of planting and maintaining forest areas.

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.

Este documento es el resultado final de ese proceso. Dirigido a una audiencia mundial – que comprende las instancias decisorias urbanas, funcionarios públicos, asesores políticos y demás partes interesadas – contribuirá al desarrollo de bosques urbanos y periurbanos que ayuden a las ciudades a resolver sus exigencias actuales y futuras de productos forestales y servicios del ecosistema.

One of the cornerstones of sustainable use of land resources is the use of land resources for the identified needs. In every country it is needed to list the land according to the type of land use. Such function of land classification in Latvia is maintained by the classification of purpose of real property use. In a certain period of time needs of the specific purposes for which the land resources are used are changing, so the aim of this study is to research changes of areas of purpose of real property use in municipalities of Latvia.

This paper discusses contradiction between theoretical preferences for using land as an object of taxation and modest revenues collected through property taxes imposed on agricultural and forest land. The paper starts with a summary of specificities of the land as an object of the property tax; then, classical economists’ preferences for the wide use of the land tax are confronted with the comparative research finding numerous examples of exemptions and favorable treatment enjoyed by agricultural and forest land.