Numbers can tell a compelling story. In this brochure, the numbers highlight how much we rely on productive land. Amongst other valuable  services, land feeds our families, provides fresh water and powers our future ambitions. Much of the data collected here, however, demonstrate  how close we are to pushing our relationship with the land to breaking point.

The Pacific Islands, a group of fourteen island nations in the South Pacific Ocean had been a source of low interest for the global powers, however, this seems to have changed as Asia draws increasing attention from the world economies in the 21st century. Despite geographical distance and unenthusiastic historical interaction, initiation of India’s development engagement with these island nations date back to as early as the year 1973.

This handbook is the result of collaboration between two regional RECOFTC projects – Grassroots Capacity Building for REDD+ in Asia (REDD+ Grassroots Project) and Grassroots Equity and Enhanced Networks in the Mekong Region (GREEN Mekong Program). The objective of this question and answer handbook is to support grassroots facilitators who are engaged in delivering training programs on promoting social equity in climate change mitigation, specifically in Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+).

There is a vast and unrecognized opportunity for community forestry to strengthen national resilience to climate change through diversifying rural livelihoods, increasing food security, leveraging social capital and knowledge, advancing disaster risk reduction and regulating microclimates. However maximizing the role for community forestry in climate change is an area where clear guidance and recommendations are lacking. 

Community forestry supports local level climate change adaptation by enhancing resilience in multiple ways: supporting livelihoods and income, increasing food security, leveraging social capital and knowledge, reducing disaster risks and regulating microclimates. However, adaptation planning has, by and large, not included community forestry as a viable climate change adaptation tool.

Climate change-induced agriculture failures will increase the reliance of rural communities on forest resources to make ends meet, particularly for communities with the least household assets. Women in rural communities will be especially impacted by climate change, as traditionally, they are responsible for ensuring household food security and collecting food from the forest.

Changing weather patterns, declining agricultural productivity and health impacts have already spurred adaptive responses in communities across Nepal. Local coping strategies currently being employed include: crop diversification, rainwater collection, grass cultivation in forest areas, shifting natural resource based livelihoods to livestock, seasonal migration (to urban areas), storing grain seed fodder and grasses as well as a number of practices specifically related to sustainable forest management.

RECOFTC - The Center for People and Forests with support from USAID Adapt Asia-Pacific are working to empower local women in the village of Bishnupur, Nepal to take climate action into their own hands and protect their community's vital forestry resources.

Ethiopia has implemented one of the largest, fastest and least expensive land registration and certification reforms in Africa. While there is evidence that this ‘first-stage’ land registration has had positive effects in terms of increased investment, land productivity and land rental market activities, the government is now piloting another round of land registration and certification that involves technically advanced land survey methods and computer registration.

Based on government statistics and interviews with villagers across Malawi this article argues that customary matrilineal and patrilineal land tenure systems serve to weaken security of land tenure for some family members as well as obstructing the creation of gender-neutral inheritance of lands. Data from the National Census of Agriculture and Livestock 2007and the 2008 Population and Housing Census are used to characterize marriage systems and landholding patterns of local communities. Marriage systems correspond to customary land-tenure patterns of matrilineal or patrilineal cultures.

Between 1940 and 2000, nearly 10 million housing units were constructed throughout California. This increased interaction between human and natural communities creates a number of significant socio-ecological challenges. Here we present a novel spatially explicit model that allows better characterization of the extent and intensity of future housing settlements using three development scenarios between 2000 and 2050. We estimate that California's exurban land classes will replace nearly 12 million acres of wild and agricultural lands.

Concerns the Senhuile-Senethanol investment in Ndiael, Senegal. Includes chronology of a dubious investment; social and environmental characteristics of the Ndiael area; consultation with local communities: a fool’s game; key information still missing; social and environmental impacts; corporate social responsibility projects: whitewashing or buying complacency?; conclusion and recommendations.