Those who led southern African states to independence promised to redress the inequalities of settler colonialism by returning the land to the people. A generation later the rural poor are still waiting. Many lack access and full rights to agricultural land and, as developments in Zimbabwe and South Africa show, they are getting angry. Where did post-independence land reform policy go wrong?

How can integrative analysis (IA) of city systems improve understanding of the links between environmental and social problems? Can this analysis inform future decision- making? Collaborative research by the Australian National University and Mahidol University, Thailand, uses IA to analyse environmental problems, land use, and behaviour patterns in Bangkok. Do the roots of the city’s environmental problems lie in the nature of decision-making by stakeholders at every level, as the article suggests?

How can the process of tropical deforestation be controlled? We now know a good deal about the causes of deforestation but not its control. Research from the University of Leeds in Thailand and the Philippines fills this gap, showing that changes in the domestic political scene explain how deforestation processes have been controlled in the two countries. Environmental constraints and increases in agricultural productivity can curb the demand for farmland to some extent.