Geospatial datasets and analysis techniques based on geographic information systems (GIS) have become indispensable tools in the planning, implementation and evaluation of a wide range of development programmes, including actions addressing sustainable agriculture and rural development. The growing volume of spatially explicit environmental information, combined with the widening utilization of GIS, allows ecological and socioeconomic factors to be integrated more fully into the decision-making process, thus laying the foundation for a holistic approach to development.

This new guide describes the application of spatial technology to improve disaster risk management (DRM) within the aquaculture sector. DRM requires interrelated actions and activities to ensure early warning, prevention, preparedness, response and recovery for a wide range of natural, technological and complex disasters that can impact aquaculture operations and livelihoods.

Este manual tiene como objetivo familiarizar a los usuarios de la herramienta FAO-ASIS País con la conversión de datos del Sistema de Información Geográfica (SIG) a los formatos adecuados para alimentar la herramienta.

Forest landscape restoration (FLR) requires a long-term commitment from a range of stakeholders to plan the restoration initiative collaboratively and see it through successfully. This is only possible when the people involved – whether they are landholders, indigenous groups, government entities, non-governmental organizations or other crucial actors – come together to define common goals and monitor progress toward those goals.

This volume examines and evaluates the impact of international statebuilding interventions on the political economy of conflict-affected countries over the past 20 years. It focuses on countries that are emerging, or have recently emerged, from periods of war and protracted conflict. The interventions covered fall into three broad categories:

Since 1990 at least eighteen violent conflicts have been fuelled by the exploitation of natural resources. In fact, recent research suggests that over the last sixty years at least forty percent of all intrastate conflicts have a link to natural resources. Civil wars such as those in Liberia, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo have centred on high-value resources like timber, diamonds, gold, minerals and oil. Other conflicts, including those in Darfur and the Middle East, have involved control of scarce resources such as fertile land and water.

The recent Secretary General’s “Report on Peacebuilding in the Immediate Aftermath of Conflict” warns of the threats posed by the failure to restore state authority to lead the peacebuilding process in early post‐conflict situations. This report advocates for coherent and well coordinated early action to support post‐conflict governments to build core state capacities that will help to restore legitimacy and effectiveness. This paper lays out a framework for reconsidering the unique challenges post‐conflict contexts pose to processes of state capacity development.

The 1990s saw a constant increase in international peace missions, predominantly led by the United Nations, whose mandates were more and more extended to implement societal and political transformations in post-conflict societies. However, in many cases these missions did not meet the high expectations and did not acquire a sufficient legitimacy on the local level. Written by leading experts in the field, this edited volume brings together ‘liberal’ and ‘post-liberal’ approaches to peacebuilding.

Liberal peacebuilding has become the target of considerable criticism. Although much of this criticism is warranted, a number of scholars and commentators have come to the opinion that liberal peacebuilding is either fundamentally destructive, or illegitimate, or both. On close analysis, however, many of these critiques appear to be exaggerated or misdirected.

This Scoping Mission Report, aimed at identifying the key land policy and land tenure reform issues and processes facing Sierra Leone, is based on extensive consultations with a wide range of stakeholders and review of available literature, undertaken in July 2009. It was commissioned by the Recovery for Development Unit of the UNDP in collaboration with the Ministry of Lands, Country Planning and the Environment. It will serve the purpose of enhancing public dialogue and programme development on land reform, and to also guide the coordination of initiatives and resource mobilization.

Was the civil war in Sierra Leone (1991-2002) fought for diamonds, or was it a peasant insurgency motivated by agrarian grievances? The evidence on both sides is less than conclusive. Ibis article scrutinizes the peasant insurgency argument via a more rigorous methodology. Hypotheses concerning intra-peasant tensions over marriage and farm labour are derived from an examination of the anthropological literature.

Over the past 20 years scholars have repeatedly highlighted the complex relationship between conflict, peace and economics. It is today accepted that economic factors at the global, regional, national and local levels can promote conflict in various ways and that economic factors are therefore central in establishing a sustainable post-conflict peace. However, while the scholarly literature includes much nuance regarding the precise nature of these complex relationships, practices of peacebuilding are often far less nuanced.