Land degradation in the tropics is strongly associated with human population growth. The latter phenomenon is quite marked in humid areas and in the temperate highlands (Jahnke 1982). Notably in the plateaux of Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, several pastoral systems have gradually evolved into mixed farming, in order to cope with such pressure (Ruthenberg, 1980). Land is more intensively utilized as population density increases since mixed systems are more efficient than specialized crop or livestock systems (McIntire et al.,1992). In fact, livestock crop integration allows:

This publications presents a methodology and software for assessing carbon sequestration that were developed and tested in pilot field studies in Mexico and Cuba. The models and tools enable the analysis of land use change scenarios in order to identifyin a given area (watershed or district) land use alternatives and land management practices that simultaneously maximize food production, maximize soil carbon sequestration, maximize biodiversity conservation and minimize land degradation.

This document contains the proceedings of the Subregional Workshop on Land Water Information Systems (LWRIS) in the Caribbean, held in Barbados in October 2000. The meeting was organized by FAO Land and Water Development Division (AGL), in collaboration with the Caribbean Agricultural and Research Development Institute.

This guide on Access to rural land and land administration after violent conflicts has been prepared to assist land tenure and land administration specialists who are involved with the reconstruction of systems of land tenure and land administration in countries that are emerging from violent conflict. Providing secure access to land is particularly complex in such situations. Violent conflicts typically result in the displacement of much of the population. At the end of the conflict, people returning home may find that others occupy their property.

This conmpendium of recent sustainable development initiatives in the field of agriculture and land management has been developed as a supporting document for the Task Manager's Report on the Land and Agriculture Cluster for Chapters 10, 12 and 14 of Agenda 21. The report draws together 75 cases from over 45 countries, illustrating the many features of improved land management and sustainable agriculture and rural development.

Extensive grazing is the predominant form of land use on at least a quarter of the world’s land surface, in which livestock are raised on food that comes mainly from rangelands. Extensive grazing differs from crop or forestry production, in which the produce remains in situ whilst growing. Evaluation for extensive grazing, unlike that for cropping or forestry, must take into account the production of both grazing forage, termed primary production, and the livestock that feed on this forage, termed secondary production.

At the request of its member countries, FAO has been carrying out global forest resources assessments (FRA) since 1947, in collaboration with countries and other partners, notably the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). The global FRA reports on the worldwide status and trends of forest resources, their management and uses. It is based on nationally validated data from national forest inventories and assessments.

Issues relating to land and land reform have been moving up the agenda of rural poverty and food security in recent years with the increasing acceptance that the prerequisites for broad-based and equitable development include the essential need for people to have access to land and other natural resources. Access needs to be on an equitable basis allowing the poor and the disadvantaged, including women, to secure the assets needed for them and their families to generate sustainable livelihoods.

From the outset, the development of agriculture has been strongly associated

with women’s endeavour. In fact, women’s contribution to agriculture goes

back to the origins of farming and the domestication of animals when the first

human settlements were established more than 6 000 years ago. Over the

years, the division of responsibilities and labour within households and

communities tended to place farming and nutrition-related tasks under

women’s domain. Nowadays, in many societies women continue to be mainly

This background paper intends to highlight key issues surrounding the impact of HIV/AIDS on land, particularly at the rural household level in Southern and Eastern Africa. It also serves as an introduction to three country reports commissioned by the Sub-Regional Office for Southern and Eastern Africa of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on the impact of the epidemic on land issues. These studies are focused on Kenya, Lesotho and South Africa.

This bulletin gives an overview of the ninth session of the working party on Soil Classification and Survey of the European Commission on Agriculture that took place in Ghent, Belgium, in september 1973. It presents the papers, discussions and recommendations developed during the meeting. A methodology of land evaluation is being developed in FAO and will be used for the interpretation of the FAO/UNESCO Soil Map of the World with a view to making a global evaluation of the land resources available for agricultural development.

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW),

ratified by 175 countries, is the only human rights treaty that deals specifically with rural

women. This study, undertaken jointly by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United

Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the

International Land Coalition (ILC), analyses information on the status of rural women as provided

in selected reports to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against