This case study draws on research that investigated the perspectives and experiences of civil society organisations with regard to access to urban land by the poor. The research was conducted by Warren Smit, commissioned by Urban LandMark. An introduction to the case study is given below. On the back of this sheet some learning and reflection activities are provided. You can do these activities on your own or in groups, as appropriate for your learning session. Look carefully at these activities before you begin so you know what to look for while you are reading.

A case-study approach is used to track research funding decisions made by the private seed sector. The three cases chosen provide a range of intellectual property protection (IPP) environments, crops, and companies, namely, (1) wheat in the United States and the European Union, (2) rootworm-resistant corn, and (3) hybrid tomatoes. The analysis suggests that IPP for US wheat is weak because growers are allowed to save seed and because breeders are responsible for the costs—both transactional and reputational—associated with enforcing those IPP rights that do exist.

This article discusses the origins of natural ecosystem patterns from global to local scales. It describes how understanding these patterns can help scientists and managers in two ways. First, the local systems are shown within the context of larger systems. This perspective can be applied in assessing the connections between action at one scale and effect at another, the spatial transferability of models, and the links between terrestrial and aquatic systems. Second, scientists and managers can benefit because they gain information about the geographic patterns in ecosystems.

In 2006, the Midwest Invasive Plant Network's Research Committee conducted a web-based survey to help identify research needs and interactions between land managers and researchers working to manage invasive plants in the Midwest. Of 192 responses, 30% identified themselves as researchers and 70% identified themselves as managers. Researchers and managers rated working together on invasive plant issues as high or medium in importance, but neither group rated the current level of cooperation as high, with over 90% describing current cooperation as low or medium.

L es gommes en général et la gomme arabique en particulier sont des produits de base qui font l’objet aujourd’hui d’un commerce international florissant et le développement de la filière des gommes au Burkina Faso pourrait contribuer à lutter contre la pauvreté en milieu rural. C’est dans cette perspective que plusieurs initiatives ont été lancées depuis la fin des années 70.

Survey of Kenya is the country's institution charged with the
responsibility of collecting, checking, storing and disseminating Land
parcel related records.
Of late efforts have been made to digitize these records and form a
database. However the majority of the records are in paper form.
Dissemination of this data, done through a search, is still manual. The
public fill a search form and pay a small fee, and the records are
reproduced to them in form of a filled and dully signed form or map or

Participatory rural appraisal techniques and a survey of 100 households were used to evaluate livestock production, and pastoral development of the Maasai in Mara. It was observed that patterns of land-use have principally changed from nomadic pastoralism to sedentary pastoralism, agropastoralism, and, in some cases, pure cultivation. These trends have adversely affected livestock production and the productive capacity of the Mara ecosystem.