Could more efficient use of energy have an impact on poverty alleviation? What changes in energy use patterns are likely to generate the greatest benefits for the poor? What are the constraints on the uptake of energy efficiency measures? Can they be overcome?

In 2002, Forest Trends reported that in recent decades governments had begun to reduce their legal ownership and control of the world’s forests. This document evaluates whether this forest tenure transition continued in the 2002–2008 period, and assesses the implications of statutory forest tenure change for forest people, governments, and the global community. The report is based on the monitoring of governments’ data on formal and legal tenure by the Rights and Resources Initiative. The authors find that the transition did continue in the 2002–2008 period.

The corporate social responsibility (CSR) agenda has been a part of the global debate on socio-economic development for many decades. Countless claims have been made that CSR can contribute towards more inclusive development and the alleviation of poverty. This briefing examines the concept and role of CSR in the mining industry of South Africa. The mining case study reviewed here demonstrates that key implementation challenges are a lack of co-ordination and alignment with the government’s development plans, at both national and local level, coupled with weak monitoring and evaluation.

This report identifies the challenges that African legislators face in overseeing their countries’ oil and mining industries, as well as best practices in use around the world and recommendations for future engagement. The report finds that international organisations, local advocacy groups, and multinational corporations have played a key role in increasing public access to information and awareness in government oversight. Also, a growing number of African legislatures are more active in the management and oversight of the extractive sector.

In the natural resources sector, laws are often formulated to regulate the relationship between men and the environment. Ideally, the law can play a vital role in regulating and protecting communities from adverse environmental and social impacts of mining, loss of land, biodiversity and natural wealth, as well as other human rights violations. Almost all countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have developed laws and institutions to regulate and monitor the extraction of mineral resources and their impact on the environment and people.

Although the historical focus on tenure reforms has resulted in some important improvements in the livelihoods of forest communities, it has not prevented them from suffering social exclusion and impoverishment.

The Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region has valuable and diverse coastal and marine resources, but much of its natural capital is either threatened or declining. The WIO encompasses rich diverse tropical and subtropical areas along the coastlines of Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and South Africa. This region also comprises vast oceanic areas and the island states of Madagascar, Seychelles, Comoros, Mauritius and Réunion. This paper focuses on the marine and coastal governance of mainland states in the region.

This article focuses on lessons about desertification and the potential of trees as part of the solution, drawn from a specific rural situation in the Sahel, that of Keita, Tahoua Department, the Niger. Author provides observations and conclusions based on the direct experience over almost 15 years in Keita.Article describes the forces that left the district classified as marginal land with no hope of rehabilitation and the lengthy process by which the land had been rehabilitated.

In the natural resources sector, laws are often formulated to regulate the relationship between men and the environment. Ideally, the law can play a vital role in regulating and protecting communities from adverse environmental and social impacts of mining, loss of land, biodiversity and natural wealth, as well as other human rights violations. Almost all countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have developed laws and institutions to regulate and monitor the extraction of mineral resources and their impact on the environment and people.

Water projects have, arguably, the greatest potential to create conflict in development programmes. Not only is water central to health, sanitation and agrarian livelihoods but it can contribute to other conflict dynamics such as land or grazing rights. Applying conflict-sensitive programming to water projects, therefore, seeks to minimise the potential for fuelling conflict whilst looking to maximise the potential positive impact of the development. This paper details the experience of applying conflict-sensitivity to two water projects in Uganda.

This paper presents a meta-analysis of what drives deforestation and what stops it. The researchers find that forests are more likely to be cleared where economic returns to agriculture and pasture are higher, either due to more favorable climatological and topographic conditions, or due to lower costs of clearing forest and transporting products to market. It is argued that timber activity, land tenure security, and community demographics do not show a consistent association with either higher or lower deforestation.

This paper initially highlights the general characteristics of rangelands and pastoral production systems of the Tibetan Plateau.The article finds that:given the realities of life in a heterogeneous and marginal environment, the issue of secure resource tenure, both customary and legal, is fundamental for effective rangeland managementa simple shift in tenure from the communal (traditional and subsistence) to individual household level (ranching and commercial) will not be enough to facilitate a change in behaviour toward "rational" livestock operationsmany institutional mechanisms must be