This study provides a concise overview of the information available on the land rights of indigenous peoples, with a focus on those in developing countries and countries with economies in transition. Successive chapters summarise the rights of indigenous peoples in international law and then examine how these rights are being recognised, or not, in Latin America, Africa and the Asia-Pacific.

The Hima is a traditional system of resource tenure that has been practiced for more than 1400 years in the Arabian Peninsular. With the numerous deteriorations that came and halted advancement in the Arab world, and at times for different reasons, the Hima also declined. The progressive concepts of the Hima became hav been masked by the general regression suffered in the region and the recent advances accomplished by other countries, civilizations and people.

The policy debate about the merits and demerits of biofuels is growing and changing rapidly, with concerns being voiced over their effectiveness for mitigating climate change, role in recent food price hikes and social environmental impacts. This study contributes to these debates through examining the current and likely future impacts of the increasing spread of biofuels on access to land in producer countries, particularly for poorer rural people. It draws on a literature review of evidence drawn from diverse contexts across Africa, Asia and Latin America.

There is an increasing global demand for oil palm, but its production provokes societal debate on the environmental and social aspects that surround it, particularly in southeast Asia. This study, at the request of request of the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LNV), ISRIC-World Soil Information, Alterra and Plant Research International, assessed the biophysical land suitability for the production of oil palm in Kalimantan, Indonesia.

This paper argues that legal reform of land tenure will not take place fast enough to enable developing countries to reduce carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation through REDD+. It highlights that a global agreement on REDD+ is needed by 2020, if the mechanism is to have a significant impact on mitigating climate change. However, legally defensible and enforceable land tenure rights, while a key enabling condition for effective and equitable REDD+, will not be achieved in most forest countries before this date.

This annotated bibliography provides evidence that community tenure over forests can result in more forest cover and more species-rich forests, less deforestation and degradation, and fewer fires than some other approaches to protecting forests. The authors initiated the review by identifying relevant scholarly articles published since 2002 based on interviews with experts and keyword searches of databases.

Agriculture plays an important role in climate change, both as a contributor emitting greenhouse gasses (GHGs) and as a potential reducer of negative impacts. This paper gives an overview of how current and proposed agricultural practices affect climate change and how the proposed measures for mitigation and adaptation impact agriculture. The paper states that industrial agriculture, as currently practiced with monocultures and agrochemicals in a globalised production system, is a major contributor to climate change.

This policy brief examines the role of forests for climate change adaptation in the region of Asia. It is organized into several sections. Firstly, anticipated changes to precipitation and temperature in Asia under a low and a high emissions scenario, between 2010 and 2039, are outlined. Following on from this, the key elements of Forest-Based Adaptation (FBA) are discussed and the current status of FBA in Asia is highlighted. Finally, recommendations aimed at moving forest-based adaptation forward are made.

Reports on and on-farm evaluation of hedgerow intercropping by the IRA/ ICRAF Programme in the lowlands of Cameroon, which has been in progress since 1988. Throughout the years the biophysical performance of the system was found to be inferior under farmer management on farm to that achieved on station. At the same time, farmers' interest in the technology was far below the expectations.

Environmental degradation arising from the depletion of forest biodiversity and the resulting problems of soil erosion, water shortage, climate change and poverty, have become issues of global concern.

The author begins by providing a brief overview of the concept and reasoning behind certification of forest products. She states that, at the outset, one of the aims of certification was to provide market access and other benefits for small-scale, low-impact, community run ‘eco-timber’ projects.

This report presents a collection of case studies which focus on processes of conflict management and resolution and the different ways and means that conflicts are addressed.