Despite ambitious desertification control programmes, the area of desertified land has expanded continuously since the establishment of the People's Republic of China, with increasingly serious impacts on important industrial and settlement areas. Only in the new millennium is a reversal of this trend in sight.

Afghanistan, Sierra Leone and Somalia: these three countries stand for different histories of a fragile state.The author of this article analyses different case studies to determine the various causes, such as the role of ethnic identities, claims to power by clans and other sub-state groups, or the lack of societal representation within the governments. For the author, the greatest risk to a state is violence, which can quickly spiral out of control in a weak state and lead to chaos.

Urbanisation and economic transformation - the growth of non-farm, industrial and service sectors - offer many opportunities for improvements in poor people's lives.The crucial challenge is to ensure that places work better for people, providing an enabling and supporting environment for changing livelihoods and economies. But all too often there is a failure to recognise and manage the urban transition, resulting in the continuing urbanisation of poverty, vulnerability and exclusion.

FAO published its Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure (VGGT) of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security in 2012. The purpose of these guidelines is to serve as reference and to provide guidance to improve the governance of tenure of land, fisheries and forest with the overarching goal of achieving food security for all and to support the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security.

FAO published its Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure (VGGT) of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security in 2012. The purpose of these guidelines is to serve as reference and to provide guidance to improve the governance of tenure of land, fisheries and forest with the overarching goal of achieving food security for all and to support the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security. The guidelines were translated into Lao and published in 2013.

This country level analysis addresses land governance in Laos in two ways. First, it summarises what the existing body of knowledge tells us about power and configurations that shape access to and exclusion from land, particularly among smallholders, the rural poor, ethnic minorities and women. Second, it draws upon existing literature and expert assessment to provide a preliminary analysis of the openings for and obstacles to land governance reform afforded by the political economic structures and dynamics in the country.

The poster presents an overview of land, livelihoods and customary practices in Nan-Pan Village, Southern Shan State, Myanmar. This poster is one of a five village case studies produced by partner organizations during field-based training on how to document customary tenure systems, supported by MRLG. 

The poster presents an overview of land, livelihoods and customary practices in Daw Taw Ku village, Kayah State, Myanmar. This poster is one of a five village case studies produced by partner organizations during field-based training on how to document customary tenure systems, supported by MRLG.

Dans les pays en développement, le secteur des combustibles bois constitue une importante source d’énergie, qu’il s’agisse du bois de chauffage ou du charbon de bois, et de moyens d’existence pour les pauvres vivant en milieu rural, aussi bien en termes de création d’emplois que de génération de revenus tirés de la vente de ces produits.

Les pays du sud et de l’est de l’Afrique sont confrontés à des pénuries alimentaires récurrentes. Pour lutter contre l’urgence alimentaire et éviter que les produits alimentaires ne quittent le pays, les gouvernements imposent des restrictions commerciales et interviennent sur les marchés. Dans ce contexte, les échanges transfrontaliers entre les zones défi citaires et excédentaires sont susceptibles de contribuer à la sécurité alimentaire régionale. Cet article est basé sur les résultats d’une étude menée dans la région frontalière entre la Tanzanie et la Zambie.

Juste après le tremblement de terre, en janvier 2010, la GTZ a lancé en Haïti un projet d'aide alimentaire d'urgence avec plusieurs partenaires. En l'espace d'un mois, environ 1 000 tonnes de vivres ont été distribuées. L'article rend compte de cette expérience et décrit les facteurs qui revêtent une importance décisive pour le succès d'une telle opération.

Pour de nombreux pays, la mise en place d’une politique rationnelle de gestion des forêts est une tâche difficile. Une des raisons à cela est que différents secteurs stratégiques (politique énergétique, politique du commerce extérieur, par exemple) sont étroitement liés à la politique de gestion des forêts et qu’il faut tenir compte des intérêts d’une multitude d’acteurs.