The ongoing processes in agriculture, and the national economy in general, as well as continuous targeted reconstruction of the European Union Common Agricultural and Rural Development Policy, and other processes of globalisation and international integration, steadily and directly resound to Latvia, and create new objectives related to the use of land. The agreement on rural development adopted during the European Union Salzburg Conference has also established or determined new functions for the use of land.

Sub-Saharan Africa is large and diverse with regions of food insecurity and high vulnerability to climate change. This project quantifies carbon stocks and fluxes in the humid forest zone of Ghana, as a part of an assessment in West Africa. The General Ensemble biogeochemical Modeling System (GEMS) was used to simulate the responses of natural and managed systems to projected scenarios of changes in climate, land use and cover, and nitrogen fertilization in the Assin district of Ghana.

The Office de la Haute Vallée du Fleuve Niger (OHVN) zone in southern Mali is a small but important agricultural production region. Against a background of environmental degradation including decades of declining rainfall, soil erosion, and human pressure on forest resources, numerous farming communities stand out through the use of improved soil and water management practices that have improved agricultural and environmental conditions. Field surveys conducted in 1998-2001 indicated that environmental and agricultural conditions have improved in the past decade.

Development projects bring tremendous changes in patterns of use of land, water, and other natural resources which leads to a range of resettlement effects. This process of economic and social dislocation most often exacerbates existing gender disparities and inequalities in affected areas. When gender differences are overlooked in project planning phase, projects are unlikely to respond to women’s need and may even have negative consequences.

This study investigates how the floristic composition and species richness of fertile grasslands in the Swiss Alps has changed over the last three decades. A total of 259 phytosociological relevés in four regions were resurveyed after periods of between 17 and 29 years. Analysis of the data revealed that floristic composition of the grasslands changed significantly during the study period, although the factor 'time' explained only a small proportion of the total variation (2.0-4.1%).

The core of this paper consists of an analysis of the forces and conducive conditions which historically have driven the drainage development of agricultural land. Such forces and conditions are recognised at three levels of discretion: (i) the generic level (ii) the government level (iii) the on‐farm level. The drainage development for salinity control of irrigated land in the (semi) arid zone is treated as a special case of drainage development driven by its own specific forces and considerations.

Agricultural practices and land use significantly influence soil carbon storage. The processes that are affected by land use and management are generally understood, but uncertainties in projections are high. In this paper, we investigate the long-term effects of chronosequential land use change from grassland to cropland and vice versa on soil carbon stock dynamics in four fields on a Swedish farm. Between 1850 and 1920, three of the fields were converted from grassland into cropland, and one was converted back to grassland in 1971.

Changes in hydrological cycle have been experienced as the result of the global climate change which may have caused undetermined increase or decrease in the location and reserve of water resources which are already undetermined in various parts of the world.

In this study, three-phase satellite images were used to define rules for the allocation of time and space in construction land resources based on a complex adaptive system and game theory. The decision behavior and rules of government agent, enterprise agent and resident agent in construction land growth were explored. A distinctive and dynamic simulation model of construction land growth was built, which integrated multi-agent, GIS technology and RS data and described the interaction among influencing agents.

SUMMARYSite and soil characteristics associated with existing plantings of whitewood (Endospermum medullosum Euphorbiaceae) were characterised across Espiritu Santo Island in Vanuatu. Two hundred, generally small (most commonly around 0.5 ha), plantations dominated by whitewood have been planted across the eastern side of the island. These plantations range up to 20 years in age and provide a guide to the expected growth rates of whitewood in plantation in those areas.

Multifunctional land use has become a widely supported pathway for Europe's countryside. Brussels and the national governments stimulate farmers to integrate primary production with non-agricultural practices from which they can also benefit. In favour of this development different stakeholders are encouraged to collaborate to produce the so-called farmer-managed public goods. This paper explores critical success factors for the production and maintenance of these public goods.