This paper examines the conversion of Indonesia’s natural forests to timber and tree crop plantations, notably oil palm. The principal aims are to understand the impact of this process on natural forest and on forest-dwelling people, and to establish whether past and present policies governing this process are meeting their objectives.

Land use changes in East Africa have transformed land cover to farmlands, grazing lands, human settlements and urban centers at the expense of natural vegetation. These changes are associated with deforestation, biodiversity loss and land degradation. A synthesis of results of long term research by an interdisciplinary team reveals the linkages between land use change, biodiversity loss and land degradation. The results indicate that as native vegetation is lost, indigenous plant and animal biodiversity and plant cover are lost.

Loggers, miners and rural communities all exploit forests in unsustainable ways in search of profits and means of subsistence. They are the primary actors in forest decline and their immediate motivations are the direct causes of deforestation and degradation. However, these motivations are determined, through complex causation chains, by deeper and much more fundamental forces: the underlying causes of deforestation. Effective action against forest decline requires an understanding of these underlying causes and their distant impacts on forests.

The methods used to value tropical forests have the potential to influence how policy makers and others perceive forest landsforestlands. A small number of valuation studies achieve real impact. These are generally succinct accounts supporting a specific perception. However, such reports risk being used to justify inappropriate actions. The end users of such results are rarely those who produced them and misunderstanding of key details is a concern. One defence is to ensure that the ultimate users appreciate shortcomings and common pitfalls.

In Colombia coffee production is facing risks due to an increase in the variability and amount of rainfall, which may alter hydrological cycles and negatively influence yield quality and quantity. Shade trees in coffee plantations, however, are known to produce ecological benefits, such as intercepting rainfall and lowering its velocity, resulting in a reduced net-rainfall and higher water infiltration.

This review has drawn on published research and the collective insights of a small team of experienced researchers to identify important trajectories in rice-based farming systems and to draw out the implications for agricultural research as a basis for discussion within ACIAR and the broader research community working on smallholder rice-based farming systems in MSEA.

Rapid land transformation driven by large scale investments is one of the big trends defining this century. In a virtual briefing for the Global Donor Platform members CIAT agriculture expert Deborah Bossio dismisses the cry for more investments often heard in development circles. From her perspective a lack of investments is not the problem. The more pressing question is whether these large scale investments could be sustainable and socially inclusive. How are they going to play out in the end?

The presentation looks at the current status of river systems of India from a basin perspective, and review how indicators of urbanization, such as demographics and migration, infrastructure development, growth of cities and towns, development of urban agglomerations, provision of utility services and land-use changes, have impacted the life of rivers.