THE VISION to forge a global partnership to reverse and prevent desertification/land degradation and to mitigate the effects of drought in affected areas in order to support poverty reduction and environmental sustainability

Until now, the international community has made tireless efforts to get public attention and political action on issues of desertification, land degradation and drought (DLDD) with limited success.

Thus, the mobilization of political will and arousal of public interest and attention around the issue of climate change in particular puzzled activists and decision-makers alike, at least in the DLDD community.

The technical guide on improving the governance of pastoral lands is designed for several audiences including government and non-government actors. It covers specific challenges of pastoral tenure that are unique to pastoralism and considers how these different facets of pastoralist tenure (issues of the commons; free, prior and informed consent (FPIC); gender etc.) can be combined in a coherent approach to securing pastoral lands.

This gender-sensitive toolkit enables civil society organisations, women and communities, as well as other actors to assess each country’s current legal framework and tenure governance arrangements in line with the provisions of the VGGTS and the AU F&G.

In Nigeria, the recurring impoverishment and other negative socioeconomic impacts endured by landholders affected by expropriation are well-documented and call into question the Land Use Act’s (LUA) effectiveness in protecting local land rights. The World Bank’s Land Governance Assessment Framework found that, in Nigeria, “a large number of acquisitions occurs without prompt and adequate compensation, thus leaving those losing land worse off, with no mechanism for independent appeal even though the land is often not utilized for a public purpose”.

This publication provides practical and evidence-based guidance on how to improve women’s access to land as an essential element to achieve social and economic development and enjoyment of human rights, peace and stability in the specific context of the Muslim world. The challenges faced by women living in Muslim contexts do not substantially differ from those faced by women in other parts of the world: socially prescribed gender roles, unequal power dynamics, discriminatory family practices, unequal access to justice are the most common.

The field for application of biomass is rising. The demand for food and feeding stuff rises while at the same time energy, chemicals and other materials also need to be produced from biomass because of decreasing fossil resources. However, the biorefinery ideas and concepts can help to use the limited renewable raw materials more efficiently than today. With biorefineries, valuable products, such as platform chemicals, can be produced from agricultural feedstock, which can subsequently be further processed into a variety of substances by the chemical industry.

In order to protect the environment and creation the conditions for a good and healthy life, the construction of buildings should be sustainable. It is essential that the entire process that includes planning, design and realization, be consistent with bioclimatic principles. Allotment plan should be an integral part of the planning process because it is an instrument to control the use of construction land and prevention the negative consequences that are created by uncontrolled action of the market.

As part of the planned expansion work of the motorway A8 between Rosenheim and Salzburg and the
associated legal opportunity to develop new traffic noise protection measures, this study investigated
properties of sustainable noise abatement in a community next to the A8. A two-stage empirical survey
was conducted integrating a citizen and an expert Delphi survey. The results show that the noise from
the motorway heavily affects the quality of life in health, economic and ecological respects. Sustainable

Planning often yields only limited influence on policy making. This paper explores how planning could address this
challenge and support most effectively transitions towards sustainable landscape change. In merging insights from
sustainability science research and nine recently concluded case studies of landscape planning, the paper reflects
upon the applicability of the concept of “transition support”, discusses planning approaches and their perceived
effectiveness to induce change in landscape governance, and identifies lessons learned. The paper’s outcomes

In broader terms, the paper refers to the topic of brownfield regeneration, as one of the most complex mechanisms for sustainable spatial development. In addition to the fact that brownfield regeneration demands a variety of instruments, such as: tax subsidies, the change of land use ownership, soil remediation, planning regulative amendments, etc., the complexity of brownfield regeneration is primarily seen in a number of stakeholders participating in such a process.

This study aims at presenting a conceptual model for landscape management in the Himalayan region of India,
using quantitative/mathematical approach. Keeping in view the requirement, (based on fifteen years empirical
field work in the Himalayan region and as well as literature survey) the MODAM (Multiple Objectives Decision
Support Tools for Landscape Management) model along with linear programming approach was adopted with a
view to presenting additional methodological perspectives on interdisciplinary landscape research. The work has