The most important international a world-level document defining the policy of protecting land and soil is the UN Convention «On combating desertification/land degradation in countries experiencing drought and/or desertification». Latvia acceded to this Convention in 2002, undertaking to implement it requirements. With the introduction of the Convention, it is necessary to develop a national action program for restriction of land degradation, as well as develop new legislation and a long-term policy.

The objective of this study implemented in the Peruvian Amazon around the city of Pucallpa was to determine possible use of Inga edulis to control some weed species (e.g. Imperata brasiliensis) and how different agricultural practices influence weed occurrence. The study evaluated four treatments as follows: (1) natural fallow; (2) cropping system with cassava; (3) planted fallow with Inga edulis; (4) planted fallow with I. edulis and kudzu (Pueraria phaseoloides). Weed biomasses were measured at 3, 6, 9, 13, 17, 20, 24, 28 and 32 months after fallow initiation.

The article considers the role and importance of the borderline position of the Belarusian-Lithuanian region, which influences the transformation processes of territorial structures. Particular attention is paid to the areas of coordinated activities on the formation and functioning of transboundary protected natural areas, as well as spatial planning activities for the sustainable use of their constituent natural complexes. The resulted results of researches are received within the limits of realization in 2014-2015.

In urban areas, infrastructure projects to improve the living environment, such as construction of roads and parks, have been carried out by modifying and abolishing agricultural land. The majority of these projects are land readjustment projects, under which agricultural land is appropriated and replaced with reduced substitute land. The author took up the case of a land readjustment project and the cultivation of pears in Enokido, Yanokuchi, Inagi in order to investigate the effect of such projects, which aim to secure land for public use, on urban agriculture.

Urbanization is a major threat on biodiversity due to the direct destruction of natural and semi-natural habitats and to the indirect impacts caused by urban areas beyond their limits. In this study, we proposed a methodological framework to assess the potential impacts of current and future urbanization on high diversity sites and their associated species across the entire French Mediterranean region. Using a 100 m grid cell, we adapted a land-use change (LUC) model to project future urbanization over a 20 years period.

The recent increase in the number of tourists has raised serious concerns about grassland degradation by tourism activities in Inner Mongolia. Thus, we evaluated the effects of tourism activities on the vegetation and soil in Hulunbuir grassland. We identified all the plant species, measured the number and height of plants and plant coverage rate, calculated species diversity, and estimated above-ground biomass in the used plot and the non-use plot. We also examined soil hardness, and soil physical and chemical properties in both plots.

Rwanda is currently in transition from a period of emergency to one of development following the 1994 war and genocide. Before the tragic events of 1994, the Agricultural Statistics Division (DSA) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Resources and Forestry (MINAGRI) maintained a comprehensive database of agricultural statistics. The DSA was responsible for providing information on agricultural policy based on annual surveys of rural households. These surveys, which were interrupted in 1994 were resumed in 1999 by the Food Security Research Project (FSRP) and the DSA of MINAGRI.

After a previous description of pasture utilization in Sierra de Guara Natural Park, eight sheep farms were selected for a study of the relationships between farming systems and land use at the farm level. They were representative cases obtained from a previous typology based on criteria of technical management and pasture use. After a detailed description of the system, a SWOT analysis was carried out in order to identify the main factors involved in farm continuity and sustainability of land use.