This is a desk appraisal of the Alliances for Religions and Conservations (ARC) done for the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) by the Department of International Environment and Development Studies, Noragric, at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU).

For 25 years, agricultural growth has been a key source of the growth in Pakistan's GDP, but the momentum may be running out. Key problems include a crisis in irrigation and the government's overextended role in agriculture. An example of inappropriate government intervention is the provision of subsidies that do not help farmers, either because of rent seeking and inefficiency or because the subsidy (for wheat, for example) helps consumers at the expense of producers.

For cities to be sustainable, they need to simultaneously address the vulnerability of people, places and sectors that may be affected by a changing climate; mitigate their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions; and ensure adequate access to basic urban services such as water, food and energy to their growing populations. 

Report recommends agriculture-sector poliy objective of risk reduction, production stability, and the diversification of agricultural and non-agricultural economic opportunities in the rural areas. The most fundamental problem remains, seven years after independence, the lack of a clear policy, administrative structures and legislation dealing with land allocation, tenure and management.

Concentrates on the black smallholder farming sector. Policy objectives should include:Resource Conserving Technologies: re-orientation away from large scale farmers, consideration of goals other than high input/output (risk management, labour input, gender).

This scoping report provides context and analysis for addressing agriculture in international climate negotiations with the aim of informing climate negotiators and other stakeholders of different options and unpacking issues of interest. It observes that agriculture is characterised by a number of special features that distinguish it from other sectors, like producing food and meeting basic survival needs. Its context and site-specific nature makes uniform strategies and solutions ineffective and, unlike other sectors, it is directly affected by climate change.

This paper assess Uruguay’s greenhouse gas emissions and economic performance, in addition to reviewing policies, plans and regulations which have resulted in land use changes and new forested areas with significant implications for climate change. The paper also explores programs that can result in both socioeconomic development and an increased ability to mitigate climate change.The author stresses that the real opportunities for mainstreaming responses to climate change in national planning lie within the context of sectoral, environmental and economic policies.

Based on worldwide experience and encouraging evidence from country pilots in African countries such as Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania,and Uganda, this new report suggests a series of ten steps that may help to revolutionise agricultural production and eradicate poverty in Africa. These steps include improving tenure security over individual and communal lands, increasing land access and tenure for poor and vulnerable families, resolving land disputes, managing better public land, and increasing efficiency and transparency in land administration services. 

What are the dynamics of land tenure in the CAS (Conda, Ambuim, and Sumbe) area in Angola? What are its opportunities and risks? This paper reveals a denial of land access rights to communal farmers, whose livelihoods are centred on land.

The Kumasi peri-urban area is characterised by high rates of conversion of agricultural land to private housing. Kumasi, Ghana, is also situated across a major drainage divide, resulting in a range of water quality and supply problems. Collaborative DFID-funded research by Royal Holloway, University of London, with government and NGO partners in Ghana, aims to develop and pilot a sustainable co-management approach to peri- urban watersheds.

The Gujarat state government has followed a strategy focussed on industrialisation and urbanisation with an open door policy ever since its inception in 1960. Economic reform measures at the centre with an explicit emphasis on trade and industry considerably benefited Gujarat, making its economic performance outstanding. During the process of economic policy reforms and liberalisation in the 1990s, the constraints and regulation on economic activities by the centre in different segments of the economy got relaxed.

This report discusses the potential benefits of, and the current challenges for, agricultural land investment in Tanzania and Mozambique. The paper finds that there is little, if any, development potential in these investments. Indeed, the economic growth potential of investments in agricultural land is questionable due to an inadequate regulatory framework governing foreign direct investments (FDI) in the sector.