"This study highlights lessons from recent policy, law and practice to improve and secure access to rural land for poorer groups. It focuses on Africa, Latin America and Asia, while also referring to experience from Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Land is the repository of memory and keeps traces of the past in the absence of a strong written tradition. It is perceived as an open book from which anyone can read and learn about local history: place names, old roads, legends and stories attached to places.

This document summarizes the materials and methods used to create a series of maps of irrigated areas of the world using remote sensing approaches. These maps are complementary to existing statistics (FAO-Aquastat) and the GISderived maps (FAO/University of Frankfurt Global irrigated area map).