The inspiration for this sourcebook came from a 2014 meeting of researchers, practitioners and policy makers in Addis Ababa under the auspices of an event co-convened by the Global Water Initiative East Africa (GWI EA), the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and the Water, Land and Ecosystems programme of the CG system. The event agreed there was a pressing need for greater regional consolidation of knowledge on improving water management for smallholder farmers.

This report addresses the challenges of land management in the Lake Victoria basin of East Africa. In 1999 the World Agroforestry Centre launched a major effort to identify, diagnose and reverse degradation in the Lake Victoria basin, focusing primarily on the Kenyan part of the basin. Dubbed “TransVic,” this project was supported by a number of donor agencies and collaborators, with particularly strong support from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).

Following from the Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture project, this book examines the relationships and linkages between land use and water management and social systems. Given that agriculture is the largest economic sector in many developing countries, this volume provides innovative ideas for the prevention of land degradation and for improving the sustainability of food production in the developing world.

This report contributes to the aim of the International Union of Soil Sciences to put sustainable land management higher on the global agenda. The report is divided into three distinct sections:Part I discusses the global soils agenda and outlines experiences and strategies for sustainable land management. It also highlights challenges related to implementing this agenda globallyPart II presents summaries of papers on the development of international mechanisms and instruments for sustainable land management (SLM).

Evaluation of LAMP in different contexts:broader change processesdevelopment thinkingcomparative analysis of different conditions of LAMP in the four districts it has been implemented inFindings include: recommending that the programme shifts focus from considering its core as natural resources management to one of support to the empowerment, mobilisation and capacity building of village communities with emphasis on natural resource managementconcentration should be on production, environment and rightstechnical assitance should shift towards capacity building and empowermentstakeholder par

The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) recently implemented climate risk management studies in seven countries. This report, commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme’s Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery, gives a detailed summary of efforts in a Niger wetland environment to conduct one such study, incorporating climate change with three key sectors: agriculture, livestock and water resources.

Drylands have potential for economic activity now markets are emerging for natural products such as aloe or gum Arabic. However it is difficult to take advantage of these opportunities because there is a lack of structure for this market. A regulatory framework providing an enabling environment for increasing investment in the sustainable use and management of land and natural resources would be beneficial.

An overlap in the regulation of access to land and resources between customary and state management systems is causing problems of contradiction and conflict. This report analyses the pros and cons of both systems and makes a series of recommendations.State administration of land is found to have worked against poorer elements in Ghana. Whilst the Lands Commission and other institutions have made some positive achievements there is no evidence of practical benefits for the majority. Compulsory acquisition has resulted in displacement, landlessness and social unrest.

Land degradation is a serious problem in Sub-Saharan Africa, where up to two-thirds of the productive land area is reported to be degraded to some extent.  Local communities suffer the most from the degradation of their land and they are therefore fundamental to the widespread adoption of sustainable land management (SLM) techniques.

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).

With the introduction of rural reforms in the early 1980s, China broke with its
collectivist past and began the arduous transition from a centrally planned to a free
market economy. The People’s Communes – the institutional basis of
agriculture under Mao – were disbanded, and communal land was
redistributed to users through a family-based ‘Household Contract
Responsibility System’ (HCRS), which offered farmers more managerial

Angola, like Mozambique, inherited its legal framework from the Portuguese Civil Code, which was not based on a traditional African concept of community occupation under customary law. With Portuguese settlement, large areas of land were appropriated for and incorporated into the colonial cadastre (the formally surveyed and officially recorded land boundaries of the land concessions granted by the state). After winning independence from Portugal in 1975 the new Angolan government, influenced by socialist principles, affirmed the constitutional role of the state as the owner of all land.