Esta publicação representa a continuidade do trabalho iniciado por Magda Zanoni, no Ministério do Desenvolvimento Agrário (MDA), no sentido de discutir os riscos das plantas transgênicas para a saúde e o meio ambiente. Em sua atuação no MDA e como representante do Ministério na CTNBio, Magda dedicou esforços para chamar a atenção à importância desse debate.

This paper presents the application of the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach (SLA) to forest-poverty linkages and the analysis of the main issues that are raised for the Forestry Outlook study. The LSP Sub-programme on access to natural resources initially intended to begin its work in support of the FOWECA project with a regional desk study. However, with Forest - poverty linkages in West and Central Asia 2 sparse literature available, a decision was made to focus the initial work on Kyrgyzstan given the experience of the Collaborative Forest Management (LSP Working Paper 13).

Food systems are being transformed at an unprecedented rate as a result of global economic and social change. Urbanization, foreign direct investment in markets of developing countries and increasing incomes are prime facilitators for the observed changes, while social changes, such as the increased number of women in the workforce and rural to urban migration, provide added stimulus.

En este número nos proponemos estudiar la Asociación Mundial de la Bioenergía y la importante labor llevada a cabo por esta entidad en colaboración con gobiernos y organizaciones internacionales para establecer unos indicadores de sostenibilidad destinados a los proyectos bioenergéticos. También informaremos sobre «Alimentos para las ciudades», una iniciativa integrativa orientada a coordinar las actividades de la FAO en zonas urbanas y periurbanas, y a compartir con otras organizaciones internacionales y de la sociedad civil las mejores prácticas realizadas en este ámbito.

In this issue, we discuss the Global Bioenergy Partnership and the important work it is undertaking - in collaboration with governments and international organizations - to establish sustainability indicators for bioenergy projects. We also report on the Food for the Cities Initiative, an integrative approach to coordinating FAO's activities in urban and peri-urban areas and sharing best practices with other international and civil society organizations. Finally, we introduce the new water report: Climate change, water and food security.

Methods for the collection and analysis of wood product data in Niger are discussed in this country report. It is organised in two main sections: The country's wooden resources and their potential uses and the analysis of past, present and future trends with their respective subsections. A conclusion is given demonstrating the effects of wood fuel use at the economic, social and environmental levels.

Dans ce numéro, nous examinerons le Partenariat mondial sur les bioénergies et le travail important qu’il a entrepris – en collaboration avec les gouvernements et les institutions internationales – pour formuler des indicateurs de durabilité pour les projets de bioénergie. Nous nous intéresserons aussi à l’Initiative ‘Aliments pour les villes’, une approche intégratrice pour coordonner les activités de la FAO dans les zones urbaines et périurbaines et pour partager les bonnes pratiques avec d’autres organisations internationales et de la société civile.

The policy provised for the vision and startegic direction of the national human settlement. 

An Act to dissolve the Registrar of Buildings, to reconstitute the National Housing Corporation and to provide for related or consequential matters.  

This paper presents a method to optimise the calibration of parameters and land use transition rules of a cellular automata (CA) urban growth model using a self-adaptive genetic algorithm (SAGA). Optimal calibration is achieved through an algorithm that minimises the difference between the simulated and observed urban growth. The model was applied to simulate land use change from non-urban to urban in South East Queensland’s Logan City, Australia, from 1991 to 2001.

One of the major consequences of expansive urban growth is the degradation and loss of productive agricultural land and agroecosystem functions. Four landscape metrics—Percentage of Land (PLAND), Mean Parcel Size (MPS), Parcel Density (PD), and Modified Simpson’s Diversity Index (MSDI)—were calculated for 1 km × 1 km cells along three 50 km-long transects that extend out from the Adelaide CBD, in order to analyze variations in landscape structures. Each transect has different land uses beyond the built-up area, and they differ in topography, soils, and rates of urban expansion.

China is rapidly urbanizing and will inevitably face trade-offs between promoting economic growth through further urbanization and protecting fertile farmland against accelerated urban expansion. This paper presents how this dilemma is being addressed in one of the most rapidly urbanizing regions in China, the Pearl River Delta (PRD), by means of assessing urban growth and farmland dynamic, as well as their complex relationships.