The rapid sustainability assessment of Mekong electricity planning in Cambodia using Section I of the 2009 Draft Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol (2009 HSAP) was conducted by a group of Cambodian assessors from March to May 2010. A multi-stakeholder consultation and trialing was conducted in Phnom Penh on April 8, 2010.

We conducted a rapid assessment of the sustainability performance of the Thai power development plan and a number of related planning processes, focusing on the Thai plan’s implications for development of hydropower in the Mekong region. We used the August 2009 draft Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol (HSAP), which is a qualitative multi-criteria audit tool designed to be used by a wide range of interested parties.

The Basic Assessment Guide for Human Well-Being (or The BAG) focuses on the social criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management, a topic that has been the subject of considerable controversy and uncertainty. It is designed for people interested in assessing sustainable forest management, but who do not have a high degree of expertise in social sciences. The six simple methods described in this manual are designed for use by biophysical scientists with a college education.

The Grab Bag: Supplementary Methods for Assessing Human Well-being is designed to complement The BAG. The Grab Bag is designed for use by social scientists who may find The BAG overly prescriptive. The eight methods presented are either more difficult for non-social scientists to use or, in a couple of cases, can substitute for one or more method presented in The BAG. Again, The Scoring and Analysis Guide provides the user with help in making an actual assessment of the social C&I, based on the results of these methods.

The first public product of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) is its Conceptual Framework. This conceptual and analytical tool, presented here in detail, will underpin all IPBES functions and provide structure and comparability to the syntheses that IPBES will produce at different spatial scales, on different themes, and in different regions.

The diversity of C&I sets is often a cause for uncertainty and confusion, and probably one of the reasons for the still unsatisfactory acceptance of C&I as a support for implementation of sustainable forest management so far. In order to halt this erosion of confidence in C&I the presented paper evaluated the diversity of five C&I sets (CIFOR, ACM, FSC, ITTO and Tarapoto) relevant for the Brazilian Amazon by analyzing frequencies of C&I in relation to parameters about content and quality.

Who Counts Most? Assessing Human Well-Being in Sustainable Forest Management presents a tool, ‘the Who Counts Matrix’, for differentiating ‘forest actors’, or people whose well-being and forest management are intimately intertwined, from other stakeholders. The authors argue for focusing formal attention on forest actors in efforts to develop sustainable forest management.

Examines the ways in which the livelihoods of resettled households have evolved over some 28 years in response to the opportunities created by access to additional, productive land. Looks both at livelihood trajectories and outcomes in the resettlement areas and at selected contrasts between the communities of origin and the new communities. Set in a context characterized by recurring drought, policy shifts, declining public sector support, long-term demographic shifts, and the rising toll of HIV and AIDS.

A critical assessment of 22 years of land reform policies in South Africa. Concludes that land reform has been captured by elites. The most powerful voices are those of ‘emerging’ black capitalist farmers (often with non-farm incomes), traditional leaders, large-scale white commercial farmers and agribusiness corporates, who are all benefiting more than the poor.

Through the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, G8 countries are seeking to mobilise the private sector and multi-national corporations to boost African agriculture. Looks at how African countries are engaging with the New Alliance. Argues that large-scale acquisitions of land for corporate agriculture, which may result from New Alliance projects, pose a serious challenge for local markets and smallholder farmers. Underlying assumptions need to be challenged.

Includes land and food security; an overview; a short literature review (food security, governance); the impact of large scale land acquisitions on food security and nutrition (environmental and social impact assessments, national versus international investors, gender and food security, new research).

Case study includes conceptual framework, rationale for land reform in Rwanda, assessment of choices, implementation. Highlights from the thematic dialogue include discussions on participation, decision making for optimal land use, land and the rural-urban interface and livelihoods, lessons learned and challenges. Third part examines possibilities for future co-operation.