Deforestation in the biosphere reserves, which are key Protected Areas has negative impacts on biodiversity, climate, carbon fluxes and livelihoods. Comprehensive study of deforestation in biosphere reserves is required to assess the impact of the management effectiveness. This article assesses the changes in forest cover in various zones and protected areas of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, the first declared biosphere reserve in India which forms part of Western Ghats-a global biodiversity hotspot.

Central India hosts one of the largest repositories of archaeological sites in the world having a semi-arid climate and distinct eco-geography which is prone to rapid change due to human activities. This paper discusses the changes in land use and land cover for the past twenty-three years in the region altering the rich cultural heritage, revealing by the presence of numerous painted rock-shelter sites in the region. The land cover and land use changes in terms of deforestation, urban growth and development and sandstone mining have been evaluated in the present study.

Twenty years ago I completed my Master’s work in the Chaco forests of northern Argentina. The native forests are, in fact, rangelands. In addition to livestock grazing, there is timber extraction, wildlife harvest (think tegu lizard cowboy boots), and charcoal production. I took part in a project comparing biodiversity among production systems. A new system promised to reverse biodiversity loss and soil degradation. But it’s a moot point now since much of that forest has been cleared for cropland—the highest rate of tropical forest loss in the world.

In Central Africa, important carbon stocks are stored in natural forest stands, while activities that modify the carbon storage occur in the forest landscape. Besides clean development mechanisms, the reduction of emission through deforestation and degradation (REDD) initiative is viewed as one way to mitigate climate change. Important forest habitat protection activities have already been implemented with the aim of conserving the biodiversity of the region in a sustainable manner.

The practice of raising cattle in the Amazon has been connected to deforestation, which has been especially intense in the Eastern Amazonian state of Pará that contained 23% of new rural settlements before 2008. The settlements were part of a program of land reform that allowed farmers to receive public credit. Public credit aims to increase production and incorporation of new technologies by settled farmers, which can lead to a decrease in pressure on forested areas.

The aim of the research is to analyse the landscape structure changes from the end of the Soviet times in 1974–1986 until 2005 when market economy existed in Lithuania. The changes of landscape structure were observed in 100 sample areas (squares) each of them having 2.5 km2 area and distributed in different landscape types. The changes in sample areas (squares) with determination of land cover structure transformations were observed using topographic photos and ortophoto images at a scale 1:10 000.

Poverty and deforestation are critical issues in a number of developing countries where the policy framework is in many cases insufficient to provide rural people an incentive to afforest. This paper analyzes both the impact of land privatization on afforestation efforts of rural farm households in the Northern Uplands of Vietnam and the economic incentive of farm households on afforestation efforts. The determinants of afforestation by farm households were analyzed.

A reconstruction of land use changes and the implications thereof for landslide occurrence on critical slopes of Mount Elgon in Eastern Uganda were undertaken. Aerial photographs taken in 1960 formed the benchmark for the analysis of respective land use changes between 1995 and 2006, using 30m Landsat TM and 20m SPOT MS images. Landslide sites were mapped using a MobileMapper, and terrain parameters were derived using a 15m Digital Elevation Model.

GIS-RS techniques offer great potential for providing insights into the spatiality and temporality of the messy realties of deforestation. However, rather than positing that the land use maps produced using these novel technologies can cut through politics, it is argued that the map is merely an artifact of the broader process of land use planning which is constitutive of politics. This article critically reflects on a major land use mapping exercise that the two authors were involved with, in central Cambodia.

The aim of this paper is to discuss the role of existing policies, programmes and legislation in promoting sustainable land management and livelihoods in mid‐central Botswana. The paper is based on data from the survey of relevant literature, analysis of policy and legal documents, field observations and a series of stakeholder workshops held in the villages of Mopipi, Mokobaxane and Rakops in Boteti Sub‐District between 2008 and 2009.

It is necessary to estimate the area of afforestation and deforestation in New Zealand, since 1990, to meet reporting obligations under the Kyoto Protocol. We describe a method for national mapping of forest change that achieves high accuracy, but only requires moderate effort. A national coverage of satellite imagery is standardised, classified (automatically) for land cover, and then compared with an existing 1990 land-use map to identify polygons (>1ha) of possible forest change. Each one of these possible change polygons is checked by operators for actual or spurious change.