In recent years, the concept of ‘food sovereignty’ has gained increasing ground among grassroots groups, taking the form of a global movement. But there is no uniform conceptualization of what food sovereignty constitutes. Indeed, the definition has been expanding over time. It has moved from its initial focus on national self-sufficiency in food production (‘the right of nations’) to local self-sufficiency (‘the rights of peoples’). There is also a growing emphasis on the rights of women and other disadvantaged groups, and on consensus building and democratic choice.

Aim This paper describes the development of novel indices of bird‐habitat preference to examine bird species’ use of habitats and their distributions relative to habitats. It assesses the implications for bird conservation regionally and the scope for biodiversity assessments generally. Location A 200 km by 400 km area of farmland with seminatural and urban areas, covering south‐eastern England. Methods Cluster analysis was used to link birds to landscapes. Cluster centroid coordinate values were processed to derive indices of bird‐habitat preference.

Farmlands represent one of the most important habitats for several bird species in Europe, but during the last few decades, agricultural landscapes have been subject to a rapid and large-scale change, caused by the intensification and mechanization of agricultural activities, that is one of the main drivers of worldwide biodiversity decline.

The advent of grid electrification in the Sandveld region of South Africa in the 1980s increased the utilisation of groundwater resources for commercial irrigation purposes. In the wake of the consequent increased pressure on the resource, it behooves landowners to use water more productively and responsibly. This paper calculated the marginal product value (MPV) of irrigation water for potatoes and vine production in this region to assess and to allow the comparison of the productivity of irrigation water with other commodities and regions.

Landscape fragmentation and habitat loss are one of the important factors resulting in biodiversity decrease and species extinction. A large amount of Eucalyptus have been introduced into Yunnan Province in China since 2003, replaced the native forest, farmland, wasteland and other ecosystems, leading to natural habitat loss and landscape fragmentation.

Concerns about climate change and water quality make it necessary to have a better understanding of the cycling of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) within landscapes. In New Zealand, pastoral farming on hill country is a major land use, and there is little information available at a landscape level on the cycling of C and N within these systems, particularly the impacts of land use intensification.

In order to identify sustainable management solutions for small-scale farmer agroecosystems, a better understanding of these dynamic forest–farmland systems, existing farming and forestry strategies, and farmer perspectives is important. We examined the relationship between agricultural land use patterns and farmers’ practices and identified existing and potential characteristics of healthy agroecosystems at local scale in the context of village communities in Zanzibar, Tanzania.

An effective response to future risk within socio-ecosystems will require the retention of local diversity, not just in more vulnerable communities on the margins but also in regions vital to industrialised countries. A case study is presented that examines agroecosystem vulnerability to climate change within an Australian multifunctional rural landscape adjacent to the city of Adelaide.

The abandonment of farmland has become a widespread phenomenon in post-socialist countries that have seen revolutionary changes in their economic systems. The phenomenon is notable in vineyard areas, where abandonment leads to the loss of the unique character of vineyard landscapes. This paper assesses the extent of vineyard abandonment in Slovakia and analyses the driving forces behind it. We used statistical and Corine Land Cover data to map the change in vineyard areas in Slovakia and analyse the pressure of underlying driving forces.