This paper seeks to unravel the political economy of large-scale land acquisitions in post-Soviet Russia. Russia falls neither in the normal category of ‘investor’ countries, nor in the category of ‘target’ countries. Russia has large ‘land reserves’, since in the 1990s much fertile land was abandoned. We analyse how particular Russia is with regards to the common argument in favour of land acquisitions, namely that land is available, unused or even unpopulated.

One of the critical factors influencing land degradation is land use. However, the extent to which land use influences land degradation has not been fully ascertained in the southwestern part of Nigeria (i.e. particularly in Ogun State). Thus, this study was designed to assess the extent to which land use influences crop productivity in Ogun State. Two major soil types identified at the site were Alfisols and Ultisols. Within these, three land use types (LUT) were identified: arable crop - Land Use 1, cash crop production - Land Use 2, and non-agricultural use – Land Use 3.

In the conditions of the Republic of Belarus there were presented results of development of a system of quantitative parameters, which characterized radiation safety and economic efficiency of agricultural reuse of lands which had been contaminated with radionuclides and had been withdrawn from agricultural production on evaluated lands. The parameters helped to base the possibility of use of a land plot in agricultural production according to its radiological, agronomical and technical characteristics and the distance between the plot and a potential land user.

It might be considered unlikely that inadequate access to land would be one of the major causes of rural poverty in Zambia. However, evidence presented in this paper shows that economically viable arable land is not in great abundance in Zambia after considering the current situation with respect to access to road infrastructure and access to services and markets. In fact, access to land is already a major problem for large segments of the rural population in Zambia.

A cutover bog contaminated with seawater in New Brunswick, Canada remained barren 5 years after peat extraction operations ceased despite the proximity of natural seed sources. The aim of the study was to identify abiotic stresses impeding plant establishment and test transplanting of salt-tolerant wetland plants. The site consisted of long cambered rectangular fields that sloped down (2%) to the drainage ditches on both sides. Across this slope, zones were delineated based on moisture gradient as: Up-areas (drier), Mid-areas (moist) and Low-areas (wet).

Uncertainties in agricultural activities due to the scarcity of water and the increase in droughts could be ameliorated by considering early detection and spatio-temporal characterization of water stress conditions at a regional scale from remote sensing. Theoretical aspects of the spatio-temporal assessment of vegetation indexes related with soil moisture, based on remote sensing and meteorological data are presented.

In the evaluation of the onset, severity and duration of situations of water stress and droughts, indicators based on processes with intensive use of remote sensing can be used. In the monitoring of agricultural activities as well as the management of water and forest resources, spatio-temporal distributions of information of actual evapotranspiration (ETact) are crucial. This work presents the theoretical aspects of spatio- temporal assessment of ETact process, from remote sensing and meteorological data.

Este trabalho analisa o preço da terra no período 1975 a 2006, mas ocupa-seprincipalmente com o período mais recente, de 2000 a 2006. Para que o leitor tenha umamelhor dimensão dos preços de terras no Brasil, comparações serão realizadas com ospreços de terras nos Estados Unidos em anos recentes.

The article presents an overview and brief characteristics of the selected soil information systems in the Czech Republic. It suggests synchronisation of their development, particularly some convergence of the Land Evaluation Information System and Soil and Terrain Digital Database. In the pilot area of Litomerice district, it demonstrates the application of the SOTER methodology for the construction of middle- and detail-scale soil maps, using the data from the General survey of agricultural soils.

The view that widows and their dependents face greater livelihood risks in the era of HIV/AIDS is indeed supported by nationally-representative survey results from Zambia. Efforts to safeguard widows’ rights to land through land tenure innovations involving community authorities may be an important component of social protection, poverty alleviation, and HIV/AIDS mitigation strategies. Several of the findings reported show the influence of local traditional authorities in affecting the extent to which widows are able to retain land.

This paper aims to make a modest contribution to an overdue need to locate the current land rush in its historical context, less as a new phenomenon than as a surge in the continuing capture of ordinary people's rights and assets by capital-led and class-creating social transformation. It aims to do so by looking back to earlier land rushes, and particularly to those which have bearing upon sub-Saharan Africa, the site of most large-scale involuntary land loss today. In particular, the paper focuses upon a central tool of land rushes, property law.

The article presents ecological and economic zoning of the territory of the Republic of Belarus for the purposes of land use planning by the method of average differences, taking into account the factors which influence the efficiency of agricultural lands usage.