Land use

This publication presents the findings of the physical, ecological, archaeological and socio-economic assessments of Delft Island; a map of Delft Island, illustrating its present land-use patterns, as well as areas that should, potentially, be earmarked for future development and conservation activities; and recommendations for the sustainable development of Delft Island, with a special emphasis on the development of tourism.

The Livelihoods and Landscapes Strategy (LLS) was a five-year program implemented by IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) and funded by DGIS (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands). The Strategy focused on four main themes: poverty reduction, natural resource-based markets and incentives, forest governance, and landscape transformation. LLS, originally set to finish in December 2010, was granted a no-cost extension and came to a close in December 2011.

It is commonly claimed that forest tenure reform that provides rural people with rights to access and use of forest resources can contribute to improved forest management and poverty alleviation. But, at least with respect to poverty alleviation, there are few experiences with formal forest tenure reform that have demonstrated this to date. Given how difficult it is to achieve pro-poor tenure reform, an important question is whether modest informal changes can achieve results.

This paper describes Livelihoods and Landscapes Strategy interventions in the Wassa Amenfi West Landscape in the western region of Ghana. The landscape extends over an area of about 120,000 ha. It is a mixed landscape with a variety of agricultural uses; the most important is cocoa farming. At the start of the LLS intervention, parts of the landscape, particularly forested areas were quite degraded, while levels of poverty among the communities that rely on natural resource exploitation were quite high.

The aim of this manual is to strengthen the community of practitioners who are using an innovative range of visual techniques in dealing with conservation and development situations. Visualization techniques are used to compare visions of stakeholders and to negotiate trade-offs through comparing these visions. Different visualization techniques are already widely used and several of these are discussed in this manual.

Cette étude examine les coûts de conservation et la valeur des avantages liés à la biodiversité pour la zone couverte par le projet QIT Madagascar Minerals (QMM) et ses alentours, mettant particulièrement l'accent sur le complexe forestier de Tsitongambarika (TGK). L'objectif consiste à déterminer et à quantifier la valeur des modifications des services des écosystèmes issues d'interventions particulières privilégiant des modalités de conservation de la forêt, différentes des méthodes courantes, à savoir poursuite de la déforestation et dégradation des écosystèmes.

Este estudio analiza los costos de la conservación y el valor de los beneficios asociados con la biodiversidad en y alrededor del área del proyecto QIT Madagascar Minerals (QMM), con especial atención al bosque Tsitongambarika (TGK). El objetivo es cuantificar y valorar los cambios en los servicios ambientales resultantes de las intervenciones que se apartan de lo acostumbrado en TGK, es decir, la deforestación y degradación ambiental, a favor de alguna forma de conservación forestal.

This study examines the costs of conservation and the value of benefits associated with biodiversity around the QIT Madagascar Minerals (QMM) project area, with a focus on the Tsitongambarika (TGK) forest complex. The aim is to quantify and value changes in ecosystem services resulting from interventions that deviate from 'business as usual' in TGK, i.e. projected continued deforestation and ecosystem degradation, in favour of some form of forest conservation.

There are two principles here, both reflecting the natural world. The first is that natural systems are based on cycles, for example water, nitrogen and carbon. Secondly, there is very little waste in natural systems. The ‘waste’ from one species is food for another, or is converted into a useful form by natural processes and cycles.This book shows how these principles can be used to create systems and settlements that provide food, energy and water without consuming large quantities of fossil fuels and other finite resources.

This study examines the four options being considered by the European Commission for dealing with indirect land use change (ILUC) arising from the use of biofuels under the Renewable Energy Directive. An alternative approach is developed that would encourage producers and growers to undertake practices that mitigate ILUC. This study identifies a range of ILUC mitigation practices and recommends a market mechanism to encourage such activities through the use of a carbon credit scheme.