This study looks at two issues: ecological services valuation - assessing the economic value of the direct and indirect ecosystem services provided by two sanctuaries in Cambodia, and the potential costs/benefits of allowing continuing land conversion and illegal logging; and protected area financing - assessing the costs of maintaining management activities and recommendations for generating funds.

This paper presents the legal framework and methods of producing information about land in Benin, and looks at the complex modalities of determining, recognising and ‘translating’ rights in rural and urban areas (the Rural Land Plan and Urban Land Registry). It provides observations on several current issues, particularly the political and administrative decentralisation that is fundamentally changing the country’s institutional landscape.

Ce texte présente le cadre légal et les formes juridiques de production de l’information foncière au Bénin. Sont aussi abordées les modalités complexes de connaissance/reconnaissance – de « traduction » – des droits en milieu rural (Plan foncier rural) et urbain (Registre foncier urbain), pour conclure sur les enjeux actuels, en particulier en lien avec la décentralisation politique et administrative. Enfin, la gestion des espaces périurbains apparaît comme l’un des enjeux majeurs de la question foncière et de la décentralisation

Land and decentralisation policies in Senegal have been closely linked since the country became independent in 1960. Public lands are currently managed by the local governments of municipalities and rural communities, with the latter responsible for the land and natural resources in unprotected parts of their territory, and the former empowered to issue building permits.

The aim of this special issue is to critically reflect on those rarely-discussed elements of processes that are disempowering to those with least power. Problems include those that are political – such as when the outputs threaten to undermine a pre-conceived institutional objective, or methodological – often organisers are not even aware that already oppressed groups have been further marginalised by the way the process was facilitated. The issue looks at these dilemmas under three key themes: the ways in which participatory processes can oppress and empower; the use and abuse of knowledge and expertise; and the interplay between the power of globalised political-economic systems and attempts to create spaces for people.

This issue captures the diversity of Immersion opportunities for development professionals - spending a period of time living with and learning from a poor family. The common denominator is a concern to bring immersion participants face to face with ordinary people, giving them the chance to test old assumptions, develop new perspectives, and strengthen their commitment to the challenge of poverty eradication.

Depuis l’indépendance du Sénégal en 1960, la politique foncière et la politique de décentralisation sont étroitement liées. Les communes et les communautés rurales qui sont les collectivités de base gèrent leur domaine public. Les communautés rurales gèrent le terroir de la communauté rurale y compris les ressources naturelles ne faisant pas partie des espaces protégés. Les communes délivrent les permis de construction.

This book brings together a series of papers identifying opportunities for Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs) to attract Foreign direct investment (FDI) that is associated with positive contributions to sustainable development and good corporate social responsibility practices. It points to a number of opportunities for IPAs in attracting FDI with good CSR practices and highlights key leverage points and practical tools to achieve this. It is intended to provide a primer for investment promotion agencies and pointers for approaches that could be deployed in the future.

This paper reports on the multilateral trade and investment context for biofuels. It briefly introduces the context surrounding biofuels and delves into some of the factors driving the rapid expansion in production and use. The analysis looks at trade and investment issues for biofuels, and some of the issues on developing standards. This discussion paper concludes with proposals for how governments, particularly small and medium-sized economies, might develop appropriate trade and investment rules to support a fair and sustainable biofuels sector.

In recent years, the poverty rate among fruit farmers in the rural Mekong Delta has declined more rapidly than among all rural households in the region and in Vietnam. This is despite huge fluctuations in export markets for fruit in the last decade. The findings from this case study in three rural settlements in Tien Giang and Vinh Long provinces suggest that the main driver of rural development is a positive reciprocal relationship between urban centres and farming and a strong role for small towns in local economic growth and poverty reduction.

This study surveys a thriving, albeit largely informal, SMFE sector in Malawi. It looks in detail at four promising subsectors: timber, cane furniture, tree fruit juices and woodcarving.