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Large-scale investments in land are spreading faster than ever before across the global south. Often these investments target lands governed by customary rights that are not adequately recognized and protected under national laws, or sites where governments lack the capacity to enforce the law. Land deals that change the use of land and natural resources have wide implications for indigenous…

Ill advised, uncoordinated, and badly planned interventions have been blamed for continuing poverty and food insecurity in rangelands. Water interventions in particular have had negative impacts. Not only have these interventions failed to improve the livelihoods of people living there, but in many cases they have served to undermine them and the environment on which they depend. Rangeland…

Large-scale land acquisitions have increased in scale and pace due to changes in commodity markets, agricultural investment strategies, land prices, and a range of other policy and market forces. The areas most affected are the global “commons” – lands that local people traditionally use collectively — including much of the world’s forests, wetlands, and rangelands. In some cases land acquisition…

Will economic development in poor countries cause less migration, or more? This simple question has tremendous relevance to the future of migration policy as the world develops, and to development assistance policy as many donor countries seek ways to deter migration. It has spawned 45 years of theoretical and empirical research, in economics as well as in sociology, demography,…

Copernicus is a European system for monitoring the Earth. Copernicus consists of a complex set of systems which collect data from multiple sources: earth observation satellites and in situ sensors such as ground stations, airborne and sea-borne sensors. It processes these data and provides users with reliable and up-to-date information through a set of services related to environmental and…

The 2014 Year Book shows how scientific endeavour and policy actions have led to innovative solutions and vital advancements. Yet these are frequently outpaced by overall economic growth. For example, as the fuel efficiency of cars has increased, the size of the vehicle fleet continues to grow. Similarly, as the aquaculture sector expands in response to the demand for food, scientists expect that…