Large quantities of water are appropriated to produce the feed annually consumed in global livestock production. Rising concerns about increasing competition for water resources and projected increase in demand for livestock products make it imperative to look for strategies to sustainably increase livestock production, with water being one key natural resource to consider. Using a combination of different datasets, a mechanistic livestock model, and a dynamic vegetation model, we estimate the annual consumptive water use (CWU) in the global livestock sector associated with crops and fodder cultivated on cropland and grazed biomass from pastures.

Human well-being and the prerequisite sustainable environmental management are currently at stake, reaching a bottleneck when trying to cope with (i) the ever-growing world population, (ii) the constantly increasing need for natural resources (and the subsequent overexploitation of species, habitats, ecosystems, and landscapes) and (iii) the documented and on-going impacts of climate change. By this, the role of conservation and management practices for the environment is characterized as a crucial and top issue and should deal with (a) promoting best practices from the local to the global level, (b) identifying spatial and temporal knowledge gaps, (c) multidisciplinary aspects for sustainable management practices, (d) identifying and interpreting the role of stakeholders and socio-economic parameters in the decision-making process, and (e) methods and practices to integrate the concept of ecosystem services into natural capital assessment and accounting, conservation and management strategies. Modern literature highlights that land use change and prioritization, the restoration of natural areas and cultural landscape identification and maintenance, should be considered at the top of the scientific and policy agenda, as well as at the epicenter of novel awareness-raising strategies for the environment in the near future.

The aim of this manual is to provide an opportunity for adult learning and contribute to farmer-based dissemination of information. The manual provides technical information that addresses forest tree species selection and propagation in cocoa fields, policy and legislation on timber trees on farm, and determination of compensation due to farmers for felled timber trees on cocoa farms. This information is then followed by guided decision-making exercises designed to reinforce cocoa farmers? observation skills, decision-making capacity and knowledge on timber tree species incorporated in cocoa growing systems in West Africa.