Agricultural land in Northern Ghana was under the traditional arrangements till recent times. Small-scale farmers and their families could collect water, firewood, fodder and seasonal fruits or carried out hunting on communal lands, owned by local chiefs and fetish priests, under the provisions made by customary laws. Recent developments in this area include up-scaling of the mining industry, large scale commercial agriculture projects and cultivation of biofuel crops. All these development schemes are affecting access to natural resources by the local people as they affect water, land and even vegetation in the project areas. This paper discusses some recent projects in Northern Ghana and their positive and negative effects as well as impacts on the local population and their livelihood. Role of government as well as civil society in these transformations is also considered.

This publication deals with key issues in land tenure, especially as they relate to food insecurity and rural development situations. Land tenure issues are frequently ignored in rural development interventions, with often long-lasting, negative results. This guide is designed to assist technical officers in governments and civil society in understanding why and how land tenure issues should be considered in rural development projects. It analyses important contexts such as environmental degradation, gender discrimination, and conflicts, where land tenure is currently of critical concern.

CSA Sociological Abstracts abstracts and indexes the international literature in sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences. The database provides abstracts of journal articles and citations to book reviews drawn from over 1,800+ serials publications, and also provides abstracts of books, book chapters, dissertations, and conference papers.

A joint FAO and World Bank study which shows how the farming systems approach can be used to identify priorities for the reduction of hunger and poverty in the main farming systems of the six major developing regions of the world.

This book presents recent estimates on the rate of change of major land classes. Aggregated globally, multiple impacts of local land changes are shown to significantly affect central aspects of Earth System functioning. The book offers innovative developments and applications in the fields of modeling and scenario construction. Conclusions are also drawn about the most pressing implications for the design of appropriate intervention policies.

This important collection reprints the most significant papers and case studies on the prevention and resolution of conflict over water resources. It focuses in particular on the human dynamics that are involved when conflicts over water resources impact on different interest groups, economic sectors and legal or political boundaries. It addresses key issues which arise at both the local and the international level, including amongst others: How do people interact in these situations of conflict? What methods do they use to find a compromise? What institutions do they create - either jointly or unilaterally - to help overcome problems in the future? This interdisciplinary collection will be essential reading for professional water practitioners throughout the world, including engineers, economists, geographers, geologists, and political scientists concerned with water disputes and conflict resolution. It will make a significant contribution to the study of water as an essential theme in the increasingly important topic of environmental security.