In 1996 a major six-year research programme, 'Economic Optimisation of Multiple-Use Forestry and Other Natural Resources' was implemented at Department of Economics and Natural Resources, The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University (KVL), Copenhagen. The research is funded by KVL; The Danish Agricultural and Veterinary Research Council; The Danish Research Academy; The Danish Forest and Landscape Institute; The Danish Forest and Nature Agency; and The Danish Environmental Protection Agency. The overall objective of the research programme is to enhance the economic theory of sustainable multiple-use forestry and landscape management planning. Emphasis is on decision-making ! management planning from an economic point of view, the basic criterion being rationality as implemented by application of Operations Research methods with regard to sustainable and multiple use of forests and other natural resources in the landscape. The research programme benefits from collaboration agreements with University of California at Berkeley, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, and Oregon State University, Department of Forest Resources. As part of the research programme, a second international conference and workshop was held 6 - 12 August, 1998 at KVL, with the title: '2nd Berkeley-KVL Conference on Natural Resource Management -Design and Implementation of Multiple-Use Management'. This event was financed by The Danish Research Academy. Some of the papers presented were selected for peer-reviewing and subsequent publishing. The outcome is the present book in which no paper has been previously published.

This document contains the proceedings of the Regional Workshop on Ladn Resources Information Systems (LRIS) in Asia, held in Quezon City in January 2000. LRIS experiences in the countries are [presented, along with recommendations for future reporting and exhange of information, data expertise in land resources information. This includes the preparation of national and subregional reports on the state of land, water and plant nutrient resources in Asian countries.

Agriculture is one of the few industries that has been creating resources conti- ously from nature. Sustainability of this industry is a crucial issue at now-a-days. Agricultural technologies are important to feed the growing world population. Agricultural engineering has been applying scienti?c principles for the optimal use of natural resources in agricultural production for the bene?t of humankind. The role of agricultural engineering is increasing in the coming days at the forthcoming challenges of producing more food with less water coupled with climate uncertainty. I am happy to know that a book entitled "Fundamentals of Irrigation and On-farm Water Management", written by Engr. Dr. M. H. Ali, is going to be p- lished by Springer. The book is designed to cover the major ?elds of agricultural and environmental engineering such as weather, plant, soil, water, and basics of on-farm water management. The book will be quite useful for the students of agricultural engineering. Students of other related branches of engineering s- ences, and engineers working in the ?eld and at research institutes will also be beni?ted. The book may serve as a text book for the students and as a practical hand-book for the practitioners and researchers in the ?eld of irrigation and on-farm water management. Utilization of the recent literature in the area and citation of relevant journals / reports have added a special value to this book. Considering the topics covered, engineers, scientists, practitioners, and educators will ?nd this book as a valuable resource.