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Current soil‐ and land degradation seriously challenge our societies; it contributes to climate change, loss of biodiversity and loss of agricultural productions. Yet, soils are also seen as a major part of the solution, if maintained or restored to provide ecosystem services. Climate‐smart sustainable management of soils can provide options for soil health maintenance and restoration. In the European Union, the resource management and sustainability challenge are addressed in the Green Deal that, among other goals, aspires towards a healthy climate‐resilient agricultural sector that will produce sufficient products without damaging ecosystems and contribute to better biodiversity and mitigate climate change. The European Joint Programme (EJP) SOIL was set up to contribute to these goals by developing knowledge, tools and an integrated research community to foster climate‐smart sustainable agricultural soil management that provides a diversity of ecosystem service, such as adapting to and mitigating climate change, allowing sustainable food production, and sustaining soil biodiversity. This paper provides an overview of the potential of climate‐smart sustainable soil management research to the targets of the Green Deal that are related to soils most directly. The EJP SOIL EU‐wide consultation (interviews and questionnaires) and literature analysis (national and international reports and papers) done in the first year (2020–2021) generated a wealth of data. This data showed that there are specific manners to do research that are essential for it to be effective and efficient and that can actively contribute to the Green Deal targets. We concluded that research needs to be: (i) interdisciplinary, (ii) long‐term, (iii) multi‐scaled, from plot to landscape, (iv) evaluating trade‐offs of selected management options for ecosystem services and (v) co‐constructed with key stakeholders. Research on climate‐smart sustainable soil management should be developed (1) on plot scale when mobilizing soil processes and on landscape scale when addressing sediment and water connectivity and biodiversity management; and (2) address the enabling conditions through good governance, social acceptance and viable economic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we examine whether there are significant gender differences in the adoption of climate‐smart agricultural (CSA) practices in sub‐Saharan Africa. Using individual‐level data from four sites in Kenya, Uganda and Senegal, our empirical analysis provides robust evidence that men have a higher likelihood of adopting high‐return CSA practices including modern chemical fertiliser, improved high‐yielding varieties and drought/pest tolerant livestock practices. In contrast, women tend to have a higher likelihood of adopting low‐risk and low‐return traditional CSA practices such as water harvesting, crop covering, rangeland management and pest management. Our subsample analysis shows significant heterogeneity in the gender gap across countries. The results of the decomposition of the observed gender gap show that personal values and norms, access to weather and production information and farm characteristics are important factors that explain the gender differential in the likelihood of CSA adoption. Our findings imply that equalising access to key resources such as plots of land, information and decision making power will be crucial to close the gender gap in the adoption of CSA practices. This is particularly important given the differential impacts of climate change between men and women in sub‐Saharan Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The integrated farming system (IFS) is a holistic farming approach specially designed for small/marginal farmers to enhance the system productivity, profitability, and employment generation of their farm, ultimately ensuring their food and nutrition security for their livelihood. The mechanism of IFS offers various ecosystem services making farms environment‐friendly, sustainable, and climate‐resilient. IFS is characterized by the allocation of different agricultural components systematically in a single farm performing synergistically among themselves making the farm more productive, healthy, biodiversity enriched, and eco‐friendly than simplified farms. Therefore, this review paper represents an extensive analysis of existing literature on IFS exploring its concept, components, and need, and emphasizing its potential for higher system productivity, profitability, and employment generation in a sustainable manner. Moreover, it develops a conceptualization of the relationship among different agricultural components in a single farm exploring its role in ecosystem services (reducing greenhouse gases, carbon sequestration, nutrient recycling, improving soil health, and biodiversity conservation). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the importance of energy efficiency in the agricultural sector has become increasingly apparent. As the world faces challenges such as climate change, resource scarcity, and population growth, the need for sustainable and efficient agricultural practices has intensified. Energy plays a crucial role in agricultural production, from powering machinery and irrigation systems to processing and transportation. Therefore, understanding the scientific advancements and collaborative efforts in the field of energy efficiency in agriculture is essential for devising effective strategies, promoting innovation, and achieving global sustainability goals. The aim of this study is to provide insight into and a comprehensive overview of global publications on energy efficiency in agriculture and examine its scientific productivity. The paper explores the research areas and trending topics within the field, as well as the extent of collaboration among authors, institutions, and countries involved in this scientific domain. This investigation is crucial in order to address the current energy shocks and the numerous problems they generate, highlighting the importance of a holistic approach and the need for multiple regions to work together. Only by offering rapid and viable solutions can we effectively overcome this situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global Climate Change (GCC) and its responses are already changing how food is produced, processed, and consumed. The agriculture sector's recent history of hardships and challenges brought about by GCC has posed a significant danger to people's ability to acquire food, particularly in developing countries. Today, GCC impacts are already being felt across the globe, especially in remote and rural communities where vulnerability is high, adaptation capacity is limited, and resources are scarce. Therefore, finding sustainable, practical, and cutting-edge solutions to the challenges of GCC is essential. The United Nations 2030 agenda on sustainability aims to reshape the world's society by achieving a number of broad sustainable development goals (SDGs), which call for significant structural changes in society as well as profound transformations in policy, the economy, technology, and science. More specifically, agenda 2030 emphasizes the creation and effective application of models, technology innovations, and strategies that call for the full participation of all parties, including local and indigenous people and their experiences, traditions, and cultural practices. However, despite providing clear examples of sustainable lifestyles within their ecological environment, particularly in the equitable distribution of resources among community members, indigenous and local people's voices, knowledge, and concerns have remained underrepresented in the climate change and sustainability discourse. Thus, this paper advances the climate adaptation, resilience-building, and sustainability (CARS) model in agriculture in developing countries. The CARS model is meant for policymakers and hinges on integrating scientific knowledge with indigenous and local ecological knowledge (ILEK) in the climate change adaptation and sustainability discourse. This theoretical model supports the notion that an understanding of the indigenous and local ecological knowledge systems is critical to opening up an environment that supports community-based efforts to adapt to GCC by giving them options and engaging them in finding innovative, sustainable, and effective strategies to adapt to the impacts emanating from GCC. The ultimate goal of this model is to promote positive co-management and regional development through sustainability and climate change adaptation while generating a forum for discussion among indigenous and local communities and the relevant stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change remains a serious global problem posing a wide range of challenges and impacts which will likely hinder the attainment of the widely discussed sustainable development goals (SDGs). The impacts and threats from a changing climate have the potential to significantly impact all sectors of the global economy and will largely be multifaceted, multidimensional, and multi-sectoral. These adverse impacts will to a greater extent, be manifested at the local and community level where the adaptability capacity is weak and resources are scarce. In the last two decades, there has been growing support and evidence that suggests that local people and communities in partnership with their local governments and NGOs are undertaking community ecological based adaptation (CEBA) practices at both the local and community level which are enhancing their adaptability and resilience capacities to a changing climate. CEBA mechanisms are initiatives and practices that local and rural communities across the developing world are sometimes adopting in partnership with their local government and non-governmental organizations to adapt to a changing climate. However, over the years, these initiatives, experiments, and activities have been poorly actualized, communicated, and there is uncertainty on whether these practices and mechanisms are enhancing the adaptability and resilience capacities of the many poor people in these communities. It is from this background that this paper seeks to assess and analyze present and future climate change impacts on agriculture in Central Zambia and further seeks to appraise the effectiveness of CEBA mechanisms being adopted and utilized in this region. Using community assessment and rural appraisal tools this research paper found that indeed some CEBA practices are innovative and effective and are enhancing the adaptability and resilience of the local people in agriculture in this region. The paper recommends that the advancement, funding, and integration of innovative and effective CEBA practices with scientific knowledge and the ultimate replication and incorporation of these practices into developmental and climate change policies can be one of the most beneficial and effective ways for a sustainable, adaptive, and resilient agriculture sector in the face of a changing and unpredictable climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crop management in the Romanian agriculture faces many risks and challenges that directly influence the technical and economic performance of the farms and implicitly the sustainability of the agricultural sector. These challenges range from climate change to resource issues, from plant health problems to market and regulatory issues. It is therefore essential to understand these issues in detail to develop effective crop management strategies and support Romanian agriculture in the face of a complex and changing environment. Through methods of statistical analyses and bibliographic documentation, we will identify and analyze this risks and challenges in detail in order to obtain a more comprehensive picture of the agricultural landscape in Romania in order to develop some necessary measures to reduce and, as far as possible, eliminate these risks. Data were collected from public institutions, from the official National Institute of Statistics, NIS, website Tempo-Online. The aim of crop management in Romania, as in any other country, is to ensure efficient, sustainable and profitable agricultural production. By adopting these recommendations and proactively addressing risks and challenges, agriculture in Romania can become more resilient and sustainable, further ensuring the supply of high-quality food and contributing to the country's economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most important and continuously growing research areas in marine ecology is assessing the sustainability of ecosystems. The concept is traditionally approached by quantifying different anthropogenic pressures, such as top-down effects, overexploitation, invasive species, overfishing, and pollution. However, this perspective has been criticized for its inability to capture the complex interactions between natural factors (such as climate change), human factors, and sociopolitical factors that shape ecosystems. In this paper, we present a new structural model for assessing the sustainability of marine ecosystems, PCA-DEA-based model, as an extension to current models that incorporates these key interfaces into dynamic system modeling by including trade-offs on horizontal scales (e.g., decision making). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maximising resource‐use efficiency, productivity and environmental sustainability are all fundamental requirements to raise global food production by ~70 per cent in order to feed a world population of ~9.7 billion people by 2050. Perhaps the most vital resource within our capacity to achieve this goal is our soil. Broadly, the fundamental question concerns whether or not satisfying this production demand will accelerate soil degradation, climate change, and the loss of soil carbon stocks. This paper builds upon the outputs of the UK Charity 'Food & Farming Futures' (chaired by Lord Curry of Kirkharle) virtual workshop held on 23 March 2021, entitled 'Capturing the Potential of Soil'. The event focussed on the link between soil health, primarily soil organic carbon (SOC), and agricultural productivity. Supported with commentaries by Professor Pete Smith (University of Aberdeen and Science Director of the Scottish Climate Change Centre of Expertise) and Professor Steve McGrath (Head of Sustainable Agricultural Sciences at Rothamsted Research), specific focus will be given to the research challenges within the UK's ability to improve soil health and functionality, the implementation priorities that must be held in order to improve soil management by 2050 and what the potential co‐benefits could be. These co‐benefits were scattered across environmental, economic, social and political issues, yet they may be summarised into six primary co‐benefits: developing natural capital, climate change mitigation, carbon trading, improvements in crop yield, animal performance and human health (nutrition). Additionally, the main barriers to improved soil management practices are centred on knowledge exchange‐regarding agri‐environmental techniques—whilst the most impactful solutions rely on soil monitoring, reporting and verification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The agricultural sector plays a critical role in mitigating environmental sustainability challenges and climate change impacts. Agricultural research is essential for conserving genetic resources, developing nutritious and high-yielding varieties, and enhancing soil, animal, and human health without affecting the biodiversityecosystem. This paper gives an outlook on what means environmental sustainability integration possible in agricultural research through multidisciplinary partnerships. The state of agricultural research today looks at innovative approaches to support sustainable agriculture and discusses how we might use these approaches to make real strides towards environmental sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Increased global competition in the agricultural sector is rapidly changing the structure of farms and farming. As the number of small and diversified farms (often family-owned) decreases, the number of large and specialized farms (often corporate-owned) is increasing. In this transformation, the agricultural sector is more and more concerned with strategy, innovation, and competition in the effort to be more productive and more profitable. At the same time, the sector faces demands that it become more environmentally responsible in its policies and practices. This paper proposes a Lean Implementation Framework that small and mid-size farms can use as they aim to increase production and profit and yet support environmental sustainability. This case study takes an action-oriented research approach that focuses on the implementation of a Green Lean approach at 34 Swedish farms using various Lean tools. The paper describes how training sessions, farm visits, workshops, and counseling were used to introduce the farmers to the benefits and risks of the implementation of a new business model that added Green elements to the traditional business model design. The paper concludes with recommendations for adaptations to the Framework and suggestions for future research. Highlights • Lean principles and practices in Green initiatives for the agricultural sector. • Challenges and outcomes when implementing Lean tools. • Environmental effects of implementing Lean tools. • Lean Implementation Framework for the agricultural sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• An index of Sustainable Agriculture for the EU-28 over the period 2005–2014 is computed. • A Granger-causality test for panel data is implemented. • A negative bidirectional relationship between climate change and agricultural yields is verified. • A negative bidirectional relationship between climate change and sustainable agriculture is identified. • Conventional agriculture negatively affects sustainable agriculture. Agriculture and climate change are characterized by a complex cause-effect relationship. The agricultural sector generates significant quantities of gas emissions that affect climate. The rise in the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the increase in temperatures as well as changes in the precipitation regime have repercussions on the volume, quality and stability of the agricultural and zoo technical production, but also on the natural environment in which agriculture is practiced. Based on the above, the purpose of the paper is twofold. Firstly, through the Wroclaw Taxonomic Method, we construct a composite indicator, called the Index of Sustainable Agriculture (ISA), and analyse 28 countries that have joined the European Union from 1 July 2013 to today (EU-28) over the period 2005–2014, according to 16 variables. Secondly, the Granger-causality test for panel data is implemented in order to verify the causal relationship among the ISA, climate change and agricultural production. In other words, we test which of the three analyzed variables turns out to be the cause variable and which, instead, turns out to be the effect variable. Furthermore, we test if there is a bidirectional causality among the variables. This analysis provides a wide overview on how European countries rank according to the ISA and its three crucial pillars, i.e. environmental, economic and social. Moreover, important causality relationships among the ISA, climate changes (approximated by mean annual temperature and mean annual precipitation and provided by the Climate Research Unit (CRU) Time-Series (TS) Version 3.22 of the University of East Anglia) and agricultural production (approximated by wheat and spelt yields and provided by EUROSTAT) are identified. In particular, the following hypotheses are verified: 1) there is a negative bidirectional relationship between climate change and agricultural yields; 2) there is a negative bidirectional causal relationship between climate change and sustainable agriculture; 3) conventional agriculture negatively affects sustainable agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural populations in the developing world face great challenges in climate adaptation and human development. Broader development and climate adaptation can potentially enhance each other, and their positive synergies are essential to improve human well-being in less developed rural areas. Such synergies are, however, commonly lacking across developing countries. This paper examines the relationship between climate adaptation and broader development and finds a positive synergy in the Poyang Lake Region (PLR) - an important rice producing area in China that is vulnerable to flood hazards. We further examine household decision-making and link household decisions to rice cropping patterns interpreted from satellite images to explain the micro- to macro- mechanisms that lead to this synergy. The analysis shows that both the broader development context (national economic development and agricultural policy) and specific risk management (levees) are important for creating the positive synergy. Moreover, it is the right interactions of the social, natural, and technological subsystems that enable rural households to make different land-use and livelihood choices in a way that improves rural livelihoods and reduces flood impacts on rural livelihoods. The diverse household choices then collectively lead to preservation of rice production, despite the negative influence from increasing nonfarm work, and decreased flood impacts on agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is one response to the challenges faced by agriculture due to climate change. As with other sustainability transitions, technological innovation is highlighted as playing a critical role, however, the adoption and diffusion of technological innovations in OECD countries is slow. The aim of this paper is to identify key socio-economic barriers, in terms of supply and demand, that inhibit the adoption and diffusion of CSA technological innovations in Europe. To achieve this aim, a theoretical framework is constructed based on a literature review of socio-economic barriers effecting adoption and diffusion. This framework is explored with data from semi-structured interviews with CSA technology providers and members of agricultural supply chains, such as farmers associations and consumer goods producers (the end-users of the technology). Data was collected on the barriers they experienced, with interviews conducted in the Netherlands, France, Switzerland and Italy. This data was thematically coded and categorised to identify key barrier typologies. The results demonstrate that barriers exist on both the demand (user) and supply (technology provider) sides. The paper provides recommendations for increasing the adoption and diffusion of CSA technological innovations, as well as implications for the CSA and innovation literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper briefly looks into the past where Victory Gardens were considered a patriotic act. Today, would such gardens help with climate change and reduce the number of food deserts? The paper also touches on community gardens and seeks other ideas for connecting people to growing local food at their home or in community environments and to sharing the harvest. Lastly, it looks at dual purposing farmland use for generating power as well as growing produce with a new method called agrivoltaic production. The overall intent of the paper is to get readers to be thinking about applied agriculture and food projects they can do as class projects, at their place of residence, and in their communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wheat is a strategic crop for Iran with respect to food security and environmental impact. In the northeastern Golestan Province irrigated and rainfed wheat production systems co-exist. In the light of climate change the comparative assessment of the two systems regarding productivity and sustainability is of urgent importance. This paper aims to contribute to a more informed debate on the viability of irrigation in marginal crop production regions. For this purpose, the present study investigates productivity and environmental impact of 540 wheat producing farm households (259 irrigated; 281 rainfed) in Golestan by partial life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology using greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and product carbon footprint (PCF) as environmental sustainability indicators. The study finds huge heterogeneity among wheat producers with regard to yield, GHG emissions and PCF. Comparing irrigated and rainfed production showed that irrigation in average leads to 22% higher yields. However, the environmental impact of irrigated production is disproportionally high leading to 110% higher GHG emissions and 62% higher PCF, which highlights the trade-off between productivity and environmental sustainability. The major contributors to total GHG emissions of wheat production are energy for irrigation (only in irrigated production), N 2 O emissions related to fertilization and residue handling, diesel for machinery, and emissions related to fertilizer production and transport. Increased GHG emissions and PCF in irrigated compared to rainfed production are not only attributed to the energy required for irrigation, but also to increased fertilizer and other production inputs. Splitting the farmers into high, medium and low yield groups indicates the potential for increasing yields through increased input intensity without negative effects on PCF. The study's results demonstrate the potential of better balancing the trade-offs between productivity and sustainability of wheat production in marginal wheat production regions of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our aim with this paper is to present a novel approach for developing story lines and scenarios by combining qualitative knowledge and quantitative data from different disciplines and discussing the results with relevant decision makers. This research strategy offers a solid foundation for perspectives into the future. The "laboratory" is the Brazilian Amazon, one of the hotspots of land-use change where local and global interests both collide and converge: local livelihoods are affected by regional and global climate change and by the loss of biodiversity caused by local and global economic interests in agro-industrial land use; such use contributes, in turn, to climate change. After decades of diverse policy interventions the question arises: What can we learn from past trajectories for a more sustainable development in the future? To answer this question, we combined qualitative story lines for the region, reviewed by local experts, with quantitative land-use scenarios, to study their regional and local manifestations in space. These results were then discussed again with local and national experts. Our findings suggest that in-depth knowledge of the diverging perspectives at a very local level is a fundamental prerequisite for downscaling global scenarios and upscaling local approaches to sustainable land-use management and thus, to producing communicable and applicable results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last ten years have witnessed an increase in publications focusing on bioeconomy as a proposal to confront the global challenges of climate change, depletion of non-renewable resources and ecosystem degradation. This paper investigates the scientific literature on issues related agricultural bioeconomy by applying a bibliometric network analysis. Bibliometric analysis is applied to the publications of the Scopus database during the period 2010–2020 in order to provide an overview of the main aspects that characterize agricultural bioeconomy. The results showed that out of a total of 1100 scientific papers, only 2.45% were published in 2010, while the corresponding share in 2020 was 20.81%. In the five years of 2016–2020, cumulatively, 70.63% of the publications were made, showing the dynamic evolution of bioeconomy. In addition, out of 85 countries in total, Germany and Italy are the two countries with most publications, while the fragmentation of research is evident with the creation of two main nodes, the European and the American. Moreover, keyword analysis showed that biomass and sustainability are two main recurring concepts, confirming that, currently, bioeconomy operates at three different levels: energy demand, land demand, and governance. It is apparent that to boost the development of agricultural bioeconomy, the following aspects should be assessed: the effective use of resources, an understanding of the key drivers of agricultural bioeconomy, and a clear perception of their associations. There is still no consensus as to which are the key factors that will accelerate its sustainable development. Our pursuit is to use the tools of bibliometric analysis to reach more critical conclusions regarding the agricultural bioeconomy, rather than approach it in a static way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Modern agriculture is heavily based on the energy supply obtained mainly from fossil fuels. In this sense, it can be defined as a technology that transforms fossil fuels into food. However, the available amount of fossil hydrocarbons is not infinite and climate change is creating a critical necessity of reducing their use. Therefore, it is not too early to start considering how agriculture could be adapted to sustainable sources of energy which do not cause climate change. In the present paper, we discuss how agriculture could be restructured in order to utilize the electric power provided by renewable energy technologies such as wind and photovoltaics. In this sense, the problem can be stated as the need of developing technologies able to turn electricity into food. In our analysis, we find that renewable electric power could provide some of the services for the farm produced today by fossil fuels at costs which are not outside reasonable ranges. However, not all the problems of modern agriculture can be solved simply shifting from one power source to another and the limited availability of mineral fertilizers, such as phosphates, remains a fundamental limitation. We conclude that renewable electric power in the farm should be seen as part of a more general transition that will require considerable transformations and adaptation of the current agricultural process in order to develop a truly sustainable agriculture. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Halophytes can desalinize the soil and increase the productivity of crops. • Some halophytes are used as intercropping and rotating species to reduce soil salinity. • Many halophytes are efficient when they are integrated in aquaponic systems. • Many Mediterranean halophytes have potential multipurpose uses. • Halophytes may find niches in the demanding Mediterranean market. The loss of agro-biodiversity, climate changes and food insecurity are major challenges in the Mediterranean countries with potentially multidimensional consequences. With respect to salinity, approximately 18 million ha, corresponding to 25 % of total irrigated land in the Mediterranean area, are salt affected. Intensive cropping and the excessive use of expensive inputs such as water and fertilizers aggravate this situation. Understanding how we could improve crop productivity in salinized environments is therefore critical to face these challenges. Our comprehension of fundamental physiological mechanisms in plant salt stress adaptation has greatly advanced over the last decades. However, many of these mechanisms have been linked to salt tolerance in simplified experimental systems whereas they have been rarely functionally proven in real agricultural contexts. The sustainability of farming systems in salt affected Mediterranean soils can be effectively achieved by the use of salt-tolerant halophyte plants even more effective through the use of intercropping, crop rotation and aquaponics.. Moreover, if these halophyte plants are removed from the soil to grow other species, pressure on generating salt-tolerant crop plants would be reduced and much healthier crop plants would be cultivated in less stressed saline soils. This paper will focus on the sustainable practices based on the cultivation of halophytes in saline soils by highlighting some experimental activities carried out at laboratory and field levels in the last few years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Modern agriculture must meet new challenges such as production of healthy food, adaptation to climate change, protection of natural resources, and conservation of landscape. These challenges require changes in current agricultural systems and therefore, environmentally-friendly agricultural systems must be designed and their sustainability assessed. Over the past several years, various methods have been developed for making such assessments (e.g. the Balancing and Ranking Method, MEACROS, MODAM, the modelling framework of Pacini et al., ROTAT+FarmImages, MASC, and ROTOR) but few studies put forward simple solutions for selecting one method over another. In this paper, we propose a simple guide to distinguish methods one from another. Categories of the guide include the type of systems to assess, the spatial and temporal scales at which systems are assessed, the dimensions of sustainability for which systems are assessed, the type of visualisation for comparing options, the target users, and the ability to generate alternative systems. The guide was developed and tested with a group of farm advisors involved in a three-year project called RotAB, which aimed to assess the sustainability of organic arable farming systems: the advisors looked for a method for sustainability assessment of cropping systems. We presented seven recent assessment methods as well as the guide to advisors. The guide’s key points allowed them to clearly express their requirements: the method they looked for had to evaluate cropping systems and helped advisors to propose new ones; it had to evaluate multiple sustainability criteria that are easily understandable by farmers; indicators had to be scientifically based, without the need for many input data; the method had to be easy to use and produced graphical output that can be discussed with farmers. Finally, the guide helped advisors to choose one of the seven methods (in that case they chose MASC). This guide can help decision-makers distinguish assessment tools from one another using simple categories and choose the one best adapted to their expectations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper discusses the effects of climate change in agriculture and food in Latin America. In response to Maletta (2009), this essay analyze the real impacts climate change will have in the region. We suggest that global impacts in agriculture and food will be high in Latin America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The agriculture sector in India accounts for more than 85% of the total water use for irrigation. Within irrigation, the share of groundwater in the net irrigated area is around 50% to 55%, which is responsible for two-thirds of the total agricultural production. Agriculture also accounts for non-point-source pollution that arises from excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides. The Green Revolution was partly based on increased fertilizer use and intensive irrigation. During the past three decades, food production was tripled and poverty witnessed a decline. However, agriculture intensification led to overexploitation and pollution of groundwater resources, causing degradation of the environment and depletion of natural resources. Over and above, absence of significant public investment in surface water-based irrigation infrastructure, free or highly subsidized electricity, unregulated groundwater pumping, and irrational pricing policies have promoted cropping choices independent of resource endowments of water and energy. Over the long term, the current trends toward resource depletion and degradation, combined with a lack of proper reforms and policies that ensure agricultural sustainability and threats from climate change, pose a huge risk to farmers' income and can force poorer farmers out of the agricultural sector. In turn, these problems would lead to increased migration and poverty and decreased crop production, which are serious threats to food security. In this paper, we have discussed various challenges to water sustainability and food security of India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This section presents abstracts of papers on city planning published from 2007 to 2008, including "Streets, Sounds and Identity in Inter-war Harlem," by Clare Corbould, "(Re)making the Other, Heterosexualising Everyday Space," by Kath Browne, and "Rankings and Reactivity: How Public Measures Recreate Social Worlds," by Wendy Nelson Espeland and Michael Sauder.