The terms governing land investments can shape whether host countries and local communities benefit from investment projects. Yet host governments in low- and middle-income countries often lack sufficient legal and technical capacity to prepare for, negotiate, implement, and monitor investments,...

This paper details a methodology for calculating the extent of terrestrial and marine protected areas recorded in the World Database on Protected Areas by country, type and IUCN management categories. The method allows the data on protected areas to be summarised in a harmonised and more...

Water policy experts contend that the United States is heading toward a water scarcity crisis in the coming years. Global climate change is likely to make water scarcity much worse in the long run. This article argues that demands of current and projected water management challenges can best be...

Changes in the biophysical characteristics of natural habitats – that can be measured with data on land cover – are the best proxy to monitor pressures on ecosystems and biodiversity. This paper presents a suite of indicators that track land cover change over time in a globally consistent...

This Article analyzes the recent trend of regulating land use through ballot initiatives. Most of this activity occurs in jurisdictions west of the Mississippi River, and as the West becomes the new political battleground, the significance of these initiatives continues to grow. Supporters tout...

Voluntary CO2 emission cuts announced so far by States are not enough to stay on target and avoid trespassing the 2° threshold: 13 gigatons carbon dioxide equivalent are missing to bridge the distance. Can the energy sector alone carry this burden? Better land management and degraded lands...

Conservation tillage has been widely recommended for implementation in the U.S. for its environmental benefits. The effect of conservation tillage on crop yield is a subject of continued concern amongst farmers who have not adopted the practice. Previous empirical research on the yield...

"Regulatory property" is the right to engage in specified activities, made valuable by government prohibitions against competitors, and protected by de jure or de facto status as property. This Article explores regulatory property and focuses upon its applications in land use regulation. It...

Land is an essential but limited natural resource. We employ the concept of stocks to analyse driving forces for land-use conversion and to assess, whether the German political "30- hectares-goal" is feasible given the current institutional setting. In this paper major driving forces for...