Central to this working paper is the notion that the concepts and methods of comparative politics can shine light on political factors important for catalysing positive change on the governance climate change adaptation and food security in the developing world.

This paper distinguished different analytical approaches to the evaluation of the sustainability of large-scale land acquisitions—at both the conceptual and methodological levels. First, at the conceptual level, evaluation of the sustainability of land acquisitions depends on what definition of sustainability is adopted—strong or weak sustainability. Second, a lack of comparative empirical methods in many studies has limited the identification of causal factors affecting sustainability.

Land tenure security has long been touted as key to increased performance of the agricultural sector in developing countries. At the same time, off-farm employment is seen as a strategy to diversify rural economies.

A revised application of Ostrom's (Ostrom, 2007) Social-Ecological System (SES) framework to Hardin's ‘tragedy of the commons’ (Hardin, G. (1968), Science, 162(3859): 1243–1248) demonstrates that its institutional structure is more complex than either Hardin or Ostrom had imagined.

This paper uses sex-disaggregated survey data at the plot level to test whether there are systematic gender differences in the adoption of multiple sustainable intensification practices (SIPs) in Kenya.

This paper explores smallholder farmers’ adoption decisions of multiple sustainable intensification practices (SIPs) in eastern and southern Africa. The authors develop a multivariate probit model using plot-level data gathered from maize–legume farming systems in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, and Tanzania.

Majority of the households living adjacent to the forest depend primarily on agriculture and secondarily on forest resources. For these households, agriculture plays a key role, for subsistence needs and as the source of income, forest on the other hand is the major source of energy, building materials and income as well.