The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announces new information materials that may be of use to agroforestry practitioners:
Country pasture profiles provides an overview of pasture and forage resources in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Near East and Southwest Pacific. It contains many figures, tables and photos presenting topographical, climatic and agroecological information on pasture and forage resources with focusing on livestock production systems. Available on CD-ROM.
Grassland species profiles lists more than 600 grassland species from various agroecological zones. The grassland index database can be accessed by species common name, Latin name or genus. Available on CD-ROM.
People and forests is a compilation of 15 years of FAO's participatory forestry publications under its Forest, Trees and People Programme. Users can choose from over 70 publications on participatory forestry and related subjects and outputs of community forestry development programmes. Available on CD-ROM.
Tilapias as alien aquatics in Asia and the Pacific: a review presents a broad analysis of the overall contribution of tilapias to the food supply in many areas of the world. Written by Sena De Silva, Rohana Subasinghe, Devein Bartley and Alan Lowther, this technical paper also discusses the controversy over whether tilapias cause environmental and biodiversity damage.
Agricultural marketing resources is a compilation of FAO's publications on agricultural marketing since 1990. Publications include training materials, marketing policy books, guides in the planning and design of markets and books on market information and farm input marketing. Available on CD-ROM.
Information network on postharvest operations (INPho) features information on postproduction systems of various products ranging from maturity to consumption. Users can have offline access to the INPho virtual library, including the "who's who" in postharvest, the INPho cookbook, and the first 30 chapters of the Postharvest Operations Compendium. Available on CD-ROM.
Production and export of organic fruit and vegetables in Asia summarizes the presentations and discussions during the International Seminar on Producing and Exporting Organic Fruit and Vegetables in Asia held in Bangkok, Thailand in November 2003. Written by Pascal Liu, the paper describes the situation, outlook and opportunities for organic horticultural products in North America, the European Union and Japan.
The paper also examines how Asia can utilize these potential market opportunities from case studies on the development of the organic agricultural sector in Thailand, China and India. It also analyzes the constraints and strategy options to develop the production and export of organic horticultural crops.
State of the world's forests 2005 is the sixth edition of FAO's flagship publication. It presents a global picture of the forest sector through contributions that highlight current challenges and opportunities.
With the theme, "Realizing the economic benefits from forests," the publication recognizes the economic viability of the forest sector as a prerequisite to safeguarding the environmental, social and cultural functions of the forests and at the same time help achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goals of ensuring environmental sustainability and eradicating extreme poverty and hunger.
The publication is divided into two parts. The first part covers topics related to forest resource management, conservation and sustainable development, the institutional framework, and the international forest policy dialogue. The second part focuses on five issues - challenges and opportunities in enhancing the economic benefits from forests, experiences and lessons learned in realizing the economic benefits from agroforestry, the economics of wood energy, ways in which tariff and non-tariff measures affect trade in forest products, and the reasons for violent conflicts in forested regions and how forests can pave the way for transition to peace.
State of the world's forests collection (1995-2005) is a compilation of all six issues of FAO's flagship publication in Arabic, Chinese, English, French and Spanish. It features the latest information on the major policy and institutional developments and key issues concerning the forestry sector. IThis information source provides a good overview of how forest resources have changed a lot in the past decade. Available on CD-ROM.
Methods and materials in soil conservation contains FAO's latest Land and Water Digital Media Series which summarizes the factors that control soil erosion. It describes the methods, techniques and the selection of materials to assess the feasibility, investigation, design, construction and planned maintenance of soil conservation measures. It also discusses the role of land classification. Available on CD-ROM with manual.
Major soils of the world is a reprinted version of FAO's Land and Water Digital Media Series No. 19 published in 2002. The CD-ROM has been released in support of the World Soil Resources Report No. 94: Lecture Notes on the Major Soils in the World. It contains additional photos, a slideshow, virtual tour of the soils and landscapes and a typical soil profile for each of the 30 reference soil groups of the World Reference Base for Soil Resources.
For more information, visit http://www.fao.org/catalog/. (Compiled by Leah Arboleda)
