In this last issue of the newsletter for 2011, we introduce a new study on corruption in the land sector. The study was carried out by FAO and the Berlin-based Transparency International and it illustrates that the land sector is one of the main public sector areas where corruption exists. In climate change news, the world’s attention is focused on Durban, South Africa where the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change – including FAO - are meeting this month. And finally, we take a look at a new publication that examines the need to better link climate change adaptation and mitigation policies and programmes to genetic resources objectives.

The State of Land and Water Resources (SOLAW) is FAO's first flagship publication onthe global status of land and water resources. It is an 'advocacy' report, to be published every 3 to 5 years, and targeted at senior level decision makers in agriculture as well as in other sectors. SOLAW is aimed at sensitizing its target audience on the status of land resources at global and regional levels and FAO's viewpoint on appropriate recommendations for policy formulation. SOLAW focuses on these key dimensions of analysis: (i) quantity, quality of land and water resources (ii) the rate of use and sustainable management of these resources in the context of relevant socio-economic driving factors and concerns, including food security and poverty, and climate change.

In this issue, we look at the launch of the new Global Soil Partnership and examine the next steps. We also look report on FAO’s collaboration with NASA to create an international fire-reporting system, the Global Fire Information Management System, which delivers key data to remote regions of developing countries. Finally, we introduce FAO-MOSAICC, an integrated package of models to carry out climate change impact assessment at the national level.