Certain conventions have been adapted in this study to aid the reader. Brackets are used to refer to sources such as other chapters in the study-e.g. [Ch.2], to specific sections within a chapter-e.g. [Sect. 2.2], or to one or more bibliographic referencese.g. [7, 12, 21, 34]. In citing the source of a quotation, page numbers are given after the reference number-e.g. [ 12, p. 37-38]. Each chapter has its own reference section. All bibliographic numbers bracketed in text refer to the references at the end of that chapter.
The worlds of development and academia are rife with acronyms. Many are redundant and confusing, and a good number in this study are in languages other than English. To avoid confusion, a special acronym section is provided at the end of each chapter. Every attempt has been made to minimize their use in text but they are unavoidable in bibliographies. Approximate translations of French and Spanish acronyms are provided.
Scientific abbreviations also appear. Since many of them are used in all chapters, it is redundant to repeat the list each time. Some common ones are:
cu m/ha |
cubic metre per hectare |
m |
metre |
ha |
hectare |
mm |
millimetre |
km |
kilometre |
MIA |
mean annual increment |
sq km |
square kilometre |
Abbreviations in the bibliographies for three countries of publication are as follows (all other countries are spelled out in full):
SWE Sweden |
UK United Kingdom |
USA United States |
Local, indigenous, non-English terms are underlined. Their anglicized plurals are noted by a break in the underlines-e.g. Hindi/Nepali panchayat vs. panchayats, etc. The number of foreign terms has been kept to the minimum but they are often necessary.
Botanical terms for genus and species are italic-e.g. Acacia nilotica, A. eliator (short for Acacia eliator where the genus is clear from the text), and Acacia spp. (meaning, in this instance, species of Acacia).
All English spelling conforms to International English as adopted by FAO and other agencies of the United Nations. (It basically follows British convention but not entirely.) Many foreign terms contain special diacritical marks. They have been retained, although we may have missed a few.