State governments, which own most forests, must seek central-government approval for any shift in the use of forest land.

ECONOMIST: Poverty in India

Sustaining existing forest cover, planting new trees and better management of land use is also suggested as a means to slow global warming.

BBC: Impact of global warming may be severe and wide-ranging

In the ensuing decade, Oregon pioneered tough land-use regulations, curbing industries that relied on forest products and declaring war on suburban sprawl.

FORBES: New Geographer

The likely impact includes forest conversion to agricultural land, a drop in biological diversity as a result of monocropping and the massive use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides, unsustainable levels of water abstraction and a greater risk of water-related conflicts with local communities and neighbouring States sharing the same transboundary river systems.

UNESCO: Madiodio Niasse on the risks associated with large-scale foreign land aquisitions | United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

Having spent years increasing production and acreage, Embrapa is now turning to ways of increasing the intensity of land use and of rotating crops and livestock so as to feed more people without cutting down the forest.

ECONOMIST: Brazilian agriculture