Agricultural land use sustainability in Southwest Iran: Improving land leveling using consolidation plans

In recent years, sustainability has always been one of the most important approaches in policy making and program development in general, especially in the agricultural sector. On the other hand, land leveling and consolidation programs are usually implemented as the development programs of the agricultural sector in different regions of Iran. Thus, the aim of this study was to compare the agricultural sustainability in two different regions (with and without land leveling and consolidation) in Zarghan District, Fars Province, Iran. In this research, a quantitative research approach has been used, and data were collected in two phases using a researcher-made questionnaire. The results of the first phase of the study showed that in the leveled and consolidated lands, the ecological dimension is potentially in a good status of sustainability, but social and economic dimensions are in a moderate status. In the unleveled and unconsolidated lands, the ecological dimension is potentially in a good status, while the social dimension is in a moderate, and economic dimensions are in a potentially weak status of sustainability. In addition, comparing the results of the two groups of lands demonstrated that there is a significant difference between them in terms of ecological and economic sustainability, and in consolidated and leveled lands, ecological and economic sustainability are in a more favorable status. Furthermore, the results of the second phase of the research indicated that agricultural activities in both categories of land are beneficial. However, the net present value of agricultural activities revenues in the leveled and consolidated lands is higher than those of the areas outside the coverage of this plan. Therefore, it can be concluded that agricultural activities in leveled and consolidated lands, not only have a better status in terms of sustainability but also have a higher economic justification.     

Economic evaluation of ecosystem goods and services under different landscape management scenarios

Human-induced changes in the natural environment are affecting the provision of ecosystem goods and services (EGS). Land use plans rarely include the value of public ecosystem services such as climate regulation and biodiversity due to difficulties in valuing these services. In this study, we assessed total economic value for five important ecosystem goods and services under five future land-use scenarios using varying levels of costs, prices and discount rates. Results indicated that at higher discount rates normally applied to commercial activities, and assuming the current prices for goods and services, net present value (NPV) was highest for landscape management scenarios aimed at maximising agricultural production. Potential income from services such as carbon and biodiversity does not offset projected income lost from agriculture due to land-use changes. At higher discount rates, NPV was negative for the two scenarios aimed at enhancing the longer term ecological sustainability of the landscape. These results indicate that income from carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation would need to be considerably higher than current levels in order to justify focusing management of this landscape on ecological outcomes. At lower discount rates (at levels normally associated with public investments), the more ecologically appropriate ‘mosaic farming system’ had the highest NPV, indicating that this type of system might be attractive for investors interested in longer term return horizons or wider public benefits. Higher income from carbon or biodiversity, or increased return from timber by using high value tree species, could potentially make more ecologically appropriate systems profitable at higher discount rates.     

Evaluating the lifestyle impact of China’s rural housing land consolidation with locational big data: A study of Chengdu

Housing land consolidation and relocation has been widely implemented in rural China as a policy tool to reduce the area of built-up land, reclaim agricultural land, and redistribute the use of land. Despite of the large scale of implementation, the impact of this policy on the daily life of rural people is not sufficiently evaluated. Our work aims to fill in this gap by examining the daily activity pattern of rural residents in consolidated and unconsolidated villages through mobile phone locational data, using the Chengdu city-region as the case. One week’s locational data from all phone users of China Unicom was used. We found that housing land consolidation do not necessarily harm the daily life of rural residents, which has been a main concern of many research.     

土地整治区耕地质量重估方法研究

研究目的:为实现国家耕地总量动态平衡和识别土地整治成效,探索土地整治区耕地质量重估方法体系。研究方法:以田块为单元,从耕地自然质量、利用便捷度和稳定性三个方面选取21个指标构建土地整治区耕地质量重估体系,并以湖北省团风县基本农田土地整理项目为例,对原有耕地和新增耕地综合质量进行重估,同时提出基于重估结果的耕地质量等别快速更新方法。研究结果:(1)重估结果与研究区实际调查结果相符,能够较好反映整治区耕地综合质量及其变化;(2)经土地整治后研究区19.6%的原有耕地质量等别有所提升,25.66%的原有耕地受整治活动对地表的扰动及工程措施局限性等因素影响,出现等别下降的情况,新增耕地质量等别整体偏低;(3)小规模、过度依赖于劳动力投入的耕地经营模式已成为制约区域耕地综合质量提升的关键因素。研究结论:研究可为类似区域土地质量重估提供参考借鉴,为占补平衡、土地整治管理等工作提供有效依据。     

Farm-scale ecological and economic impacts of agricultural change in the uplands

Recent decades have witnessed substantial losses of biodiversity in Europe, partly driven by the ecological changes associated with intensification of agricultural production. These changes have particularly affected avian (bird) diversity in marginal areas such as the uplands of the UK. Future trends for upland birds will likely be impacted by changes in agricultural support regimes, such as those currently envisaged in on-going reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy. We developed integrated ecological-economic models, using seven different indicators of biodiversity based on avian species richness and individual bird densities. The models represent six different types of farms which are typical for the UK uplands, and were used to assess the outcomes of different agricultural futures. Our results show that the impacts of these future agricultural scenarios on farm incomes, land use and biodiversity are very diverse across policy scenarios and farm types. Moreover, each policy scenario produces un-equal distributions of farm income changes and gains and losses in alternative biodiversity indicators. This shows that generalisations of the effects of policy and pricing changes on farm incomes, land uses and biodiversity can be misleading. Our results also suggest that a focus on umbrella species or biodiversity indicators (such as total species richness) can miss important compositional effects.     

Agri-environment scheme protects diversity of mountain grassland species

Most evaluations of agri-environment policies conducted in Europe have focused on biodiversity improvement effects. Their effectiveness with respect to protecting existing biodiversity has been less investigated. Biodiversity and landscape protection effects can be expected in marginal agricultural areas, where farming has been less intensive.We investigated (i) the effectiveness of the Ecological Compensation Area (ECA) scheme for biodiversity protection according to different evaluation criteria and (ii) how the effectiveness of the scheme was influenced by climate, socio-economic conditions and farming structures. Vegetation surveys were carried out in 18 municipalities across the Swiss Alps on 162 randomly selected meadows managed as ECAs and on 162 conventionally managed meadows. Average species richness of ECA-meadows per municipality ranged between 27 and 46 vascular plant species per 25m² (conventionally managed meadows: 16-35 species per 25 m²). In lower altitude municipalities (mainly fulltime farming) where ECA meadows constituted 20% of farmland, the difference in species richness between the two land-use types was highly significant and the contribution of ECA-meadows to the grassland species pool was highest. In higher altitude municipalities (mainly part-time farming) where ECA meadows constituted at least 40% of farmland, higher species richness was found. This was associated with a strong botanical similarity of ECA and conventionally managed meadows.We conclude that at lower altitudes, where farming is relatively intensive, the ECA scheme protects a few, economically marginal, species rich and botanically complementary sites, important for maintaining the species pool. At higher altitudes the ECA scheme contributes to protecting existing biodiversity at the landscape scale. As it is more efficient to protect than to restore biodiversity, the protection effect of agri-environmental schemes needs to be adequately recognized.     

Why do we need to integrate farmer decision making and wildlife models for policy evaluation?

Environmental and agricultural policy instruments cause changes in land-use which in turn affect habitat quality and availability for a range of species. These policies often have wildlife or biodiversity goals, but in many cases they are ineffective. The low effectiveness and the emergence of unwanted side effects of environmental and agricultural policies are caused by over-simplistic assumptions in the design of policy instruments as well as difficulties with predicting behaviours of policy subjects. When considering wildlife in agricultural landscapes, policy's performance depends both on human (farmers) actions, which the policies aim to affect, and wildlife responses to land-use and management changes imposed by farmers. Thus, in order to design effective agri-environmental policies, detailed ex-ante assessments of both of these aspects are necessary. Due to the restrictive assumptions and technical limitations, traditional agricultural economic and ecological models fall short in terms of predictions of impacts of agri-environmental measures. The feedback situation between policy, human behaviour and ecological systems behaviour can confound these approaches, which do not take systems complexity into account. Therefore, a solution that integrates both feedback interactions and the differing scales at which these interactions take place is needed. For this, we suggest developing integrated policy assessment tools comprising of simulated farmer decision making, on-farm land-use and wildlife responses in the form of spatially explicit, dynamically connected agent-based models. Although complex and necessitating true inter-disciplinarity, these approaches have matured to the point where this endeavour is now feasible.     

Public preferences for controlling an invasive species in public and private spaces

Discrete choice experiments have been used in this case study to assess community benefits for the control of red imported fire ants, an aggressive ant species that were introduced by accident in 2001 to Brisbane, Australia. This invasive species could have substantial impacts on agricultural production, biodiversity, ecosystem services, infrastructure and communities. Values for avoiding impacts on three particular land uses have been assessed in this study with discrete choice experiments. The results indicated that on a per hectare basis, the value estimates to avoid infestation in public areas (schools and parks), were much higher than for private areas (housing) or natural bushland areas (protected native vegetation). There were high levels of support for eradication rather than containment strategies, despite the additional costs involved. The use of both random parameters logit and latent class models demonstrates that there is a significant heterogeneity in preferences and values for controlling or eradicating the invasive species, indicating that it may be challenging to gain and maintain political support for management options, particularly if these involve large costs or inconvenience to households.     

Changing land use intensity in Europe – Recent processes in selected case studies

In recent decades the intensification of agricultural production in many European countries has been one of the key components of land-use change. The impact of agricultural intensification varies according to national and local contexts and a greater understanding of the drivers of intensification will help to mitigate against its negative impacts and harness potential benefits. This paper analyses changes in land use intensity in six case studies in Europe. A total of 437 landowners were interviewed and their responses were analysed in relation to changes in land use intensity and agricultural production between 2001 and 2011. In the case studies in Western and Eastern Europe we observed stabilisation during the last decade, and no clear tendency of increase or decrease of land use intensity. The use of fertilizers and pesticides seems to have decreased in our cases in Western Europe, which is contrary to trends in Eastern Europe. Agricultural production remained stable in almost all cases, except for an increase in Austria and Romania which may indicate that the farming efficiency has increased. A statistical analysis showed a division between study areas in Romania and Austria (increasing land use intensity) versus those in the Netherlands, Denmark and Greece (decreasing). In the Mediterranean cases we observe a process where agriculture is becoming increasingly marginalised, at the same time as changes in function with regard to urbanisation and recreational land uses have taken place. Logistic regression highlighted the importance of farm size and farmer type in understanding changes in land use intensity. The dominant pattern of stabilisation which has occurred over the past 10 years may also partly be a result of effective EU and national environmental and agricultural policies, which are increasingly concerned with improving environmental conditions in rural areas.     

Analysing how drivers of agricultural land abandonment affect biodiversity and cultural landscapes using case studies from Scandinavia,Iberia and Oceania

Agricultural land abandonment (ALA) is widespread in many countries of the global north. It impacts rural communities, traditional landscapes, biodiversity and ecosystem services. It is an opportunity for ecosystem restoration or new landscape functions. We explored ALA in study areas in Australia, Portugal and Sweden. In each, we assessed plant species diversity, historical trajectories of land cover change; and the socioeconomic past, present and future in interviews with farmers. The ALA data was integrated and analysed by identifying the drivers of change. The relative importance of each driver and its scale of action was estimated, both in the past (1950–2010) and in the future (2010–2030). ALA has transformed rural landscapes in the study areas of Portugal and Sweden. It is at a much earlier stage with potential to increase in the Australian case. We identified a set of driving forces, classified into pressures, frictions and attractors that clarify why ALA, noting its temporal and spatial scale, occurs differently in each study area. The effect of the drivers is related to social and historical contexts. Pressures and attractors encouraging agricultural abandonment are strongest in Portugal and Sweden. Generally more (institutionalized) frictions are in place in these European sites, intended to prevent further change, based on the benefits assumed for biodiversity and aesthetics. In Australia, the stimulation of driving forces to promote a well-managed abandonment of some cleared areas could be highly beneficial for biodiversity, minimally disruptive for current dairy farming operations and would bring opportunities for alternative types of rural development.     

Impacts of land-cover change on the water flow regulation ecosystem service: Invasive alien plants,fire and their policy implications

Land and water resource issues typically fall under separate governance systems. For example, agricultural policy regulates land-cover change while water departments regulate water quality. However, land-use changes can directly affect water resources. Water flow regulation is a key service which is affected by changes in land-cover but its dynamics are poorly understood by most policy makers and land management organisations. We simulated and quantified the effects of plant invasions on land-cover, hydrological soil characteristics and catchment responsiveness on flow regulation using a hydrological model. The case study was located in the indigenous fynbos shrublands in South Africa. Fynbos requires fire to regenerate, has moderate biomass, occurs mostly in areas with a potential to erode and is prone to invasion by woody plant species, particularly trees. Invasions can affect flow regulation by changing community structure and function and increasing fuel loads. The greater fuel load increases fire intensity and severity which, in turn, changes the hydrological responses of catchments. Few studies have assessed the effects of invasion on hydrological responses but studies on plantations have recorded significant increases in soil water repellence following fire, resulting in increased overland flow similar to impacts of fires in invaded areas. Simulation of clear-felling of pines and different degrees of water repellency increased both the responsiveness of the catchment to rainfall and extreme rainfall events. The simulated fire effects were consistent with other studies of hydrological responses to fire. Our study indicates that invasions of pines and acacias in the study area could substantially increase the risk of flood damage even from moderate rainfall events, and highlights the importance of maintaining flow regulation capacity. New policy approaches are required which take account of the linkages and interactions between land-use choices, water resources and ecosystem services, and address them when considering governance arrangements.     

Biodiversity Conservation and Productivity in Intensive Agricultural Systems

This paper explores the economic effects of biodiversity loss on marketable agricultural output for intensive agricultural systems, which require an increasing level of artificial capital inputs. A theoretical bio‐economic model is used to derive a hypothesis about the effect of the state of biodiversity on the optimal crop output both in the longer run and in the transitional path towards the steady‐state equilibrium. The hypothesised positive relationship between biodiversity stock and optimal levels of crop output is empirically tested using a stochastic production frontier approach, based on data from a panel of UK specialised cereal farms for the period 1989–2000. The results support the theoretical hypothesis. Increases in biodiversity can lead to a continual outward shift in the output frontier (although at a decreasing rate), controlling for the relevant set of labour and capital inputs. Agricultural transition towards biodiversity conservation may be consistent with an increase in crop output in already biodiversity‐poor modern agricultural landscapes.     

Changes resulting from a land consolidation project (LCP) and its resource–environment effects: A case study in Tianmen City of Hubei Province,China

Land consolidation (LC) is essential for ensuring rural development and for increasing land use effectiveness. LC has been implemented in China since the mid-1990s in an attempt to increase available cropland area, reduce fragmentation and promote agricultural production capacity. The purpose of this study is to identify the changes resulting from the land consolidation project (LCP) implementation, and to develop a parametric approach to assess the resource–environment effects. This study could promote the LCP planning, and provide the support for the decision-making of the LC authorities. The Tianmen land consolidation project in Hubei Province of China was chosen as a case study. The results of the case study showed LCP implementation results in great changes in land use types and their proportions, connectivity of field-roads, irrigation systems and drainage systems, plot numbers, plot shape and plot size. These changes bring both positive and negative effects to region environmental and economic system. Positive effects were demonstrated in agricultural production capacity and agricultural production cost and the negative effects were expressed by the ecosystem services value, landscape diversity and human disturbance intensity.     

Is the abandonment of traditional livestock farming systems the main driver of mountain landscape change in Alpine areas?

Agricultural land abandonment and the consequent natural forest regrowth in areas once cultivated has significantly transformed Alpine ecosystems and landscapes. In this paper, we estimated the loss of agricultural areas due to reafforestation in the Belluno Province (Eastern Italian Alps) and integrated socioeconomic indicators with topographical features to evaluate the drivers of this change. Land use mapping, obtained from photo-interpretation of aerial photographs and technical maps, was used to quantify changes in forest and agricultural areas (crops, meadows and pastures) during the period of 1980–2000. On average, the forest surface expanded by 21%, while the agricultural areas decreased by 40%. This loss increased in areas with steeper slope, which confirms that the areas that would be first abandoned are those that are less productive and more difficult to manage. The reafforestation rate was particularly strong in the north of the province, where the livestock sector experienced a dramatic decline. In light of this situation and using multiple regression models with a large set of socioeconomic and agricultural indicators, we found that the loss of agricultural areas in 69 municipalities was primarily counterbalanced by the maintenance of livestock farming. The loss of steeper agricultural areas was counteracted by traditional extensive systems; however, it was not counteracted by modern intensive systems, which has important implications because steeper areas have higher landscape and biodiversity values. In addition, tourism development had a positive, although smaller, effect on the maintenance of agricultural areas, while industry development had a negative effect. The results of this study suggest that efforts are needed to maintain a territorial network of traditional extensive farms to avoid further landscape deterioration in Alpine areas. Likewise, certain choices toward the economic development of local communities might have an impact on land conservation.     

Development stressors are stronger than protected area management: A case of the Pantanos de Centla Biosphere Reserve,Mexico

Evaluation of the management effectiveness of protected areas has become a global priority, especially in coastal zones, where essential services are threatened by land use pressures. To assess the effectiveness of a coastal protected area, we estimated the land-use change (LUC) within and outside of the Pantanos de Centla Biosphere Reserve (PCBR) and interviewed key stakeholders to identify the main stressors causing LUC. The native vegetation cover under the PCBR protection decreased by 65% over 24 years; whereas agriculture and livestock lands doubled, even within the core conservation areas of the PCBR. The greatest loss was in the flooded forest (48%), where the reduction was similar in and around the reserve. The effectiveness of reserve management was affected by drivers of land use change, which include agricultural and livestock enterprises that are run by government programs. Effective management of the PCBR has been undermined by poor management practices, limited capacity and resources, and inadequate zoning design. Protected areas and its surrounding landscapes could be considered to be natural experiments for future research, where high value land uses and conservation objectives coincide within coastal areas that will face a predicted sea level rise, more intense floods and higher temperatures.     

Economic evaluation of agricultural land to assess land use changes

Land-use models express the relationship between various driving forces of land-use changes and are increasingly employed in practical applications to predict possible future land uses. The relationship between the agricultural land market and land-use changes is often neglected in such models. The objective of this study is to assess the production values of agricultural land to be integrated in an operational land-use model with the aim to improve understanding of land-use changes in all 28 European Union countries. This economic evaluation of agricultural land is based on the Net Present Value (NPV) method, a method that aims at uncovering the operational production values of land rather than real estate market value. The scientific relevance of this work is the development of a comprehensive methodology for the economic evaluation of agricultural land uses in different EU countries, the integration of economic production values of land to the local suitability approach in the studied land-use model and the provision of a EU-wide database of the NPVs of agricultural land uses, including various energy crops.     

Compliance of land cover changes with municipal land use planning: Evidence from the Lisbon metropolitan region (1990–2007)

In the past few decades, urbanisation has become a major phenomenon in European cities, thus representing one of the key human land cover changes with socio-economic and environmental impacts. In the Lisbon metropolitan region it is estimated that 17% of natural and farmland have been transformed into artificial areas. Since the end of 1990s, specific EU guidelines have been issued to contain urban sprawl and preserve agricultural land. Spatial planning in Portugal obviously is integrating these assumptions into the statutory land-use master plans. But what is the performance of this land use planning system regarding land cover evolution itself? Based on the Lisbon metropolitan region (LMR), one of the major areas of urban growth in Portugal, we examine spatio-temporal land cover patterns between 1990 and 2007 by integrating cross-matrix analysis, spatial metrics, and gradient analysis. Additionally, we overlay these land cover dynamics with municipal master plans that regulate land development in order to assess the compliance levels of this land-use regulatory system. Results indicate that: artificial areas are growing by coalescence and/or by scattered development along an urban–rural gradient; agricultural land is reducing and fragmentation is increasing to enlarge peri-urban spaces; there are high levels of conversion of agricultural land into urban land in protected areas, thus showing a lack of compliance to the land use regulatory system visible in the existing gaps between the original land-use assignments of the master plan and the actual developments.     

A farm-scale biodiversity and ecosystem services assessment tool: the healthy farm index

Farm management focused on maximizing biomass production results in biological simplification and ultimately a degraded production potential for the future. Despite the large and growing body of evidence pointing to the need to restore biodiversity to farm systems, incorporation of biodiversity and ecosystem services into local agricultural land-use decision-making remains limited. The lack of planned and associated biodiversity may reduce resiliency of local managed ecosystems and add management costs; however, the tradeoff for individual landowners of greater diversity is increased management complexity and uncertainty. To assist farmers in managing biodiversity and to encourage ecological thinking, we developed the Healthy Farm Index, a farm-scale tool that complements existing farm assessment tools by integrating multiple metrics and outputs suitable for applied decision-making and annual evaluation. In this article, we describe the impetus for the index development and the structure of the index and through a case study apply the index and discuss its varied outputs and applications.     

The role of legal protection in forest conservation in an urban matrix

Establishing forest protection standards is essential for biodiversity conservation and for ensuring the public water supply. This study evaluated whether compliance with environmental legislation aimed at protecting the Atlantic Forest is sufficient to minimize the negative effects of urban pressure on the conservation of biodiversity in the water source area of the Billings reservoir in the municipality of Diadema. To assess the effectiveness of environmental legislation, we created a current land use and land cover map as well as maps for an expected legal scenario and evaluated both using landscape metrics. Our findings indicate that forest resource availability in the area is critical but can be improved by compliance with legal obligations, which have complementary effects and the potential to promote less fragmented landscapes. On the other hand, they do not prevent the tendency of fragmentation caused by the surrounding urban matrix, which can reduce the positive effect of the legal compliance on forest conservation in cases of consolidated urban areas.     

Reconciling rural development and ecological restoration: Strategies and policy recommendations for the Brazilian Atlantic Forest

Increased demand for both agricultural production and forest restoration may lead to increased competition for land in the next decades. Sustainably increasing cattle ranching productivity is a potential solution to reconcile different land uses, while also improving biodiversity conservation and the provision of ecosystem services. If not strategically implemented in integration with complementary policies, sustainable intensification can however result in negative environmental, economic and social effects. We analyzed the potential for sustainable intensification as a solution for a conflict between agricultural expansion and forest restoration in the Paraitinga Watershed at the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, a global biodiversity hotspot. In addition, we provide policy recommendations for sustainable development in the region, based on interviews with producers and local actors. We found that the Paraitinga Watershed has the potential to increase its cattle-ranching productivity and, as a result, relinquish spared land for other uses. This was true even in the most conservative intensification scenario considered (50% of the maximum potential productivity reached), in which 76,702 ha of pastures can be spared for other uses (46% of total pasture area). We found that restoration, apiculture and rural tourism are promising activities to promote sustainable development in the region, thus potentially increasing food production and mitigating competition for land. Our study shows that results from socioeconomic interviews and biophysical modelling of potential productivity increases offer robust insights into practical solutions on how to pursue sustainable development in one of the world’s most threatened biodiversity hotspots.