Implications of CAP reform for land management and runoff control in England and Wales

WTO negotiations, as well as problems associated with intensive agriculture, such as overproduction, dependency on high levels of subsidies, diffuse pollution, soil degradation and loss of wildlife, have led to a reconsideration of agricultural policies in Europe. In April 2005, the new common agricultural policy (CAP)-reform came into force in the United Kingdom, decoupling financial support to farmers from agricultural production. Farm income support payments are now linked to compliance with standards (cross-compliance rules) which protect the environment, animal health and welfare. In the light of these policy changes, semi-structured interviews were carried out with 36 farmers in five catchments in the UK to explore interrelationships between CAP-reform, agricultural land management and runoff-related problems. Results from three catchments are specifically highlighted because of their relevance for soil policy.The CAP-reform appears to facilitate and accelerate changes in the agricultural sector that were already happening. It is likely that upland livestock farms will extensify further, which will reduce environmental burdens such as diffuse pollution, soil compaction and runoff. The uptake of agri-environment schemes by individual farmers has increased since the CAP-reform. However, additional impacts are limited as there is a tendency among participants to enter these schemes based on existing features and practices.Although most farmers interviewed for this study appear to recognise the need to reduce soil erosion and diffuse pollution, they are less convinced they should be held responsible for controlling storm-water runoff from farmland that might contribute to flooding downstream. However, there are opportunities to achieve several objectives simultaneously, including improved soil management, runoff control and reduced pollution. Lessons can be learned from farmers’ opinions about CAP-reform, from successful interventions that aimed to reduce soil erosion and diffuse pollution, and also from failures. Recommendations are made for improvements to the current agri-environment schemes and to promote land management practices with less environmental burden.     

Assessment through socioecological abstraction: The case of nutrient management models in Sudano-Sahelian West Africa

The sustainability of smallholder agriculture in the drylands of West Africa is a topic of long-lasting concern. This paper is focused on the scientific assessment of nutrient (mis)management affecting the long-term productivity of cropland. “Nutrient mining” is seen as a major mechanism for land degradation in the region. Two models will be the focus: that tied to the rangeland-to-cropland metric and the nutrient balance model. These tools of assessment follow a long history of environmental assessment and modeling that purposefully abstracts from the heterogeneity of the same farming practices that modeling efforts seek to assess. Abstraction is always part of modeling but the form of abstraction described here ignores any detailed understanding of farming practices and in so doing, demands very little information about farming practices. In this way, models serve as both the symptom and cause of continued ignorance of farming practices by most agronomists and soil scientists working in the region. The variables used in these models will be described and how these same variables are strongly influenced by the variation of farmers’ practices will be discussed. In addition, it will be shown that needless model abstraction results in research outcomes that provide very little insights to guide land policy formulation and agricultural extension. In short, these models point to the ultimate resource limits of the regional agricultural system but provide few insights of what could be changed to reduce rates of land degradation. The paper concludes by presenting alternative approaches that through their engagement with the diverse positionalities of farmers, provides insights useful for the development of effective land policies.     

Agricultural land use pattern dynamics in the Sudan–Sahel—towards an event-driven framework

While addressing the issue of field encroachment and land use pattern changes in the desert margin regions, the paper proposes to develop a model which recognises land use pattern changes as event-driven. The picture that underpins development efforts and policy papers for environmental improvement in the Sudan–Sahel region often describes changes in agricultural landscape systems as a unidirectional expansion of fields onto marginal land in response to population pressure and resource degradation. It is proposed that models of land use pattern trajectories as well as of resilience of land use systems have to recognise a strong random element related to unforeseeable events.     

Effects of land lease policy on changes in land use,mechanization and agricultural pollution

Land fragmentation has restrained the development of Chinese agriculture with the application of agricultural machinery. Meanwhile, agricultural pollution has caused serious problems with development. To address these problems, China's government proposed a new farmland lease policy and built larger farms beginning in 2013. However, changes in land fragmentation may also have unexpected problems for Chinese agriculture. This study investigated the effects of these changes on changes in land use, the application of machinery and agricultural pollution. We analyzed a developed area (in the fields of both agriculture and industry) and studied the decision-making habits of farmers in the area. An agent-based model was proposed with the same decision-making habits as in the real world. The results indicated that land lease increased agricultural profits very little in Jiangsu, China. Meanwhile, the application of land lease policy increased pollution. To alleviate pollution and increase profits, a new policy for large automatic protection machinery (i.e., large spraying machinery) should be introduced by governments simultaneous with land lease policy. Farmers could realize greater profits through the introduction of land lease policy and high-efficiency machinery. The sustainable development of agriculture in Jiangsu requires the integration of these government policies.     

Land use consolidation in Rwanda: The experiences of small-scale farmers in Musanze District,Northern Province

The modernization and intensification of agricultural production in Africa has long been a policy goal, for increased productivity and food security. In 2008, the Rwandan government implemented various land and agricultural reforms to transform Rwandan agriculture from subsistence farming to market-oriented production. Central to this agricultural transformation was the Crop Intensification Programme, intended to increase the agricultural productivity of high-potential food crops and encourage land use consolidation, i.e., the joint cultivation of large areas, which was expected to deliver important economies of scale. This programme has been criticized, for example, for authoritarian implementation, negative effects on food security from sole-cropping a few selected crops, and increasing rural socioeconomic differentiation.This paper analyses the effects of the land use consolidation programme at the household level, as experienced by small-scale farmers in Musanze District in the Northern Province of Rwanda. The paper draws on 45 individual and 22 collective qualitative semi-structured interviews with small-scale farmers and local key informants in five sectors, conducted in 2013 and 2014.The findings show that there is satisfaction, dissatisfaction, and resistance to the programme, especially regarding the selected crops to be cultivated. The programme, including supporting mechanisms, seems to work well for the relatively better-off farmers, who have bigger and scattered land areas, whereas it does not work well for poor farmers with very small plots, which is common in rural Rwanda.     

Towards sustainable rural development in Central and Eastern Europe: Applying land consolidation

Over the past twenty years, social and economic decline in rural areas has intensified in the Central and Eastern European countries. A precondition for the reversal of this decline is the implementation of new policies in relation to the fundamentals of land ownership and management. In addition to addressing the problems of land ownership fragmentation, these should include measures to improve agricultural production and employment, taxation policy, and legislation to protect land ownership rights, within the context of acknowledging environmental and sustainability considerations. In Europe, the requirement for readjusting unfavourable land fragmentation and promoting the appropriate use of land combining with positive environmental solutions is expected to create new sustainable land management systems. The consolidation of land ownerships may be an effective and active land management instrument which not only addresses the problems of land fragmentation, but also, if applied sensitively, may be an instrument for delivering sustainable rural development in a wider context. The aim of this research is to investigate land consolidation as an essential tool to create sustainable rural areas in Lithuania.     

Land administration “best practice” providing the infrastructure for land policy implementation

Land administration systems, and particularly their core cadastral components, are an important infrastructure which facilitates the implementation of land use policies. While most land administration systems traditionally have a primary objective of supporting the operation of land markets, they are increasingly evolving into a broader land information infrastructure which supports economic development, environmental management and social stability in both developed and developing countries. While a great deal of attention is given to land use policies worldwide concerned with such areas as forest management, coastal zone management, environmental sustainability and managing the urban environment, less attention is given to the infrastructures which facilitate the implementation of the associated policies and programmes. Importantly, all these activities rely on some form of land administration infrastructure which permits the complex range of rights, restrictions and responsibilities in land to be identified, mapped and managed as a basis for policy formulation and implementation. As a result, there is an increasing interest in the concept of land administration infrastructures and their core cadastres, in the principles and policies concerned with establishing such infrastructures and in “best practices”. In addressing this need, this paper attempts to explain the evolving concept of land administration infrastructures, the concept of “best practice” and the concept of a land administration “tool box” of principles, policies, laws and technologies which are useful in reforming or re-engineering land administration systems in support of a broader land policy agenda.     

Land management for erosion prevention: A case study for a Turkish nature reserve

As a result of landslides and soil erosion, a substantial amount of soil has been lost in Turkey. Particularly, fertile lands have long been faced with the threat of erosion, largely as a result of traditional (unplanned) land use practices. This threat is more evident in the Black Sea Region with its rough topography and rainy climate. The basic reason for this threat is the lack of organization in land use planning and control. Although proposals, in the context of this requirement, are included in national development plans, they have not been implemented. Accordingly, in this study research based on spatial data evaluation was carried out for Sera Lake located in Akcaabat, Trabzon, Turkey. For this purpose, temporal area, depth and volume changes of the lake were determined by utilizing topographic maps, aerial photographs and hydrographical measurements. To evaluate determined changes in the size of the lake and to produce suggestions to legislators for required sustainable land management activities, information on land use/cover types, land ownership and climate in the vicinity of the lake was utilized. As a result, it was determined that the area, depth and volume of the lake were significantly decreased during the last decades, as a consequence of erosion mainly caused by traditional land use practices; thus, the lake is threatened with the danger of extinction due to erosion. Precautions required for the alleviation of erosion and other adverse environmental effects which largely seem to be caused by harsh physical properties (caused basically by topography) of the region were discussed. In support of the information inherent to the region, traditional arable land use was logically determined as the basic non-natural factor (which is directly prone to erosion) to be rearranged in the context of sustainable land management. In this context, beyond nationwide actions (national agricultural policy and Soil Protection and Land Use Law), which may provide the required land management tools in the long term, it is proposed that planning and accordingly land management activities specific to the study area (Sera Valley) should immediately be commenced in close collaboration with the related public (owners or farmers). However, behaviours of different types of land users (engaged in commercial, subsistence and semi-subsistence farming) and also high number of owners and/or farmers (caused by small pieces of land parcels owned/used in shares) make the desired collaboration almost impossible. This socio-economical problem may be solved by further developing the current land registry and cadastre system in terms of customary land use rights, land use/cover changes and updating procedures.     

How involved are they really? A comparative network analysis of the institutional drivers of local actor inclusion

Different socio-economic and environmental drivers lead local communities in mountain regions to adapt land use practices and engage in protection policies. The political system also has to develop new approaches to adapt to those drivers. Local actors are the target group of those policy approaches, and the question arises of if and how much those actors are consulted or even integrated into the design of local land use and protection policies. This article addresses this question by comparing seven different case studies in Swiss mountain regions. Through a formal social network analysis, the inclusion of local actors in collaborative policy networks is investigated and compared to the involvement of other stakeholders representing the next higher sub-national or national decisional levels. Results show that there is a significant difference (1) in how local actors are embedded compared to other stakeholders; and (2) between top-down versus bottom-up designed policy processes.     

Multifunctional peri-urban agriculture—A review of societal demands and the provision of goods and services by farming

Peri-urban areas around urban agglomerations in Europe and elsewhere have been subject to agricultural and land use research for the past three decades. The manner in which farming responds to urban pressures, socio-economic changes and development opportunities has been the main focus of examination, with urban demand for rural goods and services representing a driving factor to adapt farming activities in a multifunctional way. Working within the peri-urban framework, this review pays particular attention to the relevance of multifunctional agriculture. Academic discourses and empirical insights related to farm structure and practices beyond conventional agriculture are analysed. Diversification, recreational and environmental farming, landscape management and specialisation, as well as direct marketing are all taken into consideration and discussed within the context of landscape functions. The provision of rural goods and services is contrasted with societal demands on peri-urban agriculture. This review finds that multifunctional agriculture has been commonly recognised in peri-urban areas – a phenomenon that includes a large variety of activities and diversification approaches within the context of environmental, social and economic functions of agriculture. In response to the post-productive, consumption-oriented requirements of the urban society, peri-urban farmers have intensified their uptake of multifunctional activities. Nevertheless, not all multifunctional opportunities are being fully developed when one considers the large and growing urban demand for goods and services provided by agriculture carried out near the city. This paper discusses policy and planning approaches to support multifunctional agriculture in peri-urban areas.     

Farmers’ land use decision-making in the context of changing land and conservation policies: A case study of Doi Mae Salong in Chiang Rai Province,Northern Thailand

In Thailand, land use planning and policy decision-making were—and to some extent still are—organized in a hierarchical and disjointed fashion. This is also true for the utilization of public lands, including forest reserves in the northern uplands that are often settled by ethnic minorities. There are, however, instances of change in land policies and regulations and in the way decisions and plans are made. Doi Mae Salong (DMS) in Northern Thailand, where there is a trend towards land use for conservation purposes, is a case in point. This paper aims to explore decision-making by farmers in DMS in the context of changing land regulations and policies from the 1950s to the present. The Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework, together with a historical perspective and with narratives on land management through time, were applied by using in-depth interviews of key informants and group farmers’ discussions as tools. The time period under investigation was divided into three periods of change: The first period, before the year 1960, was an era of security concern. In contrast, the second period, from 1961 to 1996, was an era of emerging conservation priorities. Finally, the third period, from 1997 to the present, is an era of lessons learned from the conservation era. Land use decision outcomes reveal that the decision-making processes of farmers are influenced both by the hierarchical decisions of higher authorities and by horizontal linkages among multiple stakeholders. However, while farmers participate readily in forest conservation activities, they do not play an active role in the process of changing policies.     

Mapping Brisbane’s Casual Creative Corridor: Land use and policy implications of a new genre in urban creative ecosystems

Creative hotspots have become a key driver for urban policies to stimulate social, cultural, environmental and organisational growth of creative and knowledge-based clusters, districts and hubs. However, their functional and spatial characteristics vary due to their different evolving structure as new spaces of economic activity in different contexts. This article points to a consideration of new foci for both land use and urban economic policy through a mapping of formal and informal creative hotspots in Brisbane, Australia. The study found two distinctive development patterns: (a) earlier top-down approaches as instigated by national and international innovation policies, and; (b) recently emerging bottom-up spaces for creativity, knowledge and innovation practices. This study examines how formal creative strategies and emerging informal creative spaces shape cities and urban policies. The methodology comprises online data collection and a review of creative and knowledge strategies and implementation policies. Data was then analysed via multiple mapping techniques illustrating the spatial distribution of creative hotspots, formal and informal formations, scale and land use characteristics. The research findings consolidate our understanding of Brisbane’s creative ecosystem and suggest new urban policy mechanisms to better foster the interrelationship between top-down and bottom-up approaches in cities, that is, between formally planned and large-scale interventions and small-scale organic and informal creative activities.     

Land allocation to meet sectoral goals in Indonesia—An analysis of policy coherence

Land is a scarce resource affecting the implementation of many sectoral policies. In Indonesia, the expansion of palm oil plantations has led to non-sustainable land use practices in past years, particularly deforestation. More recently, the government has set ambitious targets for the adoption of biodiesel which will require expansion of oil palm plantations, thus putting further pressure on land. Meanwhile, the need to guarantee food supply, forest conservation and climate change mitigation also imply challenges when it comes to land allocation and use. This paper examines the role that land plays in the implementation of sectoral policies in Indonesia, exploring the availability of land to satisfy the multiple goals defined in national policies. We explore land competition resulting from allocations made in official policy documents starting with biofuel policy. The analysis of policy goals and coherence when it comes to land allocation is made in relation to agriculture, climate and forestry policies. We conclude that adjustments need to be made in the policies to avoid overlappings and misinterpretations when it comes to land allocation. The area made available for meeting each sectoral policy goal when taking into account cross sectoral interactions is: 14.2 Mha for agriculture, 43 Mha for climate mitigation measures, 9.2 Mha for forestry, and 20.9 Mha for biofuels. A more uniform land classification and development of a common reference database will increase transparency on land allocation and use, and help to monitor land use change, ultimately supporting the achievement of multiple national goals.     

Land use policy in China: Introduction

This themed issue of Land Use Policy builds mainly on papers presented at an international conference on ‘Land Use Issues and Policy in China under Rapid Rural and Urban Transformation’, convened by the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China, in October 2012. The conference set out to share and promote new scientific findings from a range of disciplines that advance research on land use policy in China. The contributions to this themed issue provide conceptual–theoretical and empirical takes on the topic, around four main areas of interest to both researchers and policymakers: nation-wide land use issues, the Sloping Land Conversion Program, land engineering and land use, and land use transitions. Various land use issues have been associated with rapid urban–rural transformations in China, giving rise to formulation of new policies directly affecting land use. However, these have contributed to new land use problems due to the nature of the policies and the difficulties in policy implementation constrained by the special ‘dual-track’ structure of urban–rural development in China. In view of this, this themed edition makes a compelling call for more systematic research into the making and implementation of China's land use policy. It also emphasizes the challenges for further research on land use policy in China.     

How did post-2000 agricultural policy changes in Turkey affect farmers? – A focus group evaluation

The aim of this study is to provide an analysis on how producers have been affected by the decisions made in 2000 in the agricultural sector. Data collected from the focus group discussions was compared to the agricultural policy effects on Antalya Burdur and Isparta provinces. The participants were primarily selected from a list of state institutions and organizations, and included representatives from cooperatives and producer organizations that are engaged in the agricultural sector and/or bring service to rural areas. The discussion revealed that small-scale farmers were unable to use the support provided by the policies; as a consequence, many of them were unable to cultivate their land and had to migrate. In general, the participants stated that significant social and economic changes did occur in rural areas, however they emphasized that these changes were to the detriment of small-scale farmers and instead favored farmers operating on large scale.     

Changes of livelihood due to land use shifts: A case study of Yanchang County in the Loess Plateau of China

Studies of land use policies are commonly based on the environmental impacts or on people's direct responses to the policies. However, research on the impact of policy implementation on people's livelihood and activities and the subsequent economic development of an area is incomplete. We selected Yanchang County as an example to track land use changes and their effects on the livelihood of the local population following the implementation of a new land use policy known as the Grain for Green Project (GGP). The data were collected from statistical yearbooks, questionnaire surveys, and satellite imagery from 1990, 2000, and 2008. We found that dramatic land use changes have occurred in Yanchang County. The vegetation coverage improved significantly from 1990 to 2008, as the grassland and forest areas increased from 44.1% to 60.1% and from 17.7% to 18.4% of the total land area, respectively. The cultivated land declined from 37.3% to 20.7%. With the agricultural area and grain production decreasing from 64 × 10³ tons to slightly over 20 × 10³ tons per year, an increasing number of local people sought employment in towns and cities. The non-farm income increased, and the local income structure shifted. Migrant and orchard worker income contributed the most to the balance of the total household income. We narrowed our focus to discuss how the GGP accelerated the changes in the participants’ lifestyles and what might be done to sustain the long-term effects of the GGP. While the GGP has brought about considerable environmental benefits, a comprehensive study of environmental–social systems is still needed to achieve a more efficient land use policy. The research results presented in this paper demonstrate that changes in land use and people's activities were triggered by policy changes. We aim to pave the way for studies on the “policy-land-use-social development” chain and to provide references for new policies.     

Exploring farmers’ orientation towards multifunctional agriculture: Insights from northern Iran

The multifunctional agriculture (MFA) concept, namely, the fact that agricultural activity may also have several other functions beyond its role of producing food and fiber, has emerged as a key notion in scientific and policy debates regarding the future of agriculture and rural development. However, the relationship between undertaking multifunctional activities and farmers’ perceptions of farming is to a great extent unknown. A survey of 209 randomly selected farmers was conducted in Masal County of Guilan province, Iran to describe farmers’ perceptions of MFA and provide a better understanding of factors shaping these perceptions. Several factors were considered in the study, including traditional farming practices of small-scale farmers in the area (e.g. manual soil tillage, use of livestock manure and by-products for soil improvement, multiple cropping, family livestock), good agricultural practices at farm level related to environmental protection (e.g. low use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides), and also local traditions and heritage. Exploratory factor analysis was used to categorize agricultural functions based on the collected data and cluster analysis was used for sorting out farmers regarding six extracted factors. These factors were: multiple cropping, social acceptability, environmental health, stability and continuity, food security, and local traditions and heritage. About half of the respondents (48.3%) showed highly positive perceptions of MFA, putting emphasis on social acceptability and environmental health for food security, including also preservation of local traditions (named: guardians of culture and traditions). Almost a third (31.1%) showed moderately positive perceptions of MFA, with mainly a socio-environmental orientation, whereas a sizeable proportion (20.6%) was indifferent to MFA. Data offer useful insights to decision makers regarding the design and implementation of territorial planning strategies. Food production remains a key element in farming systems, but besides mainstream agriculture, the positive perceptions of MFA support that alternative farming systems could be implemented. However, the most successful farming systems adapted to specific contexts and needs should be promoted, taking into account existing facilities and sufficiency for appropriate rural management.     

Mechanism of regional land use transition in underdeveloped areas of China: A case study of northeast China

By using Northeast China as example, this study measured the characteristics of the land use transition of underdeveloped areas (UAs) of China and explored the underlying transition mechanism. This study found that, the main characteristics of the land use transition of Northeast China during the last two decades (1995–2015) were continuous expansion of cropland, accelerated growth of construction land, and continuous reduction of woodland and grassland, as well as unused land. Policies dominate the process of land use transition of the UAs of China. The land use transition of UAs of China is a result of interaction and coupling between socio-ecological feedback under the guidance of policies and socio-economic change under the influence of policies. The former determines the direction of regional land use transition while the latter determines the intensity of this transition. During the process of land use transition, the sustainable use of land of the UAs of China faces several severe issues: inefficient use of urban construction land caused by unreasonable policy support, degradation of the ecological environment caused by irrational expansion of cropland, and both policy instability and policy conflicts. To resolve these issues, punishment and accountability of local governmental violations of land use should be strengthened. Furthermore, a land use information disclosure system and public supervision mechanism should be established by policy makers. The starting point of policy formulation should be shifted from quantity growth to quality improvement as well as from economic benefits to comprehensive benefits.