Forcing Germany's renewable energy targets by increased energy crop production: A challenge for regulation to secure sustainable land use practices

According to European and German energy policies, the proportion of energy crops is to increase significantly in the coming years to meet the ambitious goals for renewable energies. Stimulated by the German Renewable Act (EEG), this has lead to a strong increment of energy crop, cultivation, especially maize for biogas production. The increased cultivation of energy crops can lead to severe negative impacts on ecosystem services (ES). Therefore, there is a necessity for a better regulation of bioenergy production. In our paper, we analyze possible impacts of an increased biomass production on ES and look at instruments to better regulate energy crop cultivation in Germany. We assess legal instruments, the EEG, how spatial planning might contribute for a better steering and in which way the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union influences framing practices in energy crop cultivation. It can be stated that the steering effects of many legal instruments are extremely weak to secure sustainability and ES. We can demonstrate that there is a necessity for precise minimum standards to be applied effectively at the local level. Also there is a strong need for tools and instruments to gain a spatial dimension for regulating bioenergy production.     

旅游地土地资源可持续利用探讨

随着旅游业的迅猛发展,旅游开发追求片面的经济利益,导致旅游地土地资源的利用出现诸多问题;旅游地土地资源可持续利用是指能够持续满足旅游业发展及当地社会发展的土地生产力和景观环境需要的土地利用,调查土地资源、进行土地利用规划、加强土地用途管制和公众参与是旅游地土地资源可持续利用的对策。     

荒地资源持续利用研究

荒地资源的持续利用应该考虑采用不同于传统资源开发的模式与思路：指出荒地资源开发中自然生态环境的退化是开发中遇到的最大的问题;对荒地资源开发中这些问题的出现进行了经济学分析．指出需求拉动、市场缺乏、价格扭曲、外部性未内化、产权不明晰及缺乏认识和短视行为等因素是荒地资源配置效率低下．引发生态环境退化的重要原因;对荒地资源价格进行估算．依据边际社会成本（MSC）定价法．指出荒地资源价格包括边际私人成本和边际环境成本两部分．并分别对剩余法、替代成本法和贴现率的选择进行了探讨．指出贴现率选择对于生态环境退化是至关重要的．提出了荒地资源持续利用的思路与模式。     

太谷县土地资源可持续利用评价研究

从生产性、资源保护性、经济可行性、社会可接受性4个方面构建了太谷县土地可持续利用评价指标体系,采用了多目标决策突变模型和多目标线性加权函数法进行评价;评价表明,近几年来太谷县土地资源的可持续性不断提高,土地生产力水平和经济可行性对土地可持续利用的影响最大,但资源保护和社会可接受性制约着土地可持续利用。     

"苏锡常"城市化过程中土地资源持续利用问题研究

苏锡常地区城市化进程十分迅速,随着经济快速发展,人口与产业不断集聚,使得城市空间迭加扩展,苏锡常地区城市建设用地需求与土地有限性的矛盾日益突出,土地资源成为区域城市发展的最大制约因素之一,土地合理利用与保护是一个关键性问题;在分析苏锡常地区城市化特点的基础上,探讨了区域城市化过程中的土地资源开发利用的突出问题并提出了合理利用的建议与对策。     

The impact of urban expansion on agricultural land use intensity in China

China's urbanization has resulted in significant changes in both agricultural land and agricultural land use. However, there is limited understanding about the relationship between the two primary changes occurring to China's agricultural land – the urban expansion on agricultural land and agricultural land use intensity. The goal of this paper is to understand this relationship in China using panel econometric methods. Our results show that urban expansion is associated with a decline in agricultural land use intensity. The area of cultivated land per capita, a measurement about land scarcity, is negatively correlated with agricultural land use intensity. We also find that GDP in the industrial sector negatively affects agricultural land use intensity. GDP per capita and agricultural investments both positively contribute to the intensification of agricultural land use. Our results, together with the links between urbanization, agricultural land, and agricultural production imply that agricultural land expansion is highly likely with continued urban expansion and that pressures on the country's natural land resources will remain high in the future.     

基于生态足迹理论的哈尔滨市土地资源可持续利用研究

土地可持续利用是实现人类社会和经济可持续发展的重要基础;借鉴生态足迹法,并结合土地可持续发展理论,对哈尔滨市土地资源可持续利用进行了分析与评价。     

珠江三角洲耕地数量变化及其可持续利用对策 --以南海市为例

同珠江三角洲的其它城镇一样，改革开放以来南海市的耕地数量变化虽然存在一定的时间与区域差异，但基本上是以耕地数量锐减为特征。南海市耕地数量的减少，形式上是农业结构调整、居民点与工矿建设占用等，但实际上有其更深层次的、多方面的原因，分析表明是受到了多种自然、社会与经济因子共同作用的结果；以可持续发展理论为指导，提出了南海市耕地资源可持续利用的对策。     

近20年湖南省耕地变化及可持续利用研究

湖南省是全国的农业大省之一,选用GDP增长率、人口增长率和耕地面积减少率为主要分析指标,探讨了湖南省近20年来,经济、人口与耕地面积之间的关系:耕地减少的发生时间与经济发展的增长基本同步;针对耕地面临的一些问题提出了实现可持续利用的对策建议。     

衡阳市城镇化进程中的土地可持续利用研究

研究了城镇化进程背景下衡阳市的土地利用变化的总体特征;衡阳市土地利用仍存在一些问题:耕地减少与人口增加的反差明显,人地矛盾日益尖锐;土地污染严重,环境恶化明显;土地利用协调度低,土地开发超强度和土地利用低集约化并存;人类经济活动频繁,人为水土流失增强;从制定科学的土地利用规划方案,协调耕地与建设用地的关系,保证农地质量不再下降,进一步提高土地利用率,有效防治水土流失等5方面提出促进衡阳市土地可持续利用的政策建议.     

河北省农业土地资源持续利用研究

分析了河北省农业土地资源利用中存在的主要问题及其成因．提出了农业土地资源持续利用的对策和措施。     

Modelling the likely impact of healthy eating guidelines on agricultural production and land use in England and Wales

Quadratic programming techniques were applied to household food consumption data in England and Wales to estimate likely changes in diet under healthy eating guidelines, and the consequences this would have on agriculture and land use in England and Wales. The first step entailed imposing nutrient restrictions on food consumption following dietary recommendations suggested by the UK Department of Health. The resulting diet was used, in a second step as a proxy for demand in agricultural commodities, to test the impact of such a scenario on food production and land use in England and Wales and the impacts of this on agricultural landscapes. Results of the diet optimisation indicated a large drop in consumption of foods rich in saturated fats and sugar, essentially cheese and sugar-based products, along with lesser cuts of fat and meat products. Conversely, consumption of fruit and vegetables, cereals, and flour would increase to meet dietary fibre recommendations. Such a shift in demand would dramatically affect production patterns: the financial net margin of England and Wales agriculture would rise, due to increased production of high market value and high economic margin crops. Some regions would, however, be negatively affected, mostly those dependent on beef cattle and sheep production that could not benefit from an increased demand for cereals and horticultural crops. The effects of these changes would also be felt in upstream industries, such as animal feed suppliers. While arable dominated landscapes would be little affected, pastoral landscapes would suffer through loss of grazing management and, possibly, land abandonment, especially in upland areas.     

基于生态足迹与GIS的定西市土地可持续利用研究

基于可持续发展观点,运用生态足迹分析法并结合GIS技术对甘肃省定西市2000年,2002年和2004年的土地可持续利用度进行了实证研究。结果表明:彰县在这3年中生态足迹一直小于生态承载力,土地处于绝对可持续利用范围内;其余6县区一直处于生态赤字状态,但从总体上看定西市处于土地可持续利用增强态势。     

哈尔滨市呼兰区(县)土地可持续利用及协调性分析

协调度是衡量系统协调程度的重要参数,将其应用到土地可持续利用评价当中,可以较好地反映土地利用系统的发展状况及可持续利用水平;采用主成分分析法、线性加权函数法和协调度指数对呼兰区（县）土地可持续利用情况及协调度进行研究。研究结果表明1994～2003年呼兰区（县）土地可持续性和协调度总体上呈逐渐上升的趋势。     

基于生态足迹理论的湖北省耕地可持续利用分析

运用生态足迹模型分析了湖北省2005年各类土地的生态足迹及生态承载力,重点分析了1995～2005年全省及17个市(州)耕地生态足迹的动态变化过程;对湖北省耕地可持续利用状况进行了分析与评价;研究结果表明,湖北省人均耕地生态足迹和生态承载力都呈下降趋势,耕地的生态赤字出现小幅度波动,全省属于耕地不可持续类型;以2005年数据为依据,17个市(州)中,只有神农架林区表现为生态赢余,属于可持续类型,其他均属于不可持续类型.     

The impact of population growth and climate change on food security in Africa: looking ahead to 2050

Providing nutritious and environmentally sustainable food to all people at all times is one of the greatest challenges currently facing society. This problem is particularly acute in Africa where an estimated one in four people still lack adequate food to sustain an active and healthy life. In this study, we consider the potential impact of future population growth and climate change on food security in Africa, looking ahead to 2050. A modelling framework termed FEEDME (Food Estimation and Export for Diet and Malnutrition Evaluation) was used which was characterized to model the impacts of future climate changes (utilizing the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on Emissions Scenarios projections) and projected population growth on food availability and subsequent undernourishment prevalence in 44 African countries. Our results indicate that projected rapid population growth will be the leading cause of food insecurity and widespread undernourishment across Africa. Very little to no difference in undernourishment projections were found when we examined future scenarios with and without the effects of climate change, suggesting population growth is the dominant driver of change. Various adaptation options are discussed, such as closing the yield gap via sustainable intensification and increasing imports through trade and aid agreements. These strategies are likely to be critical in preventing catastrophic future food insecurity.     

The impact of climate and price risks on agricultural land use and crop management decisions

This article aims to investigate the impacts of climate change and of lower and more volatile crop price levels as currently observed in the European Union (EU) on optimal management decisions, average income and income risks in crop production in Western Switzerland. To this end, a bioeconomic whole-farm model has been developed that non-parametrically combines the crop growth model CropSyst with an economic decision model using a genetic algorithm. The analysis focuses on the farm level, which enables us to integrate a wide set of potential adaptation responses, comprising changes in agricultural land use as well as crop-specific fertilization and irrigation strategies. Furthermore, the farmer's certainty equivalent is employed as objective function, which enables the consideration of not only impacts on average income but also impacts on income variability.The study shows that that the effects of EU crop prices on the optimal management decisions as well as on the farmer's certainty equivalent are much stronger than the effects of climate change. Furthermore, our results indicate that the impacts of income risks on the crop farm's optimal management schemes are of rather low importance. This is due to two major reasons: first, direct payments make up a large percentage of the agricultural income in Switzerland which makes Swiss farmers less vulnerable to market and climate volatility. Second, arable crop farms in Switzerland have by law to cultivate at least four different crops. Due to these diverse cropping systems and high government direct payments risk does neither under climate change, market liberalization nor combinations thereof, play a very decisive role in arable farming in Switzerland.     

Modeling farm households for estimating the efficiency of policy instruments on sustainable land use in Haiti

Degradation of natural resources in Haiti has been a growing concern to foresters, environmentalists, and local populations. Various approaches based on “participatory”, “fines and taxes” and “command and control” regulations, have been unsuccessfully implemented to persuade farm households to adopt conservation measures. Negative impacts on the welfare of farmers limit the efficiency of these approaches for forest conservation. This paper investigates alternative solutions to the problem of deforestation of Haiti using linear programming (LP) models. More specifically, this study evaluates the role of various policy instruments on large-income farm households and low-income farm households’ welfare and forest conservation in Haiti. Data from 243 farmers inside the Forêt of the Forêt des Pins Reserve are used in the empirical analysis. Results suggest that agricultural subsidies tied to environmental conservation would promote a more sustainable resource use in Forêt des Pins Reserve.     

Long-term impact of socio-economic changes on agricultural land use in the Polish Carpathians

The impact of socio-economic changes on land use on the period 1846–2009 are studied in village of Ochotnica (105 km²) and the Jaszcze and Jamne catchments in the Polish Carpathians. The analysis of maps, aerial photos, historical and census reports indicates that during the investigated period the forest area in Ochotnica increased by 77% and in the Jaszcze and Jamne catchments by 29% and 43%, respectively and cultivated land decreased by 94% in both catchments. The population density increased from 33 to more than 50 people/km², while employment in agriculture decreased from 98% to below 30%. The analysed period shows diverging trends of land use, referring to the three stages of socio-economic development in the Polish Carpathians. Until World War II, agricultural land contribution was the highest throughout the history of human activity. After World War II, a communist maintenance system of the land use structure was inherited from the past. A free market economy, introduced after 1989, forced the largest increase in forest area since the first colonisation of the Gorce Mountains. In contrast to the mid-mountains of Western Europe, a decrease in population density did not accompany forest expansion, nor did a dominance of small farms in the ownership system.