Exploring the evolution of land tenure and land use change in Panama: Linking land policy with development outcomes

In this paper I discuss the linkages between land use management and land use change, as well as the impacts of land use policies at the local level. Specifically, I suggest the current land tenure regime in Panama is the outcome of a path-dependent process that includes a Spanish legacy of land tenure institutions and beliefs, a policy-making process that responds to immediate or short-term development outcomes, and the broader political economic context. First, I introduce theoretical perspectives on land policy and development. These are followed by a narrative of the evolution of land tenure in Panama, in the context of develoment processes and land policies in Latin America. In the final section, with the case of lifestyle migration to Bocas del Toro, Panama, I illustrate how the pathways between land management and land use, in the context of political economic development drivers and outcomes, have significant local outcomes.     

Ecological response to urban development in a changing socio-economic and climate context: Policy implications for balancing regional development and habitat conservation

Rapid land use/cover changes (LUCC) have triggered severe habitat degradation over recent decades. Existing studies mainly focus on how LUCC per se affects habitat quality, while less attention is paid to the integration of LUCC, socio-economic development and climate change as a land use system, and to investigate their synergistic impacts on habitat quality. This study addresses this issue by incorporating a top-down system dynamic model, a bottom-up cellular automata and a habitat quality assessment model. The potential impacts of urban growth, socio-economic development and climate change on habitat quality of Hubei Province, China, were predicted under the four IPCC RCP scenarios. Overall, construction land was predicted to expand fast whereas forested land and cultivated land to shrink significantly from 2015 to 2030, but RCP 2.6 and 4.5 scenarios may maintain higher habitat quality compared with RCP 6.0 and 8.5 scenarios. Severe habitat degradation is likely to occur in the megacity’s surrounding ecosystems under RCP 2.6 and 8.5 scenarios, while the degradation is more likely to occur in middle-sized and small cities under RCP 4.5 and 6.0 scenarios. Further, our findings suggest that fixed asset investments and technology innovation play important roles in mitigating the negative impacts of urban and socio-economic development on habitat quality. This study should provide a useful approach for decision makers to design alternative development scenarios and to strike a balance between regional development and habitat conservation.     

Linking the ecosystem services approach to social preferences and needs in integrated coastal land use management – A planning approach

Coastal zones with their natural and societal sub-systems are exposed to rapid changes and pressures on resources. Scarcity of space and impacts of climate change are prominent drivers of land use and adaptation management today. Necessary modifications to present land use management strategies and schemes influence both the structures of coastal communities and the ecosystems involved. Approaches to identify the impacts and account for (i) the linkages between social preferences and needs and (ii) ecosystem services in coastal zones have been largely absent. The presented method focuses on improving the inclusion of ecosystem services in planning processes and clarifies the linkages with social impacts. In this study, fourteen stakeholders in decision-making on land use planning in the region of Krummhörn (northwestern Germany, southern North Sea coastal region) conducted a regional participative and informal process for local planning capable to adapt to climate driven changes. It is argued that scientific and practical implications of this integrated assessment focus on multi-functional options and contribute to more sustainable practices in future land use planning. The method operationalizes the ecosystem service approach and social impact analysis and demonstrates that social demands and provision of ecosystem services are inherently connected.     

Simulating the impacts of future land use change on soil erosion in the Kasilian watershed,Iran

Predicting soil erosion potential is important in watershed management. A rapidly growing Iranian population and climate change are expected to influence land use and soil sustainability. In recent years, northern Iran has experienced significant land use changes due to internal migration along the Caspian coast and conversion of forests and rangelands. Considering the effect of these changes in the future, the purpose of this study is to forecast land use patterns and investigate soil erosion scenarios using the Revised Universal Loss Equation and Markov Cellular Automata. Data from 1981 to 2011 were used as a baseline to estimate changes that might occur in 2030. The results reveal that the mean erosion potential will increase 45% from the estimated 104.52 t ha⁻¹ year⁻¹ in the baseline period. Moreover, the results indicate that land use change from forest area to settlements will be the most significant factor in erosion induced by land use change, showing the highest correlation among erosional factors. Projecting land use change and its effect on soil erosion indicate that conversion may be unsustainable if change occurs on land that is not suited to the use. The method predicts soil erosion under different scenarios and provides policymakers a basis for altering programs related to land use optimization and urban growth. Those results indicated the necessity of appropriate policies and regulations particularly for limiting land use changes and urban sprawl in areas of unfavorable soil erosion risk factors.     

Land-use and land-cover change in Lake Ziway watershed of the Ethiopian Central Rift Valley Region and its environmental impacts

Assessing land use and land cover (LULC) change in Lake Ziway watershed is important to evaluate the degradation of ecosystems and their environmental processes caused by the ongoing increase in human pressures. The present study analyzed the long-term LULC dynamics in the Lake Ziway watershed, which covers 7300 km² in the Ethiopian Central Rift Valley region. Three Landsat Satellite Image Series - Landsat MSS (1973), Landsat TM (1989) and Landsat Enhanced ETM+ (2018) - were the main input data from which three LULC maps were produced by employing Remote Sensing Techniques and Geographical Information Systems. The satellite data were supported by Google Earth and information gathered from informal discussions from local elderly people who are knowledgeable aboutthe area. The results over the last 45 years show that the major LULC changes in the study watershed have been the expansion of cultivated, agroforestry and settlement areas and the corresponding reduction in woodlands. Cultivation, agroforestry, and settlement LULC categories increased by 45%, 10.9%, and 141.4%, respectively. These changes are attributable to a combination of the ever increasing human population and the subsequent demands on environmental resources like agricultural lands, commercial and domestic fuelwood and charcoal. Other factors include poorly defined ownership arrangements and weak enforcement strategies on the existing land use policy. This has created open access mentalities among communities and intensified LULC changes in the watershed. Awareness raising and provision of technical training about conservation interventions should be provided to communities in the watershed.This study provides information for corrective measures to protect further degradation and irreversible losses that might happen to the biotic and abiotic resources in Lake Ziway watershed.     

The impacts of population and agglomeration development on land use intensity: New evidence behind urbanization in China

The impacts of population growth and agglomeration development on urbanization are complex. They cannot be effectively disentangled by simple fixed-effect regression analyses. This study introduces the land use intensity (LUI) metric to measure urbanization, and further applies quantile and threshold regression models to examine the impacts of population (POP) and agglomeration development (AGD) on land use intensity using a sample of 297 Chinese cities. The results reveal the heterogeneous effects that POP and AGD have on LUI. Variation is also observed in the effects of POP and AGD on LUI by POP/AGD intervals. As POP increases, its pressure on LUI increases. In contrast, the accumulative effects of development are beneficial in restraining overdevelopment of land resources within a specific range. The findings suggest that understanding complex human and development effects provides valuable insights, references, and implications for urban development and land use policies, which can guide cities with greater potential land development space in reducing the risk of unsustainable urbanization. Policies are recommended for ecological construction, city grouping, and sustainable land use.     

A quantitative assessment of policy options for no net loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services in the European Union

The Biodiversity Strategy of the European Union includes a target to “ensure no-net-loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services by 2020”. Many policy options can be envisioned to achieve such a no-net-loss target, mainly acting on land use and land management. To assess the effectiveness of such policies at a European Union (EU) scale, we simulated land use changes and their impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services indicators. We analysed a Business–as-Usual scenario, and three no-net-loss scenarios. The no-net-loss scenarios included measures that aim to reduce negative impacts of land use change on biodiversity and ecosystem services, by better implementation of existing biodiversity conservation measures (Scenario 1); and enhancement of existing measures (Scenario 2); and offsetting residual impacts on areas of high biodiversity and ecosystem service value (Scenario 3).Results show that none of the scenarios achieved overall no-net-loss. Compared to a Business-as-Usual scenario, the no-net-loss scenarios reduced the overall degree of land cover change at EU level, hence reducing impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services in large parts of the EU. The more comprehensive no-net-loss scenarios resulted in a gain of natural land cover. Moreover, natural areas became better connected, especially in peri-urban areas as a result of impact avoidance and offsetting. Richness of farmland bird species was projected to increase. Measures included in the no-net-loss scenarios had net positive effects on pollination and carbon sequestration, neutral effects on crop production, erosion prevention and flood regulation, and negative effects on nature-based recreation, compared to Business-as-Usual. In particular circumstances policy measures invoked displacement effects in land use allocation, reducing the effectiveness of the measures. This was primarily the case for flood regulation services throughout the EU.This study differentiates the potential effectiveness of a no-net-loss policy framework in three manners: (i) considering biodiversity and ecosystem services simultaneously; (ii) in the light of existing policies and land use pressures; and (iii) in different land use contexts across the EU. Taken together, we conclude that achieving no-net-loss for biodiversity and ecosystem services throughout the EU remains challenging given high land use demands. Nevertheless, in large parts of Europe there appears room for improvement for certain kinds of biodiversity and ecosystem services compared to Business-as-Usual, while still meeting other land use demands.     

New urban planning challenges under emerging autonomous mobility: evaluating backcasting scenarios and policies through an expert survey

The future implementation of Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) in cities can have significant impacts, both positive and negative, on their sustainability. The objective of this research is to investigate those impacts and evaluate which policies could be most effective in achieving the desired city scenario through a backcasting planning methodology. To this end, a survey among experts was carried out in which they expressed their opinions on the potential consequences of AVs in cities and on the effectiveness of various policy packages focused on achieving a more sustainable mobility and land use planning. The results obtained show that the experts consulted were sceptical about the positive impacts of AVs, arguing that they could induce an increase in car trips and urban sprawl. The policies that could be most effective in mitigating these effects, leading to a city more aligned with the planned objectives would be: to strengthen active (foot, bicycle) and public transport modes, to restrict access of motorised modes to central urban areas and to use freed spaces for alternative modes of transport, green areas and public facilities. A cluster analysis also showed that most of the experts consulted considered that the policy packages presented could be effective or very effective in reaching the most desirable scenario. Therefore, it is important that the implementation of AVs does not subordinate to, but enhances, the sustainable mobility and land use policies already being developed in many urban areas.     

2013年土地科学研究重点进展评述及2014年展望——土地利用与规划分报告

研究目的:总结2013年国内外土地利用与规划方面的研究进展,展望2014年国内研究趋势。研究方法:文献调研法。研究结果:2013年国外土地利用与规划研究侧重在土地利用动态监测、土地利用变化效应以及土地利用规划理念和方法等方面;国内研究主要集中在土地利用调查与动态监测、土地评价、土地利用变化效应和模拟以及土地利用规划编制和评估等方面。研究结论:构建国土空间规划体系、建立"生产、生活、生态"的"三生"空间分类、强化土地利用的生态环境保护和土地利用效率评价,将是2014年及未来土地利用与规划领域着重研究的方向。     

Land-use changes and policy dimension driving forces in China: Present,trend and future

China has extremely scarce land resources compared to the world average. There is an urgent need for studies of the current situation and the trends in land-use change and assessment of the performance of land policies in China. Assessment of land-use change has long been hindered by a lack of accurate and reliable data. This paper uses the data obtained from the national land surveys of 1996 and land-use change surveys from 1997 to 2008, to analyze changes in land use and the policy dimension driving forces related to the changes, especially cultivated land, forestry land, grassland, as well as developed land. The aim of this analysis will be to derive the physical, social and economical driving forces of those changes to grasp the trends in land-use change and the effects of land policies and to formulate strategies for the protection and sustainable use of agricultural land. The results indicate that, although the overall change in land use was not large, cultivated land was significantly reduced and developed land rapidly increased. A great deal of high quality cultivated land was changed to developed land and low quality cultivated land generated from unused land, which has resulted in a serious threat to food supplies in China. Predictions using the methods of linear extrapolation and a BP neural network indicate that it is impossible to keep to a target of 0.12 billion hectares of cultivated land in the future under the mode of economic development used between 1996 and 2008. The results also indicate that the implementation of the laws and regulations about controlling the developed land and preserving cultivated land had significant effects on changes in land use, especially cultivated land and developed land. The results suggest that the changes in land use are closely related to economic fluctuation and the enaction and implementation of these land policies had a little time lag for cultivated land protection. There is a pressing need for China to use its limited land resources more efficiently and effectively by enacting or re-enforcing the laws and regulations on land resources protection and economic development, not only for its own growing population, but also the world. Therefore, we must formulate strategies for the protection and sustainable use of agricultural land.     

生态补偿政策目标下的退耕还林的博弈分析——以拉市海为例

从生态补偿的角度,在对拉市海退耕还林项目进行社会调查的基础上,利用博弈工具分析了政府、上下游社区在退耕还林中的收益变化,在参与退耕还林项目后农户的产业选择及政府的政策选择,揭示了退耕还林在保护流域环境方面的局限性,提出在生态补偿思路下进行流域环境保护的建议。     

Payments for environmental services in Indonesia: What if economic signals were lost in translation?

This article provides an analysis of a payment for environmental services (PES) scheme in the Cidanau watershed, Indonesia. It contributes to the debate on the alleged effectiveness of such economic incentives to actually change decisions among land users. Building on the standard PES theory of change, one would assume that farmers respond to payments and change their land use decisions accordingly for the delivery of environmental services. However, at the project level the impacts of economic incentives depend on how the signal is transmitted to decision-makers. An extensive household survey was undertaken among 270 participating farmers in order to investigate these assumptions. Results indicate that farmers join the scheme for intrinsic motivations rather than because of economic incentives. Besides, the scheme does not target farmers whose decisions could be changed for the sake of service provision. Finally, farmer group leaders display disproportionate power of decision while individual farmers have a low level of understanding of the PES programme. As a consequence, land use patterns might not depend on the economic incentive only; rather they are likely to be determined by the local social context, traditions and economic dependency on forests. This in turn casts some doubts on the strong (yet contested) economic assumptions that underlie the emergence of PES schemes and on their modus operandi in developing countries.     

Underlying and proximate driving causes of land use change in district Swat,Pakistan

Swat is part of the high mountain Hindu-Kush Himalayan region of Pakistan, with diverse biophysical and socio-economic characteristics. The region is endowed with many fragile and fragmented ecosystems, and land use and land cover changes have accelerated destructive processes with irreversible effects on ecosystems. The paper aims to (1) find proximate and underlying causes of land use and land cover changes; (2) analyse the drivers of change; and (3) reflect on the role of governance and policy.We used land use maps for the years 1968 and 2007 to highlight the extent and type of land use changes, and household surveys and expert interviews were conducted to collect quantitative and qualitative data for detecting and analysing the drivers of change.Results of household surveys and expert interviews show that technological and environmental factors, accessibility and proximity to local markets, immense use of firewood, conflicting property rights and other institutional weaknesses, and over-grazing of alpine pastures were the main driving forces for agriculture expansion and deforestation.Given the present governance structure of forest management in Pakistan a multi-sectoral and multi-scale framework is required to conserve the Swat's natural landscape and associated ecosystem services. A carefully crafted reform programme is required to clarify and assign unambiguous property rights, provisions for communal management and market-based incentives, depending on the social, economic, and ecological characteristics of the different zones under consideration. Only with such policies in place can the current rapid rate of deforestation be avoided and sustainable natural resources use be ensured.     

Land system change in Italy from 1884 to 2007: Analysing the North–South divergence on the basis of an integrated indicator framework

Over the past centuries, land systems in Italy experienced fundamental shifts, owing to the availability of new energy forms, population surges, and technological progress. The 20th century was characterized by massive productivity increases, accompanied by gradual land abandonment and the return of forest land. We here analyze 120 years of land system change in Italy, applying the human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP) framework, a metric for socio-economic pressures on terrestrial ecosystems. HANPP allows integrating ecological with societal perspectives, by systematically quantifying (a) biomass harvest and (b) the difference between potential productivity of ecosystems and current productivity induced by land use processes, such as land conversion, or land degradation. Besides assessing national trends we calculated HANPP separately for the Italian North and South between 1934 and 2007, in order to scrutinize if high regional discrepancies in terms of natural and socio-economic preconditions translate into diverging land system trajectories. Our results show that national HANPP has been declining from 78% of natural productivity before WWII to 56% in 2007, indicating a declining land -use induced pressure on biomass flows over time. Simultaneously, biomass harvest increased by around 26% due to agricultural intensification, despite shrinking croplands. Although we found a significant difference between the Northern and Southern region in the absolute levels of several land use indicators related to biomass appropriation, the overarching trends of land system change were remarkably similar in both regions. This suggests that underlying drivers of land system change, such as policies aimed at land-use intensification and structural change were equally dominating land system trajectories in the North and South of Italy, not withstanding their socio-ecological divergences.     

An interactive land use transition agent-based model (ILUTABM): Endogenizing human-environment interactions in the Western Missisquoi Watershed

Forest Transition Theory (FTT) suggests that reforestation may follow deforestation as a result of and interplay between changing social, economic and ecological conditions. We develop a simplistic but empirically data driven land use transition agent-based modeling platform, interactive land use transition agent-based model (ILUTABM), that is able to reproduce the observed land use patterns and link the forest transition to parcel-level heuristic-based land use decisions and ecosystem service (ES). The ILUTABM endogenously links landowners’ land use decisions with ecosystem services (ES) provided by the lands by treating both lands and landowners as interacting agents. The ILUTABM simulates both the land use changes resulting from farmers’ decision behaviors as well as the recursive effects of changing land uses on farmers’ decision behaviors. The ILUTABM is calibrated and validated at 30 m × 30 m spatial resolution using National Land Cover Data (NLCD) 1992, 2001 and 2006 across the western Missisquoi watershed, which is located in the north-eastern US with an estimated area of 283 square kilometers and 312 farmers farming on 16% of the total Missisquoi watershed area. This study hypothesizes that farmers’ land use decisions are made primarily based on their summed expected utilities and that impacts of exogenous socio-economic factors, such as natural disasters, public policies and institutional/social reforms, on farmers’ expected utilities can significantly influence the land use transitions between agricultural and forested lands. Monte Carlo experiments under six various socio-economic conditions combined with different ES valuation schemes are used to assess the sensitivities of the ILUTABM. Goodness-of-fit measures confirm that the ILUTABM is able to reproduce 62% of the observed land use transitions. However, the spatial patterns of the observed land used transitions are more clustered than the simulated counterparts. We find that, when farmers value food provisioning Ecosystem Services (ES) more than other ES (e.g., soil and water regulation), deforestation is observed. However, when farmers value less food provisioning than other ES or they value food provisioning and other ES equally, the forest transition is observed. The ILUTABM advances the Forest Transition Theory (FTT) framework by endogenizing the interactions of socio-ecological feedbacks and socio-economic factors in a generalizable model that can be calibrated with empirical data.     

Do land price variation and environmental regulation improve chemical industrial agglomeration? A regional analysis in China

China’s governments have a strong control over resources, such as land resources, and determine environmental policies for the nation. As an essential part of the production cost of chemical enterprises, land price and pollution costs play a critical role in location selection. However, whether the current incompletely competitive industrial land market and improving environmental regulations in China would affect chemical industrial agglomeration (CIA) is unclear. This study incorporates the land price variations, environmental regulation, and CIA into one research framework. Calculation methods of industrial land price variation (LPV), environmental regulation (ERI), and CIA are established, to reveal their development level. Furthermore, a geographically and temporally weighted regression (GTWR) model is established to estimate the spatial and temporal impacts of land price variation and environmental regulation on CIA by using a panel data from 2007 to 2015. The results show significant spatial differences in the impacts of land price variation and environmental regulation on CIA between cities. The majority of the impacts of land price variation and environmental regulation on CIA are negative. However, the temporal change in the impacts are not as significant as the spatial change. Other control variables, namely, free trade, natural resources, and highway density, have a positive impact on CIA.     

Public health in linkage to land use: Theoretical framework,empirical evidence,and critical implications for reconnecting health promotion to land use policy

The increasing health burdens pose great challenge for planners and policy makers to create a more livable city. Recent literature has linked land use to a wide range of illness and death causes in developed nations. It therefore requires evidence-driven and replicable frameworks to inform land use decisions that integrate with health promotion. This paper proposes a theoretical framework for the mechanistic links between neighborhood land use and public health; and then quantifies their associations at district level, using the case of Shenzhen in developing China. Data for 15 health indicators in 2010 are collected at district level; and a set of standardized land use variables (individual land use type, general land use mix, and physical street conditions) are proposed to comprehensively reflect the neighborhood land use characteristics. Spatial regression is employed to analyze the relationships between health outcomes and land use variables. Results show that the land use exploratory variables vary with health indicators, but several key land use determinants are identified: green land abundance, green land morphology, institutional land proximity, industrial land proximity, blue land abundance, street walkability and street connectivity. Structural equation modeling is further applied to examine the possible mediators and it demonstrates that the casual pathways between land use and public health are quite complex. The developed set of standardized land use variables can serve as practical tools to facilitate land use decisions with health considerations. In practice, several complexities at governance levels challenge the efforts to reconnect land use policies and public health promotion. We put forward three useful solutions to enhancing health connection with land use policy across different international settings. This study captures the nuanced health disparities varied with districts and indicators, and therefore produces some more generalized knowledge that ultimately helps develop land use policies aimed at promoting public health at home and abroad.     

Effect of soil heterogeneity on the welfare economics of biofuel policies

Biofuel policies (blend mandate or tax credit) have impacts on food and energy prices, and on land-use. The magnitude of these effects depends on the market response to price, and thus on the agricultural supply curve, which, in turn, depends on the land availability (quantity and agronomic quality) and relative prices. To understand these relationships, we develop a theoretical framework with an explicit representation of land heterogeneity. The elasticity of the supply curve is shown to be non-constant, depending on land heterogeneity and the availability of land for agricultural expansion. This influences the welfare economics of biofuels policies, and the possible carbon leakage in land and fuel markets. We emphasize that the impacts of biofuel policies on welfare and land-use change depend strongly on the potential development of the agricultural sector in terms of expansion and intensification, and not only on its current size.     

怒江州土地利用模拟及生态系统服务价值评估——基于PLUS模型的多情景分析

[目的]为测度怒江州土地利用及生态系统服务价值。[方法]文章借助斑块生成土地利用变化模拟模型（Patch-generating Land Use Simulation Model,PLUS）及当量因子法计算3种情景下土地利用变化的生态系统服务价值（Ecosystem Services Values,ESV）,选取2013年和2019年两期遥感数据及2013—2019年NPP和粮食产量、播种面积以及粮食价格数据进行2025年土地利用变化模拟并对其生态系统服务价值进行评估。[结果]（1）采用PLUS模型对2025年怒江州土地利用变化类型模拟的效果较好,其总体精度为82.3%,FOM值为0.26,说明模型具有普适性;（2） 2019年自然情景下的ESV为764.18亿元,2025年自然发展、生态保护及耕地保护情景的ESV分别为759.42亿元、764.16亿元和762.80亿元;（3）生态价值敏感度小于1,表明怒江州ESV对生态系数缺乏弹性,结果可信;（4）在生态价值变化度中,林地和水域变化度大于1,说明林地和水域面积变化对怒江州ESV的影响大。[结论]怒江州土地利用变化度小,生态系统服务价...     

Changes in land use, land tenure, and landscape fragmentation in the Tijuana River Watershed following reform of the ejido sector

Changes in land use and land tenure can influence both physical fragmentation and ownership fragmentation of landscapes, with implications for biodiversity. In this study, we evaluated changes in land use and land tenure in the Tijuana River Watershed, a region of high biodiversity and endemism, following the implementation of a new Agrarian Law which allowed for privatization and sales of communal land (ejidos) beginning in 1992. In order to understand changes in land use and cover, we constructed maps from aerial photographs and Aster images and measured changes between 1994 and 2005. In order to understand changes in land tenure, we collected data from Mexican government sources on ejido land size, ownership, and sales, and we conducted 55 structured interviews with ejidatarios in the watershed. Our results demonstrate that land-use/cover change between 1994 and 2005 was dominated by an increase in urban area and grasslands, and a decrease in coastal sage scrub, chaparral, and, to a lesser degree, agriculture. In particular, the conversion of coastal sage scrub has left a far more fragmented landscape than existed in 1994. In addition, most of the ejidos in the watershed, as well as individuals interviewed, had participated in some stage of the land certification and titling process allowed by the new Agrarian Law, resulting in substantial changes in land tenure. However, land tenure security appeared to play a larger role than a desire to sell land and, contrary to studies from other regions, full title to the land was obtained in a range of urban and rural settings, rather than primarily on land closest to urban zones. Our results suggest that past predictions regarding future urban growth and fragmentation of native vegetation in the region have proven accurate and highlights regions of change that merit further study.