Landslide risk perception survey in Angra dos Reis (Rio de Janeiro,southeastern Brazil): A contribution to support planning of non structural measures

The increasing magnitude and frequency of landslide-related disasters exposes weaknesses in disaster risk reduction (DRR) policy. One of the underlying reasons is that DRR policies tend to focus only on the physical aspects of the problem (i.e. mass movement processes) while neglecting the level of vulnerability of exposed populations to landslide threats, which affects the types and magnitude of adverse consequences. This neglect is a typical symptom of the remoteness that can exist between public administrators and local communities and undermines the implementation of participatory risk management. Certain dimensions of vulnerability depend on how communities relate to the issue of disasters based on their intuitive or rational judgment, i.e. their perception of risk. This paper seeks to shed light on the need for an understanding of risk perception based on the findings from a survey of residents in the city of Angra dos Reis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to be taken into account in aiming at a more efficient landslide risk management policy. The survey was carried out through semi-structured face-to-face interviews with residents of three typical hillside communities in this municipality. In general, the study found that residents will often weigh landslide risks against other threats and opportunities existing where they live. It also found that community members find it difficult to see themselves as agents of change in the environment where they live and in mitigating landslide risks, and that better communication is needed between the government agencies involved in risk management and local residents.     

Farmland abandonment in Rio de Janeiro: Underlying and contributory causes of an announced development

Farmland abandonment is a widespread process with mixed socio-economic and environmental consequences. Farmland abandonment in Rio de Janeiro State is mainly instigated by the sugarcane industry crisis. The sugarcane crisis in Rio de Janeiro State affected traditional livelihoods and altered the environment and economy in the Norte Fluminense region (eastern part of Rio de Janeiro State). Therefore, it is essential to understand the underlying forces and contributory causes of farmland abandonment in Rio de Janeiro. We hypothesized that since the 1970s, macroeconomic and agricultural reforms mediated by economic shocks had driven the farmland abandonment in Rio de Janeiro State. We applied an interrupted time-series analysis over sugarcane harvest areas, relating the years of policy reforms and economic shocks to the trends in sugarcane harvest areas. The results suggest that the removal of agricultural subsidies, macroeconomic reforms, and elimination of the supply quota in the sugar mills have prompted competition and favored high-input agroindustry. Meanwhile, the labor force migration to the higher-paying oil Industry exacerbated the farmland abandonment rates for the smallholders of Rio de Janeiro State. This paper offers a valuable contribution to scientists and policymakers by providing an overview of the outcomes of the policies implemented and how they contributed to shaping the socio-economic dynamics in Rio de Janeiro State.     

Modelling agricultural land use allocation in regional Australia

An analysis of the drivers of agricultural land use is important for policy makers as the issues of climate change and food security become increasingly prominent in the political landscape. This paper analyses the role of prices, total land holdings and climate on land use in Australia. The analysis relates to a unique comprehensive coverage of commodity types at a regional level. An explicit treatment of missing data and the novel use of cluster analysis is employed within a partial adjustment framework for modelling land allocation. The majority of commodity types across regions exhibit significant degrees of slow partial adjustment for land allocation, the frequency of slow adjustment is greatest with crops and livestock and weakest for vegetables. In general, relative own and cross prices, total land holdings and rainfall only have a minor impact on short‐term land allocations, however numerous individual commodity/regional combinations have identified significant short‐run impacts.     

Ethanol expansion and indirect land use change in Brazil

In this paper we analyze the indirect land use change (ILUC) effects of ethanol production expansion in Brazil through the use of an inter-regional, bottom-up, dynamic general equilibrium model calibrated with the 2005 Brazilian I-O table. A new methodology to deal with ILUC effects is developed, using a transition matrix of land uses calibrated with Agricultural Censuses data. Agriculture and land use are modeled separately in each of 15 Brazilian regions with different agricultural mix. This regional detail captures a good deal of the differences in soil, climate and history that cause particular land to be used for particular purposes.Brazilian land area data distinguish three broad types of agricultural land use, Crop, Pasture, and Plantation Forestry. Between one year and the next the model allows land to move between those categories, or for unused land to convert to one of these three, driven initially by the transition matrix, changing land supply for agriculture between years. The transition matrix shows Markov probabilities that a particular hectare of land used in one year for some use would be in another use next period. These probabilities are modified endogenously in the model according to the average unit rentals of each land type in each region.We ask whether biofuel expansion is consistent with new laws, limiting forest clearing in Brazil. A simulation with ethanol expansion scenario is performed for year 2020, in which land supply is allowed to increase only in states located on the agricultural frontier. Results suggest that each new hectare of sugar cane requires only 0.14 ha of new land, with another 0.47 ha converted from pasture use. Hence policies limiting deforestation are unlikely to prevent greater ethanol production. Finally, regional differences in sugarcane productivity are found to be important elements in ILUC effects of sugar cane expansion.     

Farmer-specific relationships between land use change and landscape factors: Introducing agents in empirical land use modelling

Traditional empirical land use change models generally assume one average land use decision-maker. Multi-Agent System (MAS) models, on the other hand, acknowledge existence of different types of agents, but their poor empirical embedding remains a serious handicap. This paper demonstrates how agent information can also be incorporated into empirical, biophysical land use models.     

丹东市土地利用景观格局研究

使用土地利用景观图形数据,依据其土地利用的景观特征指数,从斑块尺度、景观尺度上对丹东市的土地利用景观格局进行分析,并研究土地利用类型、结构以及所形成的景观格局对生态环境的影响。结果表明:(1)丹东市面积最大的是林地景观、也是分布最广并且连续性最强的一种基质景观,其面积比例为65.08%,斑块个数所占比例约为32.89%,平均斑块面积为4.56km2/个,斑块的分离度只是0.03,旱地面积比例也较大,为22.34%,水田、草地、水域、城乡用地比例不相上下,依次为:4.75%、2.00%、2.63%、2.85%。(2)丹东市中部、北部基本都是大片森林覆盖的,山脊则都以旱地为主,水田主要分布在南部沿海,滩涂、沼泽地景观相对较少。(3)与周围沿海地区数据比较,丹东市景观斑块类型的平均斑块的面积与生态环境指数间呈正相关,而景观破碎化指数与生态环境指数间呈明显负相关。     

大庆市土地利用/土地覆盖景观格局研究

利用遥感影像处理系统,对大庆市1978~2001年5个时段的TM影像进行处理,得到大庆市土地利用图;据图进行土地利用/土地覆盖景观格局分析,利用GIS软件计算出大庆市区土地利用/土地覆盖的破碎化、斑块形状、分离度、优势度、均匀性及多样性等景观指数,并对大庆市区土地利用/土地覆盖进行自相关分析;结果表明,作为一个典型的石油型城市,大庆市景观格局有其独特之处。     

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.     

Rio reconstruction and flood prevention in Brazil

Until the Rio Flood Reconstruction and Prevention Project, disaster-related projects funded by the World Bank focused primarily on reconstruction, especially immediate, short-term recovery. The Rio de Janeiro project was notable as a targeted effort to reduce disaster vulnerability by promoting long-term multisectoral development strategies. It taught that reconstruction projects must address specific disaster vulnerabilities as well as cross-sectoral needs in Improving urban environmental management. The project represents a significant step towards developing a strategy for long-term prevention and mitigation of natural disasters and environmental degradation. It is also a good example of an effort to develop support for long-term environmental policies by strengthening indigenous managerial and planning capabilities—something that was not possible in short-term recovery projects.     

高校校园土地利用与景观格局分析研究

为讨论西北农林科技大学校园景观布局的优劣,对今后规划工作提供依据,以CAD校园平面图和高清遥感影像为基础资料,采用独创性的景观划分法,利用ArcMap获取南北校区校园土地利用与景观格局的空间分布,并运用各类景观指标,对景观格局进行定量分析。结果表明:南校区各景观的破碎度均大于北校,而优势度偏低;就全校范围来看,多样性、均匀度、优势度最大的分别为生活景观(1.858)、绿地景观(0.97)、娱乐景观(0.617),娱乐景观的均匀度最低,绿地景观的优势度最小;北校区的建筑设施(包括教学、生活、娱乐、附属设施)对景观的支配作用较大,南校区各景观受人为因素影响较大。简而言之,全校景观空间格局分布合理,功能区划协调统一。     

Water safety plan integrated to the land use and occupation measures: Proposals for Caraguatatuba-SP,Brazil

Water Safety Plan is an international tool developed by the World Health Organization to enable the implementation of better water quality guarantees regarding human health issues. This current tool´s template deals with water quantity suring the occurrence of floods and droughts only as emergency situations. The key issues of this paper are how we may integrate proactive drought and flood planning into the so-called Water Safety Plans. The city of Caraguatatuba, north coast of the State of São Paulo, Brazil, has a large tourist flow a high rate of population growth, and is currently drafting the Water Safety Plan. This article aims to analyze the Caraguatatuba Water Safety Plan and compare its elaboration steps and respective contents to the international practices related to the management of water conflicts with spatial guidelines in order to propose improvements. The methodology starts with an overall view of the Brazilian water system and steps and procedures of Caraguatatuba Water Safety Plan. The case of Caraguatatuba was compared with international practices, and more detailed comparison with a Spanish practice. The key findings were: the need of establishing a legal framework to ensure the plans’ successful implementation and accomplishment of recording the occurrence of extreme water events and its incorporation in the diagnostic step in the planning system, and the elaboration of multiple progressive scenarios establishing land use and occupation guidelines. The spatial guidelines improvements are: specific construction criteria for flood zones, targeting activities compatible with flood zones, patrimony insurance for flood management and creation of catchment points for temporary supply, limitation of non-essential uses as swimming pool and car washers, reduce irrigated land for agricultural crops, adoption an exchange bank for the granting of water resources, proportional fee by water quality and improve water use in industrial processes for drought management.     

The influence of risk preferences,knowledge, land consolidation,and landscape diversification on pesticide use

Researchers have spent substantial effort to identify factors influencing pesticide use intensity. However, few studies have compared the relative importance of these factors. This study examines four categories of factors that potentially influence farmers’ pesticide use decisions by evaluating incentivized experiment data, farm survey data, and remote sensing data in China. Our results suggest that land diversification has the largest effect on farmers’ pesticide use. Compared with the most rice-intensive landscape type, less rice-intensive systems cause farmers to spray less on middle rice. Heavy pesticide use intensity is associated with land fragmentation as small-scale farms still dominate crop production. Farmers’ integrated pest management knowledge has significant effects on pesticide use. We also find that loss and ambiguity preferences, rather than risk preferences, are more likely to affect pesticide use intensity.     

Land use scenario development as a tool for watershed management within the Rio Mannu Basin

The Rio Mannu River Basin (Sardinia, Italy) is undergoing a process of agricultural intensification. Like many Mediterranean areas, this basin is characterized by water shortages and diffuse pollution from agricultural sources. Hence the objective of this study was to develop possible land use and land management scenarios that could constitute an alternative to the current watershed management. Several land use and land management scenarios were formulated and analyzed with local stakeholders, and two were selected and simulated as realistic in consideration of the socio-economical aspects of the study area. Scenario 1 involves agricultural practices that include a reduction in fertilizer use to meet the Water Framework Directive requirements for “good” status of water bodies. Scenario 2 introduces rapeseed cultivation, replacing durum wheat in a small area, to investigate the impact of biofuel plant cultivation on water quality. Each option was assessed by considering the effects on water quality, crop yields and economic benefits. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was applied to simulate hydrological processes and evaluate current and future nutrient loads. This model requires adequate streamflow data for calibration and validation. However, as is the case for many Mediterranean basins, insufficient data were available. Therefore, a methodology was developed and tested to calibrate hydrological processes based on the transposition of a parameter set from a gauged catchment located in the same region. This study suggests that a sound use of fertilizers could substantially reduce the amount of nutrients flowing into surface waters, although the effects of such a policy on crop yield and farm income would be negative in some cases. Moreover, the results clearly predict that the replacement of durum wheat with rapeseed (a biofuel crop), could offer a margin of profit, but would have a negative impact on water quality due to increased nutrient losses. Consequently, this option is unsuitable for this area. Furthermore, it can be inferred from these results that the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources may have a negative impact on the objectives of the EU Water Framework Directive. Clearly, this process needs to be regulated, taking into account environmental and socio-economical aspects.     

Public participation and organizational change in Wisconsin land use management

This article explores the issues that arise when land use management organizations change their previous ways of relating to the public. I introduce an analytic framework for evaluating organizational changes that are grounded in participatory planning and decision making. Using a case study of a recent planning initiative of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, I examine dynamics of trust, civic capacities, personal demands, history of working relationships, and interest in the issue at hand. Though preliminary, the conclusions drawn from this research illustrate how these dynamics may influence the success of participatory planning that reflects organizational change.     

Tidal river management for sustainable agriculture in the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta: Implication for land use policy

The tidal river management (TRM) approach is an indigenous management practice in the Southwest part of the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta in Bangladesh. This approach has a high potential for extending area under agriculture with a positive impact on sustainable production and consequently on sustainable land use planning. Until recently, no studies provide a quantitative assessment on agricultural benefits of TRM operation. In this study, we aim to assess the benefits of TRM operation by using innovative approaches such as comparing land use change, agricultural production and economic cost-benefit analysis for two scenarios (with and without TRM) in the Hari-Teka-Bhadra catchment. We found that the financial benefit of TRM operation was 85.5 million US dollar per year from the agriculture sector. The results are useful for promoting land use policy through TRM approach in achieving greater sustainability in the area.     

Trends in private land conservation: Increasing complexity,shifting conservation purposes and allowable private land uses

The terrain of private-land conservation dealmaking is shifting. As the area of private land protected for conservation increases, it is time to understand trends in private-land conservation agreements. We examined 269 conservation easements and conducted 73 interviews with land conservation organizations to investigate changes in private-land conservation in the United States. We hypothesized that since 2000, conservation easements have become more complex but less restrictive. Our analysis reveals shifts in what it means for private land to be “conserved.” We found that conservation easements have indeed become more complex, with more purposes and terms after 2000 compared to conservation easements recorded before 2000. However, changes in restrictiveness of conservation easements varied by land use. Mining and waste dumping were less likely to be allowed after 2000, but new residences and structures were twice as likely to be allowed. We found a shift toward allowing some bounded timber harvest and grazing and a decline in terms that entirely allow or prohibit these working land uses. Interviews revealed staff perceptions of reasons for these changes. Our analysis suggests that “used” landscapes are increasingly important for conservation but that conserving these properties stretches the limits of simple, perpetual policy tools and requires increasingly complex and contingent agreements.     

Society's attitudes to and preferences for land and landscape

The relationship between society, land and landscape is deeply complex. Attitudes are reflected in behaviour, notably patterns of consumption through recreational activity, as well as in expressed preferences. Society attaches great importance to land. A large proportion of the population engages directly with it, through gardening and involvement in the management of allotments, community gardens and other public spaces. There is increasing evidence of the benefits of such engagement for individuals and communities. Society's attitudes and preferences have traditionally been dominated by expert or professional views, which have evolved over time and now place emphasis on everyday as well as special landscapes, and on urban greenspace and green infrastructure as much as on rural landscapes. The general public also seems to value the countryside as well as parks and green spaces nearer to home. Public attitudes are shaped by a number of different factors. Age, social and economic status, ethnic origin, familiarity, place of upbringing and residence, particularly whether urban or rural, are especially significant. Perhaps most important are environmental value orientations. At present, society seems to be polarised. At one extreme are older, more affluent, better educated, more environmentally aware people, often in social grades AB, who are often the most active users of the countryside and greenspaces. At the other extreme are younger age groups, ethnic minorities, and those who are in the DE social grades, who are often much less engaged. These groups have very different values and attitudes. But most people need to access and enjoy different types of landscape at different times and for different purposes, accessing what has been called a ‘portfolio of places’ that is particular to each person. It is by no means clear how the various factors that influence people's attitudes and preferences will play out in the future. Society may continue to become more detached from nature and landscape, and less caring about its future. Or there could be a rekindling of society's need to engage with the land and an increased desire to ensure that all sectors of society can benefit from green spaces and rural landscapes. This is likely to require interventions through education and campaigns to change attitudes and behaviour. Whether such initiatives can be effective in the face of competing drivers of attitudinal and behavioural change and over what timescale, may well determine how society's relationships with land and landscape evolve over the next 50 years.     

Bringing the real world into economic analyses of land use value: Incorporating spatial complexity

The paper reviews recent developments in the incorporation of real-world spatial issues into the economic appraisal of land use change. The opening discussion introduces non-economists to the concepts underpinning the approach. The remainder of the paper uses a case study approach (concerning potential conversions from agriculture into multi-purpose woodland) to illustrate the quantification and valuation of land use change. The application of geographical information system (GIS) routines allows spatial complexity to be incorporated within the analysis. Key concepts are introduced such as making allowance for subsidies, the marginal value concept, and the valuation of non-market externalities such as carbon storage of open-access recreation. The case study also shows that, if issues such as spatial variation and externalities are ignored, sole reliance upon market prices can lead to perverse outcomes which are actually to the detriment of society.     

Playing musical chairs with land use obligations: Market-based instruments and environmental public policies in Brazil

In Brazil, market-based instruments focusing on land use dimensions are increasingly promoted as a means to make public environmental policies effective. Landowners and farmers call for more flexible regulations and economic incentives to adopt ecologically sound practices, while public agencies and conservation NGOs seek new ways of financing and legitimising legal standards. Market-based instruments are considered by these actors as having the potential to both achieve their own goals and conciliate all interests. As a result, legal frameworks (including cap-and-trade systems, biodiversity offsetting and payments for ecosystem services) are being designed which allow to exchange land use rights and obligations. Under a sociolegal approach, this article provides an overview of such instruments. It shows to what extent they may entail a reconfiguration of the burden sharing and the priority setting of nature conservation. Depending on how actors use legal standards, their responsibilities may be eased and the level of conservation may be lowered, both facts that raise significant controversy.