ABSTRACT This paper analyzes land-system dynamics changes due to energy infrastructure development and explores the environmental and social ramifications of hydraulic fracturing, through a case study in Central Appalachia. Grounded in photographic data, satellite images, and ethnographic material, this study demonstrates landscape and embodied experiences of change over time. Data show major shifts

ABSTRACT During a civil war and its aftermath, rival powerholders frequently engage in decision-making over land use, for example, via land acquisitions or legal reforms. This paper explores how powerholders influence land use decision-making and what their engagement implies for territorial control. We analyse three cases of land use changes in Myanmar’s south between 1990 and 2015, where the Myanmar

ABSTRACT This study aims to provide empirical evidence for the relationship between farmland abandonment and food security from the perspective of agricultural productivity. Specifically, based on 4,850 farmer households in the hilly and mountainous areas of rural China, this study uses the endogenous switching regression (ESR) method to solve the problem of self-selection in farmers’ decision-making

ABSTRACT Land system science (LSS) has substantially advanced understanding of land dynamics throughout the world. However, studies that explicitly address the causative role of culture in land systems have been fairly limited relative to those examining other structural dimensions (e.g. markets, policies, climate). In this paper, we aim to start a discussion on how to better include culture in LSS

ABSTRACT The growing demand for food, water, and shelter change the way people use land. These changes have affected or even caused conflict in several locations. However, conflicts do not erupt in isolation; they are the result of multiple interacting causes. There is limited structural understanding of these causes. In this study, we systematically coded case studies that report on conflict related

ABSTRACT Globally, significant land conversions of traditionally managed temperate grasslands to croplands were taking place. Among these is South-Central Uruguay where changes in recent decades have highly likely impacted plant productivity, soil quality, and carbon fluxes at a regional scale. A geospatial version of the biophysical model EPIC was developed and validated (Geospatial-EPIC-UY). An analysis

ABSTRACT Currently, only 40% of Brazil’s Pampa still is covered by original vegetation; however, there is a clear underrepresentation of regional biodiversity in protected areas (PA). Herein, we assessed the extent to which 13 PAs for the Integral Protection in the Brazilian Pampa are effective in conserving samples of the natural attributes and biodiversity of the Pampa. Of all 13 PAs analysed, 11

ABSTRACT Loss of agricultural land due to urban sprawl has negative impacts on community lifestyles and green landscapes in peri-urban areas. However, researchers rarely investigate the complex decisions made by landowners and land managers about changes in farmland at the fringes of cities. A postal questionnaire was sent to 1,600 farmland owners and managers on the fringes of Adelaide, South Australia

ABSTRACT Improving our understanding of land-use change is critical for water management in semi-arid areas, due to its effects on the hydrological cycle. In the U.S. Southwest, fallowing farmland has become one strategy to reduce water use. Previous to this study, the magnitude and location of changes in fallowing have not been studied in depth. Using the 30-meter Cropland Data Layer, this study assessed

ABSTRACT Sustainable intensification (SI) is a necessary approach to overcome the contradictions between food demands and resource and environmental constraints. We reviewed 2,475 papers on the topic ‘Sustainable Intensification,’ from Web of Science (WOS), with the help of visualizations drawn by CiteSpace and Biblioshiny. The objectives are: (i) to clarify the concept and connotations of SI, and

ABSTRACT Undertaking industrial transfers from the eastern region in China and other developed countries leads to the growth of urban construction in central and western China. This can result in serious problems, such as the reduction of the amount of cultivated land, thus endangering Chinese food security. This paper utilizes a system generalized method of moments (SYS-GMM) estimator and data from

ABSTRACT Time-related information in land-change studies is reviewed using case studies in JLUS and LAND. An explicit focus on time has potential for exploring process-based perspectives. We report how time is represented and patterns in pre-analytical choices are detected, identifying practices to enhance the relevance and impact of land-change studies. Results show 40% of the studies use two datasets;

ABSTRACT This paper presents a new geographical analytical model for studies on agricultural landscape change. The model builds on the idea presented by Torsten Hägerstrand that neighbourhood configurations act as filters in change processes. The proposed approach operationalizes this idea of filtering into a geographical interpretation model that combines three different strands of research: ontologies

ABSTRACT Tree plantations have expanded rapidly during the last decades, specially in Asia and South America, and Chile has shown one of the largest increases in tree plantations in the world. The aim of this study was to analyze the dynamic and factors statistically associated with the expansion of tree plantations in two coastal basins in south-central Chile. We used logistic regression and a multimodel

ABSTRACT Effective planning of rangeland use is crucial to mitigate the adverse impacts of anthropogenic activities and for the sustenance of rangeland ecosystems. The development of participatory GIS approaches created new opportunities to capture the varying views of local actors in land use planning. This paper reviews literatures that address PGIS application in rangeland planning and management

ABSTRACT The concept of marginal land in large-scale land acquisitions (LSLAs) has become important to understand land for LSLA deals. Based on remotely gathered geospatial data, the biophysical dimension of the concept dominates the characterization of land for LSLA deals. Little attention is paid to the socio-cultural dimension that represents years of dynamic community–environment interactions as

ABSTRACT The objectives of the study are to identify LULC types that have undergone changes due to quality coffee production and assess smallholders’ perceptions of the LULC changes associated with their coffee production practices in Yirgacheffe coffee area, southern Ethiopia. The study used Landsat satellite images of 1988, 2003, and 2018 to examine the LULC change. In addition, household surveys

ABSTRACT Nearly one hundred years ago, a group of Mennonites left the prairies of Manitoba for the deserts of Northern Mexico. Since then, Mennonites have created over two hundred agricultural colonies across Latin America, spanning nine countries and seven biomes. In this paper, we provide the first continental-scale map and account of Mennonite expansion in Latin America over the last century. We

ABSTRACT The tropics are greening, but little is known about greening patterns in the tropical Andes. Using Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data on monthly and annual bases, this research analyzes greening across Ecuador from 1982–2010. Findings indicate overall significant greening after the mid ’90s with distinct seasonal variations across regions. In the Amazon greening occurs during

ABSTRACT In complex tropical forest frontier landscapes, ecosystem service (ES) models are essential tools to test impacts of different land schemes on people. Considering several factors of supply, demand and flow and focusing on local stakeholders, we developed nine ES models using Bayesian networks and applied them in different land scenarios in Myanmar’s Tanintharyi Region. We found land use and

ABSTRACT Long-term monitoring of the extent and intensity of irrigation systems is needed to track crop water consumption and to adapt land use to a changing climate. We mapped the expansion and changes in the intensity of irrigated dry season cropping in Turkey´s Southeastern Anatolia Project annually from 1990 to 2018 using Landsat time series. Irrigated dry season cropping covered 5,779 km² (± 479 km²)

ABSTRACT The use of biomass to produce biofuels can lead to both direct and indirect Land Use Change (LUC). While the causes underlying LUCs are complex their quantification is a scientific challenge that hinders decision-making. Here we demonstrate the application of participatory modelling in combination with System Dynamics techniques to the analysis of the land-change dynamics associated with biofuel

ABSTRACT Long-term monitoring of the extent and intensity of irrigation systems is needed to track crop water consumption and to adapt land use to a changing climate. We mapped the expansion and changes in the intensity of irrigated dry season cropping in Turkey´s Southeastern Anatolia Project annually from 1990 to 2018 using Landsat time series. Irrigated dry season cropping covered 5,779 km² (± 479 km²)

ABSTRACT In complex tropical forest frontier landscapes, ecosystem service (ES) models are essential tools to test impacts of different land schemes on people. Considering several factors of supply, demand and flow and focusing on local stakeholders, we developed nine ES models using Bayesian networks and applied them in different land scenarios in Myanmar’s Tanintharyi Region. We found land use and

ABSTRACT Urban regions require planning tools in order to manage agricultural areas under urban pressure. The aim of our paper is to test an analytical framework that combines both the composition in urban and agricultural land covers and their spatial configuration into four general agri-urban patterns: isolated fields, urban belt fields, periurban agricultural areas and rural areas. We evaluated

ABSTRACT Rural and urban areas are often conceptualized as two separate entities and studied accordingly. However, in reality, they are related in multiple ways. Here we explore this relation between rural and urban areas from a land use perspective. We argue that land should be characterized along a gradient from rural to urban. Further, we argue that land use along this gradient typically combines

ABSTRACT This paper investigates to what extent the theories of Thomas Robert Malthus and Ester Boserup are still useful to analyse population and land-use trajectories in an industrial society at a regional scale. Following a model-based approach toward long-term socio-ecological research, we built two system dynamic models, each representing one theory, and calculated socio-ecological trajectories

ABSTRACT The Cropland Supplement Policy (CSP) helps maintain the total area of cropland in China as urban areas expand, but can result in environmental degradation as areas of more natural habitat are turned into cropland. Current and future impacts of the CSP are explored under different land-use change scenarios by comparing the differences in ecosystem services value (ESV) at province level. Scenario-based

ABSTRACT Formal institutions, especially policies, play a key role in land system change. Compared to other drivers of change, however, the impact of policies on landscapes is under-addressed in land system science, in part due to difficulties isolating their effect on longitudinal land change. We address this gap by examining land system architecture changes in Cuba brought about by the 1991 collapse

ABSTRACT Secure land access is vital for Myanmar’s upland households, who rely on crops and forests to meet their subsistence needs. But recent land reforms threaten to undermine customary tenure and land-use practices in Myanmar. This paper combines income accounting methods with access theory to assess how new legislation may affect four Chin communities in the country’s north-west. Our assessment

(2020). Land-system science to support achieving the sustainable development goals. Journal of Land Use Science: Vol. 15, No. 4, pp. 477-481.

Land system science and affiliated research linked to sustainability require improved understanding and theorization of land and its change as a social-ecological system (SES). The absence of a general land-use theory, anchored in the social subsystem but with explicit links to the environmental subsystem, hampers this effort. Drawing on land-use explanations, meta-analyses, and associated frameworks

Farmland size is a key factor in debates over agricultural land use, food security, agrochemical pollution, and the future of smallholder systems. This paper examines relationships between farmland size, chemical fertilizers and irrigation management, and maize and wheat yield in Mexico. We used agricultural census data to estimate the mean farmland areas and crop yields of 5.5 million farms and nine

Although life and land decisions are individual, driven by perceptions of reality, they reflect broader social processes. This research aims to understand relevant land-use change processes and the context within which land-use change occurs in the study area. For this, we employ grounded theory techniques and procedures to analyze narratives and life history interviews. Based on these narratives,

ABSTRACT Natural protected areas are recognized as key to the conservation of biodiversity and to face deforestation. Their effectiveness requires both an integrated model and the social participation of local actors. The present study analyzes the deforestation process and its relationship with governance at the Sierra de la Abra Tanchipa Biosphere Reserve (RBSAT), Mexico, and Piedras Blancas National

(2020). Transdisciplinary perspectives on current transformations at extractive and agrarian, frontiers in Latin America. Journal of Land Use Science: Vol. 15, Transdisciplinary Perspectives on Current Transformations at Extractive and Agrarian Frontiers in Latin America, pp. 99-107.

The Santa Cruz lowlands, east Bolivia, are one of South America’s most dynamic agricultural frontiers. In the Chiquitania, bordering Brazil, San Ignacio de Velasco was in 2017 ranked first nationally in terms of deforestation. There, two deforestation fronts meet with mechanized agriculture expanding from the West and South and cattle ranching from the East. Chiquitano communities are demographically

A major barrier to realising biofuels’ climate change mitigation potential is uncertainty concerning carbon emissions from indirect land use change (ILUC). Central to this uncertainty is the extent to which yields can respond dynamically to increased demand for agricultural commodities. This study examines the elasticity of soybean and corn yields in the USA for 1990–2017 using Bayesian network models

ABSTRACT Urbanization leads to a continuous loss of agricultural land, both directly under the form of land take, and indirectly through the use of agricultural land for non-productive rural activities like recreation, horse keeping or hobby farming. These urbanization processes put pressure on farmers, making farming activities harder through reduced agricultural land, negative externalities and the

ABSTRACT Land use/land cover (LULC) has changed dramatically in the peri-urban area (PUA) of greater Cairo (GC) since the Egyptian revolution of 2011. This study analyzes LULC change in the PUA of GC using two Landsat images from 2010 and 2018. The spatial trends of LULC change and visualizations of the gains and losses in LULC were analyzed using TerrSet software. The driving forces of LULC change

ABSTRACT The coexistence of different land uses in peri-urban areas is a well-known planning and managerial challenge, but explicit analyses of the boundaries and interfaces between different land uses are lacking. This paper suggests a method to explicitly quantify the spatial extent of the interfaces between different land uses. The analysis is carried out using urban development models and an empirical

Reflecting on the 2019 Open Science Meeting of the Global Land Program and on commentaries since, we argue that the time is ripe for the land system science community to fully embrace the thorny issue of land ownership and control. Beyond land governance and institutions, the issue of who actually owns and controls land, and how land holding and rents are distributed across society, is central to the

ABSTRACT The conversion of open space to built land is a key feature of urban-rural transformations. In many countries, urban sprawl represents the dominant mode of urban growth. Against this background, urban growth management plays a crucial role in mediating between diverse spatial requirements and curbing sprawl-like land-use patterns, but its effectiveness is not fully understood. Relatively few

Old cadastral maps represent a historical reference dataset for long-term land-use reconstructions. This study presents identification of inconsistencies in the nineteenth century Franziscean cadastre, one of the largest sets of old cadastral maps worldwide, by comparing three versions of the maps and written documents created in the same period. We identified all parcels and their land-use in the

This paper highlights the colonized perspective, and aims to reflect on the consequences of a predominant perspective of land control and use for Amazonian indigenous people. The demarcation of indigenous territories has been presented by external public actors, the ‘Others’ to explicitly support indigenous people defend their territories. However, demarcation effectively creates a frontier and enclosure

Although Brazilian Quilombolas possess specific land rights referring to their past as African slaves, the realization of such rights often fails due to the absence of land surveys, clarified institutional competencies and the general lack of power under which minorities suffer. Additional factors such as an expanding commercial agriculture contributing to land and water degradation and new actors

ABSTRACT Post-frontier governance in the Brazilian Amazon highlights the interaction of regulatory technologies, institutions and practices to combat illegal deforestation and appropriation of public lands. While the Amazon fires received tremendous media coverage in 2019, the dismantlement of environmental laws and regulatory agencies has supported the rise in deforestation as early as 2012. We discuss

Currently, land cover changes occur in wood-pastures all over Europe driven by abandonment of traditional farming, as well as by management and policy changes. Based on reviewing of official documents, semi-structured interviews and one case study we examined how policies and governance settings for mountain wood-pastures have led to forest cover loss in Romania. In general, wood-pastures are formal

It is important to understand environmental and conservation consciousness, commonly referred to as ‘environmentalism’, considering the crisis of global environmental change. Environmentalism of the North has been characterized as focused on ‘pristine’ landscapes of wilderness. In contrast, discussions on environmentalism of the South focus on indigenous and long-settled communities with intrinsic

The rapid expansion of cities and the impacts of urbanization on local and global environmental factors such as biodiversity and climate change are of great concern. Reliable rapid approaches for mapping the expansion of cities are of increasing importance today. In this paper, we explore the use of Google Earth Engine to classify land cover in Indian cities from Landsat imagery, using a Random Forest

We consider trends in the use of modern agricultural inputs of migrant settlers and indigenous populations in the Northern Ecuadorian Amazon and the demographic, socioeconomic, and land use-related factors affecting input use. It is widely believed that the different livelihood strategies, and therefore different relationships to the land, of indigenous populations and migrant settlers result in different

ABSTRACT The growing demand for natural rubber is increasingly threatening biodiversity and forest ecosystems. Recently, the French Michelin Group started a cooperation with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to establish environmentally and socially sustainable ‘model’ rubber plantations in Sumatra and Kalimantan, Indonesia. The framing of Michelin’s tyre production as ‘eco-friendly’ and their purported

Miombo Woodland is the major Land use/land cover with important ecological functions in Africa. In Malawi, government-management was designed to manage Woodlands. However, when illegal activities continued, Participatory Forest Management (co-management) in forest reserves was institutionalised for woodland sustainability. Currently, information on co-management mitigating deforestation and degradation

This triple case study attempts, from the viewpoint of economic and environmental anthropology, to take into account and to assess pertinent cultural, political, institutional, and economic factors that have an impact on how the açaí value chain develops or restrains according to the given regulatory frameworks. Based on the common-pool resources approach (CPR), the study examines how institutional

Historic land-use and land-cover data are important inputs for assessing the impacts of human activity on the environment. Our goal was to reconstruct land-cover change from 1770 to 2010 and to evaluate its spatial determinants and underlying drivers for three study sites in diverse agroecological settings in Ryazan province in European Russia. We used historic maps and statistics as well as satellite

The Green Revolution spread ‘modern agriculture’ to agricultural areas of the world through the creation of new products and practices. The adoption of agricultural technology brought about great changes in land use. The growth of new cultivated varieties, expansion of existing crops and deforestation are some of the results of this process. This article evaluates the relationship between agricultural

Deforestation driven by agricultural expansion is a major threat to the biodiversity of the Amazon Basin. Modelling how deforestation responds to environmental policy implementation has thus become a policy relevant scientific undertaking. However, empirical parameterization of land-use/cover change (LUCC) models is challenging due to the high complexity and uncertainty of land-use decisions. Bayesian

Understanding the patterns of cropland abandonment is important when formulating policies that can limit negative and facilitate positive outcomes of abandonment. We present a new approach to determining the dynamics of this phenomenon using aerial laser scanning (ALS) data. Assuming that the height of trees correlates with their age made it possible to reconstruct the dynamics of cropland abandonment

This study develops a methodology to distinguish vacant land types and introduces a classification scheme using a citywide vacancy inventory. Using Minneapolis, MN as a study area, three land characteristics associated with vacant properties – parcel size, ownership, and land use – are examined. Kaplan-Meier survival rates are then estimated to evaluate and compare the durations of vacancy between

This article, through the use of political ecology perspectives on coercive conservation, aims to explain how in two separate Colombian Natural Parks and buffer zones, environmental policies designed to (re)take control of the frontier, have produced a similar territorial differentiation in the contention of illicit activities. Los Farallones in the Colombian Pacific and La Macarena/Puerto Rico in