Nepal is going through a major socio-economic transition in rural areas and hence in forest management practices, leading to changes in and evolution of new forest-people relationships. Community forests are experiencing an ecological transition resulting a new pattern of growth, regeneration and diversity in forest composition. The ecological transition of forest corresponds to the shifting local

Land tenure security plays an important role in agricultural production systems. The objective of this paper is to empirically assess the impact of land tenure security through customary law on agricultural productivity in Burkina Faso. We use panel data from 15,627 agricultural households over the period 2019–2021. Four propensity score matching methods are used: the nearest neighbor method, the stratification

Rural commons globally are facing environmental, demographic, and economic changes that challenge their sustainability. In addition, political and regulatory burdens can complicate the running of communal enterprises that provide income and livelihoods for community members, young and old. When these challenges combine with the cultural changes driven by globalization, youth in rural areas– especially

Interest in radical solutions to embedding Green Infrastructure (GI) into the built environment are at an all-time high. With land value often preventing more mundane forms of GI, key actors, such as planners, developers, architects and others, are increasingly exploring novel methods for embedding the features. This innovation involves a surge in green roofs, living walls and other systems which enables

Peatlands drained for agriculture are among the most intensive sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the land-use sector. Policy decisions on the most effective strategies to reduce GHG emissions in line with Paris Agreement goals, alongside strategies that can halt any ongoing soil and biodiversity losses, are hindered by a lack of understanding on how proposed mitigation measures are likely

Group GIS-based Decision Support Systems (GGDSSs) have been used as effective tools to involve a particular group of individuals in the process of assessing alternative lands/locations for a particular use. Multiple Models-Multiple Users GGDSSs refer to the systems in which each decision maker may use a different decision model in the group assessment process. The variety and dynamic nature of individual

From the time a city is first subdivided, its structure of lots act as a precursor to all future redevelopment, forming the spatial bounds of land ownership that force buildings to develop and evolve in their place. It is therefore critical for planning systems that intend to contain urban sprawl to encourage the lot superstructure to adapt to the emerging needs of a city. This study assesses the role

Family farms play a key role in food production, natural resources stewardship, and economic development in the United States (US). Therefore, family farms' resilience (i.e., their capacity to deal with disturbances or shocks and recover from their negative impacts) is crucial for sustainability goals. The COVID-19 crisis posed several challenges to already strained family farms opening an opportunity

Green infrastructure supports residential choice, provides sustainable transport and contributes to liveable neighbourhoods. This study investigates the value of green infrastructure, defined as built environment features (e.g., green spaces, beaches), facilities (e.g., fitness equipment in parks) and sustainable transport infrastructure (e.g., heavy rail, light rail and bus), to property prices in

Environmental and land use policy literature asserts the need for more holistic, participatory and co-designed forms of governance for the sustainable management of natural resources. Co-design is also increasingly recognised by government as a useful approach but is often applied with varying degrees of success. The purpose of this paper is to assess recent examples of policy co-design across three

The objective of this paper is to estimate the capitalization of CAP subsidies into both rental prices and land values in the EU. We use FADN data at regional level for the period 1989–2016 and apply a dynamic panel approach (GMM estimator) to estimate the capitalization effect of coupled direct payments (CDPs), decoupled direct payments (DDPs) and rural development measures at EU level. The estimated

Land-based mitigation technologies and practices (LMTs) reduce GHG emissions associated with land use and/or enhance terrestrial GHG sinks. This article investigates capacity gaps to successfully facilitate LMT adoption and/or scaling in the regions of Latin America, Europe, North America, sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. We look at LMTs such as agricultural land management, agroforestry, bioenergy

After decades of sprawl and car-dependent urban developments, especially on the peripheries of metropolitan areas, new policies are being oriented towards more efficient and sustainable mobility. In the process of change towards more sustainable mobility patterns in peripheral areas, commuter railways must play a predominant role because of their capacity and speed. The main aim of this paper is to

Jurisdictions around the world are experiencing an increasing demand for formation of three-dimensional (3D) real property units, especially in the presence of vertical mixed-use developments. Since traditional real property formation is only in two dimensions (2D), jurisdictions are on different steps (levels) of transforming 2D real property legislation into 3D real property legislation. The objective

Accurate and up-to-date mapping of mangrove habitats is crucial for effective conservation and management strategies and policies. As a reply to the comparative assessment realized by Acosta et al. (2023) to the last map produced by the Mexican Mangrove Monitoring System (MMMS) and the conclusions resulting from it, we provide a comprehensive response addressing the concerns raised. We acknowledge

Grasslands provide a wide variety of public and private environmental benefits arising from ecosystem services. At the same time, grassland ecosystems are being irreversibly altered. To protect grassland ecosystems and services, many policies have been introduced to encourage private grassland owners and users to adopt management practices to conserve and enhance ecosystem services. However, because

One of the fundamental rules of effective communication is to “know your audience.” When engaging farmers in conservation in the U.S. and elsewhere where their participation is voluntary, communication should start with the fundamental recognition that farmers are heterogeneous in many ways; their attitudes, values, and motivations, as well as their farms’ biophysical and economic characteristics,

Forest restoration has gained traction as a solution to mitigate climate change, contribute to biodiversity conservation, and support forest livelihoods. Yet there is limited evidence on the spatial locations where restoration is most likely to occur. In landscapes that primarily contain private properties, assessing the likelihood of restoration can be informed by understanding the enabling and limiting

Land-use conflicts are increasing in number and intensity. In conflicts involving power imbalances and structural asymmetries, actors may attempt to frame the conflict in a manner that would put it on the political agenda, sometimes causing an escalation of the conflict and extending the possibilities of new coalition partners. Consequently, this study aims to analyze the spread of conflict escalation

In Asia, Africa, and Latin America, complex drivers of deforestation have sparked mandatory and voluntary initiatives, including moratorium policies, zero-deforestation pledges and certification systems. The impacts of these different commitments, which aim to reduce deforestation, have yet to be documented or analytically scrutinized. Using South Sumatra as a case study, we used the Institutional

Forest plantation areas across the globe are increasing in size and in 2019 Eucalyptus monocultures in Brazil covered 6.97 million hectares (0.8%). These monocultures hardly provide ecosystem services and do not support wildlife habitats. A transition towards more sustainable Eucalyptus plantations is urgently needed to support the provisioning of ecosystem services and conserve biodiversity. This

Land governance requires coherence not only in terms of policies but also between its governance functions to achieve the desired goals. In this study, we focus on the functions that direct influence land use (boundary setting and resource appropriation; project formulation and financing; and monitoring, evaluation, and learning), which are expected to form a feedback loop necessary for adaptive co-management

The Flemish region in Belgium is characterised by a high and ever-growing proportion of settlement area. Moreover, the historical growth pattern has resulted in fragmented urban development causing societal and environmental problems such as strong competition for space by multiple sectors and traffic congestion. The Flemish government has incorporated in its Spatial Policy Plan the goal to reduce

In this paper, we employ for the first time a Bayesian process-tracing approach to assess the role of different interventions designed to halt deforestation. We applied the methodology to six initiatives implemented between 2006 and 2019 in the municipality of São Felix do Xingu, namely: (i) institution of protected areas, (ii) environmental monitoring and enforcement, (iii) credit restrictions, (iv)

Urbanization needs to conceptualize land use policy beyond the city boundaries. It might be explained by exploring complex and interconnected interdependencies in regional key driving factors that can have tele-coupling effects during sudden shocks. Over one million Rohingya have settled in the rural/forest area in Cox’s Bazar for locational proximity and comparatively easy escape from Myanmar after

Land consolidation plays a vital role in addressing the global poverty issue. Nevertheless, the factors and mechanisms contributing to the disparities in the impacts of land consolidation on poverty alleviation (LCPA) remain inadequately analyzed. This study aimed to explore how natural conditions influence the effectiveness of LCPA in contiguous impoverished mountainous regions. The structural equation

Brazilians have lived for many years under governments with discourse proclaiming the need to occupy and develop the Amazon to integrate this vast territory into the rest of the country. Increasing the region’s population, economic activity and infrastructure have been promoted to expand agricultural production and to protect Brazil's Amazonian borders and natural resources from foreign nations; but

The rapid rate of urban expansion with its associated physical development in recent years conflicts with the urban ecosystem and the services it provides. In most Sub-Saharan African cities, rapid urban expansion often does not conform to existing spatial plans. Physical developments are sometimes carried out in unauthorized areas, contributing to urban floods. The Sub-Saharan African regions' flood

The objective of the study was to assess the impact of land restitution policy on water, energy, and food insecurity in South Africa. The study utilised a cross-sectional survey of 1 184 households from Matatiele, Greater Taung and Magareng Local Municipalities. The Household Water Insecurity Experience, Multidimensional Energy Poverty Index and Household Food In-access Scale were used to analyse water

The relationship between information and communication technology (ICT) investment, ICT trade, and real estate market transparency is examined in this paper. National-level bi-annual data from a sample of advanced and emerging market economies for the period 2004–2018 underpins this work. The regression analyses suggest greater levels of capital investment in ICT and ICT trade are associated with increased

Payment for environmental services (PES) is a scheme that seeks to reduce human pressure on forest ecosystems by financially rewarding forest landowners for conserving their forests. However, in Mexico, the program is questioned because it prioritizes communities in the poorest regions over areas with a high risk of deforestation. This study evaluates the effectiveness of the PES program for forest

Land is an essential asset for women livestock-keepers that help to increase their livelihoods. The main objective of this study was to assess the impact of land tenure on production systems and the income of women livestock-keeper in Burkina Faso. A face to face survey was conducted on women’s livestock-keeping practices, their access to land and production using semi structured questionnaires. Hierarchical

Although oil palm production has been suggested as a driver of development in some countries, this relationship has yet to be established in Brazilian territory. In Brazil, 90% of oil palm production is concentrated in the eastern Amazon, where socioenvironmental costs associated with medium and large agro industries have already been demonstrated. However, there is still a lack of understanding of

Farmland marginalization has been one of the main directions of land use transition in the process of industrialization and urbanization in recent years. With the increase in rural labor opportunity costs, the influence of natural resource endowment and socioeconomic conditions on farmers' farmland marginalization behavior at the micro level remains unknown, and the relevant literature is insufficient

Urbanization is a global trend which is taking place at the costs of agricultural, forest, and other natural or semi-natural areas. As a result of urbanization, transitioning zones in urban peripheries located between urban and rural areas have a mixed character from a spatial, ecological, socio-demographic, and economic point of view. Different land use mixes and interests exist there in parallel

Agricultural trade and climate change have altered land cover and land use worldwide. For example, the recent growth of international soybean demand has been associated with 1.3 Mha primary Amazon forest loss and up to 13-fold increase in double-cropping areas in Brazil. Many studies have tried to understand which and how global and local drivers affect deforestation and agricultural intensification

The issue of land governance is central to the New Urban Agenda and 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. Earlier studies have extensively reported the failure of land governance in different African cities. However, none of these studies has examined possible (in)consistencies between residents' expectations and the acutal performance of land governance based on the opinion of residents, who are usually

Increased development in rural and urban areas leads to a decrease in tree cover and reduces the ecosystem services that trees provide. Municipal authorities must consider managing trees on private land to ensure that residents have access to trees and green spaces. In doing so, they must frequently confront conflicting stakeholder views, which are driven by diverse public and private interests and

The payable amount of municipal property tax in Israel, locally known as Arnona, is based on the property's physical size, functional use, and several locational attributes, but not on the property's value, as more common elsewhere. This unusual taxation system originated in the late 1960's, when the State of Israel abolished the 1934 British mandatory ad valorem taxation system in order to establish

This study investigates the spatial variability of some remote sensing indices representing built-up areas, vegetation, bareness, and urban heat island (UHI), based on time-series Landsat TM/ETM+ and OLI/TIRS datasets archived for 1980–2020 period from the US Geological Survey’s website for Kumasi Metropolitan Area in Ghana. Modules for Land Use Change Evaluation (MOLUSCE) and Cellular Automata Artificial

The present study investigates the factors that might contribute influencing Member States decision to promote the adoption of crop diversification practices through their provisional National Strategic Plans for implementing the 2023–2027 Common Agricultural Policy. The Qualitative Comparative Analysis method is used to explore the link between key agricultural land uses and land use pressure indicators

This paper interrogates the persistence of urban master planning in African cities. Critiques of master planning in Africa label it as a stifling product of colonial legacies, an inappropriate imposition of external ideas, or a device to achieve the goals of global actors, all seen as being at odds with the rapidly changing settlement patterns and needs of many African urban contexts. This paper instead

Women’s land rights (WLRs) are now firmly established in global human rights and development agendas, including in land reforms which are mainstreaming gender equality as part of project design and outcomes. Despite this, the evidence on the effectiveness of land administration and titling interventions for securing WLRs is sometimes problematic. This article critically analyses the gendered processes

Over the past few decades, increasingly intensive maize farming by smallholders in the uplands of northern Thailand has produced a maize boom that has fed the country’s livestock industry. Despite continuously high demand for feed maize, its cultivation has declined unexpectedly over the past decade, pointing to a major land use transition in the uplands. This study investigates the causes of this

This paper explores mechanisms that render different state actors capable of exerting customary land pressures, land grabbing or facilitating conditions for doing so. Specifically, the paper examines provisions state actors rely upon in the acquisition of rural customary land and implications. Using the test case of a rural district of Mafinga in eastern Zambia, we collect qualitative data from policy

Across the European Union, farm modernisation results in vacant farm buildings in agricultural areas. This is an issue at the crossroads of rural development and spatial planning. The debate often revolves around the options of either demolishing these buildings or re-using them for residential purposes. There is less emphasis, however, on re-using vacant farm buildings to create new employment opportunities

Tenure security with land titles is considered important for agricultural productivity and growth. In this view, formal titles enable land to be used as collateral, facilitate access to credit markets and increase productivity enhancing investments. Recent studies have extended this approach to food security. This article investigates the validity of the relationship between tenure security and food

The timely and effective dissemination of property values is an essential part of a transparent and efficient property valuation system. Over the last decade, web-based data-sharing systems have been increasingly used for the dissemination of assessed property values. 3D valuation units (e.g., condominium) and groups (aggregation of valuation units, e.g., a building floor in a multi-occupied building

Pronounced environmental gradients of tropical mountains result in interconnected social-ecological systems of great cultural and biological diversity and high provision of essential ecosystem services. This intrinsic diversity of mountain social-ecological systems (MtSES) entails great complexity which, coupled with remoteness, vulnerability, and lack of fine-scale data, hampers the adequate planning

The abandonment of agricultural activity has multiple negative economic, environmental and social impacts in rural areas. As a consequence of different socioeconomic, political, environmental and technical drivers, this phenomenon shows an increasing trend in olive groves in disadvantaged and sloping areas. This paper analyses, for the case of sloping olive groves in Andalusia, the main olive-growing

As a public policy, planning seeks to achieve politically defined policy objectives such as sustainable spatial development. To effectively attain these objectives, it is essential to consider the impact of planning decisions on land values. A comprehensive understanding of the connection between planning and land values is imperative for making well-informed choices regarding the management of land

Several cities in the world have been subjected to urban sprawl. For instance, in India, this process is responsible for environmental degradation. The case of Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) is a good example. Therefore, a proper investigation of the urban expansion characteristics of SMC is required to provide a basis for sustainable urban environmental management. This study analysed the changes

Environmental stressors, potentially aggravated by climate change, pose significant challenges to households whose livelihoods rely primarily on crop production in agriculture or aquaculture, particularly in countries of the Global South. In this context, diversified farming systems, or crop diversification, have been discussed as one adaptation strategy of smallholder farming households to reduce

The rapid loss of farmland to development has long been a concern of policymakers and conservation non-profits globally. In the United States, agricultural conservation easements are a widespread policy tool used to protect farmland from conversion to development in perpetuity. However, the extent to which these easements reduce farmland loss to development within their boundaries is rarely studied

Land valuation—the normative and socio-political process through which land is assigned a value—is a highly contested procedure, as the value of land strongly affects how land is used and distributed and ultimately affects who can live where, how, and why. We argue that it is thus important to gain a better understanding of land valuation processes through examining (1) how the process of land valuation

Abstract not available

Integrated landscape approaches have been welcomed by scientists and development practitioners as a promising way to address commodity-driven deforestation and associated land degradation and greenhouse gas emissions. They present cross-sectoral approaches to manage trade-offs between multiple land uses and environmental and socio-economic objectives through participatory multi-stakeholder planning