Land Use Science

This study detects patterns of land-use and land-cover changes in the last three decades (1972–2004) and analyses its causative factors in the Upper Dijo River catchment, Midwest escarpment of Ethiopian Rift Valley. Data captured through the synergy of an aerial photo, satellite image and ground-based socio-economic survey were analysed by GIS and SPSS. The results showed a decline in shrub-grassland and riverine trees at 21.5 and 16.3 ha per year, respectively, and increase in plantation trees, annual crops and bare/open grasslands at 2.8, 12.5 and 24.8 ha per year, respectively. The results are interpreted in the light of population dynamics, socio-economic condition and policy framework. The findings warrant that land-use and land-cover change in the region is very rapid, and unless the existing management of land resources is up-scaled, land ownership is secured, and family planning is mainstreamed in regional and local development plans, the region's fragile ecological balance would collapse irrecoverably.

Development of specific agricultural land use patterns and livelihood strategies is affected by farm households' characteristics as well as exogenous factors. This study, based on a survey of 210 households in Kanchanaburi Province of Thailand, applied a stepwise multiple regression technique to analyze the factors influencing agricultural land use patterns and livelihoods. The result of the analysis revealed a number of influencing factors of economic, demographic, and physical characteristics. Multiple regression analysis showed that there were three and six significant factors explaining the crop acreage change in upland and lowland households, respectively, explaining 59–71% and 81–94% of variability of agricultural land use pattern. This indicates the adoption of different and changing agricultural land use strategies as influenced by exogenous factors.

The Zagros region of western Iran has been affected by the recent changes both in amount and in structure of forest cover. We evaluated the influence of several driving forces on forest cover and structure, including socioeconomic (urban and rural population and rural income) and climatic (mean annual rainfall and mean annual temperature) variables. We acquired all time series Landsat images of a study site from 1972 to 2009. The images were classified to produce a land cover map of each year. We calculated landscape and patch metrics and identified independent sets of metrics to describe forest change. The most influential driving force for forest loss was urban population and climatic variables to some extent. These challenges should be addressed at broader scales than those associated with the livelihoods and traditional management of local communities. Rural population had a significant association with landscape structure which should be considered in designing restoration projects.

ABSTRACT Agrarian landscapes in Makhado Local Municipality in the Limpopo Province of South Africa provide for the livelihood needs of diverse groups of people. Therefore, the demands that are made on these landscapes as well as the increasing environmental and socio-economic problems, require multi-functional landscape management. Decision- making is crucial to management, and understanding decision-making processes in these landscapes is pivotal to an integrated and coordinated management. This article seeks to understand the decision-making processes and their implications for the multi-functionality of agrarian landscapes in Makhado Local Municipality under two land tenure regimes, namely communal and restitution land. In order to make sense of the complex set of actors and institutions, their demands and needs as well as how decisions are being made in the end within the context of common property and common-pool resources, the article makes use of the Institutional Analysis and Development Framework (IAD). Results show that often decisions are made on an ad hoc basis with no consultation and coordination among the actors, and there appears to be no agreed criteria to guide decision-making.

This study detects patterns of land-use and land-cover changes in the last three decades (1972–2004) and analyses its causative factors in the Upper Dijo River catchment, Midwest escarpment of Ethiopian Rift Valley. Data captured through the synergy of an aerial photo, satellite image and ground-based socio-economic survey were analysed by GIS and SPSS. The results showed a decline in shrub-grassland

Notions of land cover relating to physical landscape characters are readily captured by satellite imagery. Land use on the other hand relates more to the societal aspects of a landscape. We argue that much of the spatial configuration of landscape characters is related to land use and that satellite data can be used to represent and investigate interpretations of land

In this study we developed a methodology to identify and quantify the relationships among determinants of land cover change using a regional case study in the Brazilian Amazon. The method is based on the application of fuzzy cognitive maps (FCMs), a semi-quantitative tool that provides a structured assessment of key feedbacks in scenario analysis. Novel to the application of FCMs is the use of spatial data-sets as the main input to build a cognitive map. Identification of interactions between land cover determinants and strengths is based on an empirical analysis of spatially explicit data and literature review. Expert knowledge is adopted to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the method. Potential pitfalls, such as spatial autocorrelation and scale issues, identified are intrinsic to the empirical data analysis. The outputs of the resulting FCMs are compared to the outputs of spatially explicit models under similar scenarios of change. The proposed method is said to be robust and reproducible when compared with participatory approaches, and it can endorse the consistency between demand and allocation in scenario analysis to be used in spatially explicit models.

In this article, we discuss the drivers, causes, and impacts of land-use change in the Maasai Steppe of northern Tanzania. Remote sensing data were used to analyze land-use change, and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) was used to link-up with wildlife population dynamics and livestock distribution data derived from aerial censuses. Agriculture increased fivefold between 1984 and 2000, while human population increased exponentially from 3.3% pa in 1988 to 3.4% pa in the same period. Wildlife migratory routes declined from ...

This study presents spatial and temporal changes of carbon storages of forest timber biomass in a typical forest management unit of the northeastern part of Turkey. The effects of land-use and land-cover changes on the amount of carbon storage are analyzed. Temporal changes of carbon storage of the area were estimated using forest inventory data. The spatial distribution of carbon densities was mapped using Geographic Information Systems (GISs). As an overall change between 1984 and 2005, there was a net increase of 12,379 ha in forested areas. The results indicated that the total amount of carbon stored in the above- and belowground forest ecosystems increased nearly by 47% from one period to the next mainly due to increase of forest area and the quality of forest ecosystem structure.

Knowledge of recent changes in land use, driving forces and implications of changes in the context of sustainable development is limited. This study analyses the changes in spatial patterns of land use including crop diversity, the drivers and implications of changes in 11 village ecosystems of southern India. Data obtained from existing maps, land survey, participatory survey and field measurements were integrated to quantify changes. Land-use dynamics at the village ecosystems level are highly interlinked to the livelihoods and anthropogenic forces as well as natural causes leading to major changes. Among the trends observed, urban influence was a major driver causing large area changes, natural causes being less significant. Other drivers included rainfall deficit, human population increase and management decisions. The impacts of changes were both short- and long-term. Implications and trade-offs were linked to the extent of land, type of change and dependence of the communities for livelihood and provisional services.