scholarly journals Participatory Mapping Approaches Aided by GIS Technology towards Sustainable Land Use Planning in Namibia

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (6) ◽  
pp. 289-293
Author(s):  
Lisho C. Mundia
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Courtney Elizabeth Heron-Monk

Cemetery grounds and sustainable land use practice are rarely used in conjunction however natural burial grounds present opportunities to leverage the land use and environmental challenges associated with conventional cemeteries for the benefit of people and the environment. This paper explores land use planning challenges facing Ontario in planning for the disposal of our dead and the emergence of natural burial grounds as a sustainable alternative to conventional burial. This paper also explores how planning challenges related to planning for the disposal of our dead could be leveraged to produce positive outcomes; in particular the strengthening of Ontario's Greenbelt as a living landscape. This paper argues the Natural burial has potential to be a value added land resource and can mitigate a series of burial related land use challenges currently present in Ontario.


Soil Research ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ha T. N. Huynh ◽  
Lisa A. Lobry de Bruyn ◽  
Brian R. Wilson ◽  
Oliver G. G. Knox

Local soil knowledge (LSK) has been recognised for its importance in sustainable soil management and agroecosystems. This paper examines peer-reviewed articles and grey literature documents on LSK during 2003–2018. Research continues to be geographically focused on developing countries, but often in collaboration with researchers from developed countries. There were five key research themes: soil classification and agreement between local and scientific soil knowledge (Theme 1), value of LSK for soil management and decision-making (Theme 2), scientific approach to the incorporation of LSK (Theme 3), application of LSK for identification of and solutions to soil problems (Theme 4) and factors influencing soil knowledge development (Theme 5). Although Theme 1 continued to be a prevalent research area, confirming the importance of visible and topsoil characteristics identified by farmers, examining subsurface soil properties has garnered less research. For LSK to be thoroughly documented requires support by a pluralistic scientific assessment and greater incorporation of social science methodologies. An overarching finding from Themes 2–4 was the importance of designing national programs that incorporate LSK derived from local people and other stakeholders (e.g. scientists and policymakers) to conserve soils. Local soil maps, using LSK terminology, could broaden the appeal and use of maps by local stakeholders to support sustainable land-use planning from the field to national policy-making processes. Finally, cultural and political aspects, known to influence LSK, should be given greater consideration in further research to sustain and develop this knowledge (Theme 5).


2020 ◽  
Vol 150 ◽  
pp. 03014 ◽  
Author(s):  
M’hamed Boufala ◽  
Abdellah El Hmaidf ◽  
Khalid Chadli ◽  
Ali Essahlaoui ◽  
Abdelhadi El Ouali ◽  
...  

The preservation of soil resources is a primary global concern and a permanent challenge for all Mediterranean countries. In Morocco, the capacity of dam reservoirs continues to decline from one year to the next due to the rate of siltation, mainly due to the phenomenon of water erosion. Indeed, the origins of this erosion are generally related to land use planning, deforestation, agricultural practices and low vegetation cover. However, it is imperative to quantify soil erosion and its spatial distribution to achieve sustainable land use and governance of this resource. The SWAT hydro-agricultural model and the integrated RUSLE model were used to assess soil losses and characterize the degraded areas of the M’dez watershed, located in the upper Sebou, north of the Middle Atlas, and extend on an area of 3350 km2. The results obtained during this work show that the average soil losses estimated by the two models are consistent. For the SWAT model, the specific degradation of the watershed is estimated at 3.95 t/ha/year, whereas for the RUSLE model, the average loss of the basin is estimated at 2.94 t/ha/year). However, the use of these two models (SWAT and RUSLE), for the assessment and characterization of degraded areas at the level of Moroccan watersheds, has become a much sought-after approach for good soil conservation management.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 2238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enric Tello ◽  
Joan Marull ◽  
Roc Padró ◽  
Claudio Cattaneo ◽  
Francesc Coll

Could past land uses, and the land cover changes carried out, affect the current landscape capacity to maintain biodiversity? If so, knowledge of historical landscapes and their socio-ecological transitions would be useful for sustainable land use planning. We constructed a GIS dataset in 10 × 10 km UTM cells of the province of Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain) for 1956 and 2009 with the changing levels of farming disturbance exerted through the human appropriation of photosynthetic net primary production (HANPP), and a set of landscape ecology metrics to assess the impacts of the corresponding land-use changes. Then, we correlated them with the spatial distribution of total species richness (including vascular plants, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals). The results allow us to characterize the main trends in changing landscape patterns and processes, and explore whether a land-use legacy of many complex agroforest mosaics maintained by the intermediate farming disturbance managed in 1956 could still exist, despite the decrease or disappearance of those mosaics before 2009 due to the combined impacts of agroindustrial intensification (meaning higher HANPP levels), forest transition (meaning lower HANPP levels) and urban sprawl. Statistical analysis reveals a positive impact of the number of larger, less disturbed forest patches, where many protected natural sites have been created in 1956–2009. However, it also confirms that this result has not only been driven by conservation policies and that the distribution of species richness is currently correlated with the maintenance of intermediate levels of HANPP. This suggests that both land-sharing and land-sparing approaches to biodiversity conservation may have played a synergistic role owing to the legacy of complex land cover mosaics of former agricultural landscapes that are now under a serious threat.


Land ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 297
Author(s):  
Shuhan Liu ◽  
Guoping Lei ◽  
Dongyan Wang ◽  
Hong Li ◽  
Wenbo Li ◽  
...  

The optimization of ecological resource allocation is increasingly seen as a potential solution for urban revitalization and sustainable land use planning, and the key point is to assess and simulate the spatial arrangement of the ecological land. In this study, we proposed a conceptual framework with the aim of reoccupying ecological resources for rust belt cities from the perspective of eco-economic trade-offs. The ecological security pattern, the urban development pattern, and the ecological quality of cropland were constructed and evaluated to measure the development level of an ecological system and a socio-economic system. Furthermore, the results were used as the constraints that influenced land use distribution to simulate the ecological land reoccupation pattern. The suitable area, the preservation area, the configurable area, and the unsuitable area in the reoccupation pattern accounted for 6.94%, 49.97%, 28.17%, and 0.69%, respectively. Significantly, under strict cropland protection policies, the available space for ecological land expansion was heavily compressed. Therefore, the emphasis on agricultural production should be reexamined to release more space for ecological resources. This method could be an effective pathway to alleviate the pressures on urban and natural space caused by the competition between land-use activities, such as economic development, agricultural production, and ecological conservation. The findings are expected to promote urban revitalization, green agriculture, and sustainable social development in rust belt cities, and provide certain references for the utilization of land resources and regional policy making.


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