The Application of International Resettlement Policy in African Villagization Projects

2012 ◽  
Vol 71 (4) ◽  
pp. 395-406 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris De Wet
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Land Reform ◽  
Capital Investment ◽  
Short Range ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Development Projects ◽  
Local Autonomy

It is now widely agreed that anything less than consciously planned and implemented development for resettled people will leave them worse off. Compensation is not up to the task of restorative, let alone just, resettlement. But what happens when, as in the case of smaller scale, but widely occurring, projects involving resettlement, the "development" projects do not give rise to significant new resources, thereby effectively making resettlement with development impossible? Smaller scale villagization type projects with an agricultural/land reform/political reorganization agenda are widespread in Africa. They have been/are imposed in recurring fashion on rural areas by succeeding governments, typically involving short-range resettlement, limited capital investment and assistance, and loss of local autonomy in relation to land use. The paper provides case studies from South Africa and Zimbabwe. It will be shown how these ongoing interventions and responses have directed the developmental, social, and resettlement dynamic in the resulting settlements—as well as raising crucial implications for whether, and how, we are best to apply international resettlement policy in such situations.

Can SPLUMA Play a Role in Transforming Spatial Injustice to Spatial Justice in Housing in South Africa?

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeannie Van Wyk
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Land Reform ◽  
Spatial Planning ◽  
National Development ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Spatial Development ◽  
Land Use Management ◽  
Spatial Justice ◽  
Spatial Environment

Our spatial environment is one of the most important determinants of our well-being and life chances. It relates to schools, opportunities, businesses, recreation and access to public services. Spatial injustice results where discrimination determines that spatial environment. Since Apartheid in South Africa epitomised the notion of spatial injustice, tools and instruments are required to transform spatial injustice into spatial justice. One of these is the employment of principles of spatial justice. While the National Development Plan (NDP) recognised that all spatial development should conform to certain normative principles and should explicitly indicate how the requirements of these should be met, the Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act 16 of 2013 (SPLUMA) contains a more concrete principle of spatial justice. It echoes aspects of both the South African land reform programme and global principles of spatial justice. Essentially section 7(a) of SPLUMA entails three components: (1) redressing past spatial imbalances and exclusions; (2) including people and areas previously excluded and (3) upgrading informal areas and settlements. SPLUMA directs municipalities to apply the principle in its spatial development frameworks, land use schemes and, most importantly, in decision-making on development applications. The aim of this article is to determine whether the application of this principle in practice can move beyond the confines of spatial planning and land use management to address the housing issue in South Africa. Central to housing is section 26 of the Constitution, that has received the extensive attention of the Constitutional Court. The court has not hesitated to criticize the continuing existence of spatial injustice, thus contributing to the transformation of spatial injustice to spatial justice. Since planning, housing and land reform are all intertwined not only the role of SPLUMA, but also the NDP and the myriad other policies, programmes and legislation that are attempting to address the situation are examined and tested against the components of the principle of spatial justice in SPLUMA.

Combined use of Sentinel SAR and optical data for soil moisture estimation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulia Graldi ◽  
Simone Bignotti ◽  
Marco Bezzi ◽  
Alfonso Vitti
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Physiological State ◽  
European Space Agency ◽  
Irrigation Scheduling ◽  
Optical Data ◽  
Agricultural Land Use ◽  
Mountainous Area

<p>This work investigates the performance of two soil moisture retrieval methods using optical and radar satellite data. The study was conducted in areas with predominant agricultural land use since soil moisture is one of the parameters of interest in a wider study for water resource optimization in agricultural practices such as irrigation scheduling.<br>The two methods considered are based on the identification of changes in the investigated parameter between two acquisition dates. The implemented methods have been applied to study areas characterized by different orographic complexity and land use heterogeneity. Data from the European Space Agency (ESA) Sentinel 1 and Sentinel 2 missions were used, and results were validated with field measurements from the International Soil Moisture Network (ISMN).<br>At first, the methods were applied in a mountainous area of an irrigation consortium in Trentino (Italy), where the results pointed out the complexity of the study and the limitations of the current models in these contexts. Factors such as orographic complexity, type and physiological state of crops make the reduction of SAR data particularly complex to model.<br>The methods were then tested in a simpler orographic context such as that of the Po Valley in Bologna (Italy), also characterized by agricultural land use.<br>Finally, the methods were applied in a lowland with agricultural vocation located in Spain, for which an extended archive of soil moisture measurements distributed by the ISMN is available. In this context, the models were analyzed and were evaluated both functional and parametric adjustments of the models on the basis of the previous case studies.<br>Some of the results obtained are of high quality, while others highlight the complexity of the problem faced and the need for further investigation: increasing the number of case studies and using optical or SAR vegetation index different from the mainly used NDVI, could enhanced the models used for soil moisture retrieval.</p>

scholarly journals Land Use Development of Vineyards in Goriška Brda, Slovenia

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 611-622 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alenka FIKFAK ◽  
Velibor SPALEVIC ◽  
Saja KOSANOVIC ◽  
Svetislav G. POPOVIC ◽  
Mladen DJUROVIC ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Land Use Change ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Cultural Landscape ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Land Development ◽  
Chemical Properties ◽  
Cross Tabulation ◽  
The Cross

Land development analyses play a fundamental role in understanding how land use change shapes the land, depending on continuously changing social, economic, and environmental factors that reflect the interests in space. It is especially important to follow land use changes in rural areas due to their role in food security, environmental hazards, cultural landscape preservation, etc. Continuous analyses and monitoring of land use changes allow for the identification and prevention of negative trends in land use (over intensification, land fragmentation, etc.) that might affect biodiversity, change physical and chemical properties of soil, causing soil degradation, change the spatial balance, stability and natural equilibrium in the rural area. The use of the cross-tabulation matrix methodology was suggested for land use change analyses. The methodology, when the cross-tabulation matrix elements are correctly interpreted, allows us to gain as much insight as possible in the process of land use change. This approach enabled a detailed analysis of vineyards in Goriška brda, Slovenia. It was found that the existing methodology fails to analyse the location of change. For this reason, additional analyses of spatial distribution of change and of the locations where changes in space occur were suggested. The study demonstrated that the land use category of vineyards changes systematically, although seemingly randomly. By comparing land use categories over several time periods, the study determined that the size and speed of change varied across different time intervals. The identified land use changes were assessed in the context of their high pressure on agricultural land. The results of the analyses showed different trends shaping the typical agrarian landscape in Goriška brda.

scholarly journals Outcome of capital investment on labor productivity in agriculture sector of Ukraine

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-25
Author(s):  
Viktoriya Onegina ◽  
Nikolay Megits ◽  
Vitalina Antoshchenkova ◽  
Oleksandr Boblovskyi
Keyword(s):  
Labor Productivity ◽  
Land Reform ◽  
Capital Investment ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Fixed Capital ◽  
Capital Investments ◽  
Agriculture Sector ◽  
Machinery Export ◽  
The U.S

Ukraine's agricultural sector accounts for 17% of the country's GDP and is continuously growing. For six consecutive years (2013-2018), Ukraine harvested over 60 million tons of grain annually, and 2018 export of ag commodities reached $18.6 billion. (State, 2020).  The anticipated land reform envisions lifting the moratorium on the agricultural land sale, which should encourage capital investments in ag.  The article analyzes the trends of investment opportunities in the Ukrainian ag sector for the last decade. The regression analysis of labor productivity with variables of fixed capital-worker ratio and yield of grain confirmed that the function of labor productivity depended on the value of fixed capital per worker.  As the U.S. investment in ag machinery export to Ukraine plays a significant role, we evaluated its effect on the current level of labor productivity in the Ukrainian agribusiness, comparing it with the U.S. farming outcome.

scholarly journals Management of rural territories land resources in decentralization conditions

2019 ◽  
pp. 24-36
Author(s):  
Andriy Sava ◽  
Borys Sydoruk ◽  
Roman Voloshyn
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Land Management ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Land Resources ◽  
Resources Management ◽  
Community Needs

Introduction. Under decentralization, there is a gradual transfer of powers and resources to local governments. In this case, one of the most urgent problem for rural areas, is the organization of rational land management from the position of financial support improving through the disposing of lands, and using available lands for community needs. Methods. General and special methods – monographic and abstract-logical, methods of generalization, comparison and analysis have been applied for data processing. Results. During the decentralization reform, it was found that 488 rural united territorial communities were formed, covering almost half the area of all UTCs created. In addition, nearly 800 village councils joint to the city-based UTCs. The ways of the redistribution of powers on the UTC land resources management are established at the expense of acquiring their own powers, obtaining delegated ones, as well as acquiring the rights of other institutions. Emphasis is placed on the benefits of managing land resources of rural communities at the local level. It has been determined that the applicable law restrict communal land use of UTC. At the same time, the importance of agricultural land outside the settlement transfer to the disposal of communities is emphasized. The importance of the land payment in the structure of local budget revenues is analyzed in detail, the key problems and contradictions that accompany the process of land management powers reallocation are identified. Suggestions are made to improve the rural communities land resources management through their inventory, accounting and monitoring, revision of rental rates for communal property, strengthening control over compliance with the terms of land use agreements, use of free lands in the interests of communities. Discussion. Further studies in this area are going to be aimed at developing a comprehensive mechanism for ensuring effective management of land resources in rural areas after the completion of decentralization. Keywords: land resources, rural territories, decentralization, united territorial communities, local governments.

scholarly journals The Role Of Management Of The Field-Forest Boundary In Poland’s Process Of Agricultural Restructuring

2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franciszek Woch ◽  
Robert Borek
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Rural Landscape ◽  
Polish Literature ◽  
Agricultural Restructuring ◽  
Comprehensive Management ◽  
Forest Boundary

Abstract The aim of the work described here has been to point to the relationships between the field-forest boundary and crop productivity as regards the present agrarian land-use structure in Poland, and to provide new opportunities for arranging the agrarian process and the spatial planning of the rural landscape in the context of the sustainable shaping of the field-forest boundary. Impacts of forests and woodlands on crop productivity have been assessed using available data from relevant Polish literature. An assessment of the plot-distribution pattern characterising farms in Poland was made on the basis of reference data from the Agency for the Restructuring and Modernisation of Agriculture. Finally, the possibility of afforestation of agricultural land has been evaluated within the existing legal framework, and on the basis of available data, with attention paid to the need to include organization of the field-forest boundary within the comprehensive management and planning of rural areas, and to preserve woody elements in patchy landscapes. This all creates an opportunity to test innovative approaches to integrated land use which combines the creation of public goods and local products based on participatory learning processes that bring in local stakeholders and decision-makers.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document