Development of Supply Curves for Biodiversity Offsets on Agricultural Land – a Case Study from the Stuttgart Region

2021 ◽  
Vol 70 (2) ◽  
pp. 70-83
Author(s):  
Christian Sponagel ◽  
Hans Back ◽  
Elisabeth Angenendt ◽  
Enno Bahrs
Keyword(s):  
Nature Conservation ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Arable Land ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
West Germany ◽  
Theoretical Point ◽  
Study Region ◽  
Biodiversity Offsets ◽  
The City

Impacts on nature and landscape are to be offset in accordance with different nature conservation acts in various European countries. In Germany in particular, biodiversity offsets can also be made in advance, for instance, by booking them into eco-accounts, and then allocating them to an intervention. In Baden-Württemberg, these offset measures are assessed in eco credits in accordance with the Eco Account Regulation (ÖKVO). As a means of income diversification, farmers can voluntarily implement offset measures on their land, and then generate and sell corresponding eco credits. Using a geodata-based model, the potential for implementing biodiversity offsets on arable land – areas with major eco credit potential – is analysed from an economic perspective. The Stuttgart Region is a steadily growing conurbation in south-west Germany. It serves as a study region since the loss of farmland due to large-scale construction measures and the related offsetting are a major issue here. In the analysis, the gross margins of the crops grown, their yield capacity, the associated standard land values and the costs of possible offset measures are used to determine the net present value of the arable land at parcel level. From a theoretical point of view and depending on the market price for eco credits, there is a significant potential for offset measures on arable land. Production-integrated compensation (PIC) – an extensification of arable land use – is less economically viable than the conversion of arable land into grassland or its utilisation for nature conservation. There are major spatial disparities between the city of Stuttgart and the surrounding districts. The implementation of biodiversity offsets is not economically viable at a price of less than € 1.00 per eco credit in the city of Stuttgart. By contrast, in surrounding districts, offset measures may be economically viable and implemented on a large scale for less than € 0.30. This is particularly relevant as the districts concerned are located in the same natural area as the city of Stuttgart and the eco credits can, therefore, be attributed in the event of interventions. Based on derived supply curves, decision-makers can see the scale of additional costs of biodiversity offset measures if they are implemented in a spatially restricted region. The analyses presented here can help decision-makers to more easily weigh up the desired natural characteristics and economic effects in the context of agricultural land.

scholarly journals Einstellungen von Landwirten und Naturschutzverbänden zu Kurzumtriebsplantagen | Attitudes of farmers and nature conservation associations to short-rotation coppice

2008 ◽  
Vol 159 (6) ◽  
pp. 158-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Constance Skodawessely ◽  
Thomas Glaser ◽  
Jürgen Pretzsch ◽  
Peter A. Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Nature Conservation ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Short Rotation Coppice ◽  
Special Importance ◽  
Representative Sampling ◽  
Agricultural Enterprises ◽  
Short Rotation ◽  
Positive Attitudes

The large-scale establishment of short-rotation coppice requires widespread acceptance of all stakeholders concerned, depending on positive attitudes towards short-rotation coppice. Of special importance are the decision makers of agricultural enterprises as they are the ones who determine the use of their land property. The attitudes of nature conservation associations influence the current condition of opinions on short-rotation coppice in society. Based on two surveys with a low number of farmers and including members of the nature conservation associations of the regions Freiberg (Saxony) and Schradenland (Brandenburg), attitudes were assessed towards short-rotation coppice and their management on agricultural land. These surveys had explorative character and the results do not allow any generalisation. It shows that economic and technological aspects are the most relevant to farmers. Concerns of nature conservation associations refer primarily to ecological points of view. The obtained results form the basis for further surveys, which will follow representative sampling.

Indian Companies Engaged in Agricultural “Land Grabbing” in Africa: The Need for Indo-african Solidarity Linkages

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 72-87
Author(s):  
Rick Rowden
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Arable Land ◽  
Small Farmers ◽  
Land Grabbing ◽  
Host Countries ◽  
Indian Government ◽  
Environmental Consequences ◽  
High Level ◽  
Lease Contracts

Indian agricultural companies have been involved in the recent trend in large-scale overseas acquisitions of farmland, criticized as “land grabbing”. India has joined China, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and South Korea among other nations heavily investing in large-scale agricultural projects in Africa and elsewhere. Several factors are driving India's effort to “outsource its food production,” including the Government's growing strategic concerns about ensuring long-term food security and concerns about falling ground water tables. Eager developing country governments have also courted Indian agricultural investors, offering special incentives, including offers to lease massive tracts of arable land on very generous terms at much cheaper rates than land and water in India. The Indian Government has supported this trend through high-level trade diplomacy, foreign aid, and subsidized credit for its agricultural companies investing overseas. Critics call the trend “land grabbing” and claim there have been negative impacts on local peoples, who are often displaced in the process. The public disclosure of lease contracts between the Ethiopian Government and five Indian investors sheds light on the negative ethical, political, human rights and environmental consequences for local people in host countries. New and ongoing advocacy strategies are discussed, including the idea to establish international advocacy linkages between Indian activists fighting for small farmers rights and addressing “land grabbing” actions within India, and small farmers in Africa and elsewhere facing similar problems. One idea is for such linkages to inform Indian citizens who can take action to address the problem of land-grabbing by Indian companies operating overseas. International land rights advocates see a common struggle in which land deals must involve transparent and participatory relations between governments, companies and local democratic communities.

scholarly journals How do green areas influence the temperature of cities? Web map to help local decision making about cities and the climate emergency

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Carla Garcia-Lozano ◽  
Anna Peliova ◽  
Josep Sitjar
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Efficient Manner ◽  
Web Map ◽  
Urban Greenery ◽  
Local Decision ◽  
Local Decision Making ◽  
The City ◽  
Positive Effect

Abstract. The positive effect of urban greenery on the city’s microclimate is well known, as is its ability to reduce the ambient temperature in urban areas. Our results show how the areas with the lowest surface temperature clearly coincide with the vegetated areas in the city of Barcelona. This phenomenon demonstrates the importance of increasing the urban greenery in large compact cities, such as the city of Barcelona, in order to regulate the local temperature and mitigate the effects of global warming on a large scale. The web map presented here can be used as a tool for decision makers to identify the warmest areas in the city of Barcelona and to increase greenery in an efficient manner.

scholarly journals Agricultural land losses aper 1990 in the Liberec Region

Geografie ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 123 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zbyněk Janoušek
Keyword(s):  
Real Estate ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Arable Land ◽  
The State ◽  
Identification System ◽  
Regional Structure ◽  
Political Factors ◽  
Real Estate Register

The use of Czechia’s landscape was repeatedly changed, especially by political factors. After 1989, there were large-scale processes of property return, privatization and transformation of the economy and society. In 2003, before entry into EU, approximately 300,000 hectares of agricultural land were not used economically. This was evidently an impact of a tremendous fragmentation of the holdings in the early 1990s as well as large differences between the structure of owners of land and its real users (tenants). A mere 62% of arable land (and 78% of agricultural land in all), registered in the Cadastre of Real Estate (register of owners) is also included in the Land Parcel Identification System (register of users). This disharmony between the cadastral data and the state in the terrain prompted us to focus our attention on this state. We analyze the driving forces which brought it about as well as the size and regional structure of such differences.

Harmonizing, merging and publishing hydropedological data for the Czech Republic

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luděk Strouhal ◽  
Petr Kavka ◽  
Hana Beitlerová ◽  
Daniel Žížala
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Water Conservation ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Arable Land ◽  
Field Measurements ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Project Duration ◽  
Erosion Mitigation ◽  
Mitigation Projects

<p>Czech soil data is a mess. Modelling infiltration, or its probably most watched companion - runoff, has been quite a painful process for any researcher or practitioner studying any site larger or more heterogeneous than a few parcels of arable land. There are at least three main national soil databases in the Czech Republic, each of different age, scope, classification system and - most unfortunately - different administrator. So far Research Institute for Soil and Water Conservation has taken good care of data for agricultural land, while The Forest Management Institute did his job considering forest soils. A few other research institutes manage their own specific databases. There has been no service available providing consistent data for the whole country, nor methodology giving some guidelines on how to cope with differences in existing datasets, though a few large-scale applications and studies do exist. This contribution presents preliminary results of a running project TJ02000234 - Physical and hydropedological soil properties of the Czech Republic. It aims at harmonizing and combining available datasets and deriving layers of soil texture and hydropedological properties. Next the project aims at gathering available measurements of hydraulic properties of Czech soil types and their partial validation and extending with field measurements in the scope limited by the 2-years of project duration. The derived database and data products will be published in the form of a certified map as well as offered to professionals through an online GIS portal. Design planners in the Land consolidation, flood and soil erosion mitigation projects as well as professionals in public administration and researchers in environmental disciplines will benefit from the publication of this consistent data.</p>

scholarly journals Remote monitoring of land in western Kazakhstan

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-34
Author(s):  
Есмагулова ◽  
Bayan Esmagulova ◽  
Кошелева ◽  
Olga Kosheleva ◽  
Мушаева ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Arable Land ◽  
Ecological Status ◽  
Remote Sensing Data ◽  
Ecological Crisis ◽  
Current Crisis ◽  
Space Images ◽  
High Resolution Satellite Images ◽  
Sand Control

The article presents the results of the environmental assessment of land in Western Ka-zakhstan, held by decoding high resolution satellite images. The object of investigation is Bokey Orda District of West Kazakhstan region. Decryption is performed by space images QuickBird 2013 1:50 000. Application of space images helped to define the boundaries of the main categories of agricultural land (arable land, grassland, sandy tracts, etc.), set the location of settlements, trans-port infrastructure, as well as to identify the main elements of the hydrographic network (rivers, lakes, estuaries, sors) and mesorelief (sandy hillocks, hill reduction, etc.). It was found that 48.4 % of the Bokey Orda District territory is occupied by agricultural land, 40.7 % - sandy massifs, 10.8 % of the land area are various negative mesorelief – saline depression, estuaries, bitter-salty lakes. The data on land grounds allowed assessing the ecological status of the territory at a rate of anthropo-genic stress that for lands of Bokey Orda District is 3.3 points, which corresponds to the ecological crisis. The current crisis situation is caused by overgrazing and plowing of virgin lands and is cha-racterized by strong decrease in productivity and loss of stability. Selective economic use and plan-ning of deep land improvement is suggeted. An acute need to implement large-scale sand-control works, restoration of degraded pastures and unproductive lands transfer in adaptive forest agricul-tural landscapes is established. The data on volumes of forest reclamation works to secure the shift-ing sands, held in Bokey Orda District in the period from 2011 to 2013, are presented. It is recom-mended to organize of environmental monitoring using remote sensing data, which will allow timely identification of areas, subjected to degradation processes, and to take appropriate measures to eliminate pockets of desertification in the initial stage.

scholarly journals URBAN SPRAWL PATTERN AND EFFECTIVE FACTORS ON THEM: THE CASE OF URMIA CITY, IRAN

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamal MOHAMMADI ◽  
Asghar ZARABI ◽  
Omid MOBARAK
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Urban Sprawl ◽  
Urban Growth ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Land Uses ◽  
Effective Factors ◽  
Substitution Process ◽  
Urban Contexts ◽  
The City

Urban sprawl has become a remarkable characteristic of urban development worldwide in the last decades. Urban sprawl refers to the extent of urbanization, which is a global phenomenon mainly driven by population growth and large scale migration. In developing countries like Iran, urban sprawl is taking its toll on the natural resources at an alarming pace. The purpose of this paper is to study urban growth and effective factors on them in the city of Urmia, Iran. We used quantitive data of the study area from the period between 1989 and 2007, and population censuses of Urmia. To measure the model of urban growth, Holderness and Shannon’s entropy were employed. The Urmia case is interesting for several reasons: first, it is a case of very fast urban growth even for a developing country; second, it illustrates how the fastest rates of urban sprawl may correspond to middle size cities rather than to large centers. Third, it portrays a land substitution process in which agricultural land is not the primary provider of urban land which is relatively rare in urban contexts, and fourth, it also illustrates how urban sprawl may also hide important internal land uses such as the presence of agricultural plots within urban boundaries.

scholarly journals Structure Changing in Maize-Based Agriculture Production in Vietnam: Case Study in Son La Province

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-76
Author(s):  
Dang Thi Thanh Thuy ◽  
Nguyen Van Hieu
Keyword(s):  
Development Strategy ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Arable Land ◽  
Food Resource ◽  
Sharp Decrease ◽  
Fruit Trees ◽  
Maize Production

Maize is the primary food resource for livestock, mainly cultivated in the northern mountains, the central provinces, and the central highlands in Vietnam. By studying reliable reports and policies related to maize-based agricultural production in combination with interviews and focus group discussion methods conducted in Son La province, this study specifically analyzes the situation of maize production in Vietnam and impacts of policies for the specific case in Son La province. The research results show that, though the sharp decrease, maize has still been the main crop with an annual cultivation area of ​​over 30% of the country's agricultural land recently. However, maize is only modestly mentioned in some central policies, and no policy at the local level is reserved for maize production. In addition, maize is no longer a crop to attract local farmers’ and authority’ interest, especially since 2015, the transition in maize cultivation area on sloping land to arable land of fruit trees and many other crops has been carried out on a large scale due to some policies by the province, resulting in a sharp decrease in maize cultivated area and production. This might lead to limited results of substantial government policies on maize acreage expansion, maize cultivated area planning, or maize development strategy. Accordingly, some recommendations to improve the situation are provided.

scholarly journals Analysing Data of the Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS) to Detect Patterns of Agricultural Land-Use Change at Municipality Level

2016 ◽  
Vol 48 ◽  
pp. 1-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Lüker-Jans ◽  
Dietmar Simmering ◽  
Annette Otte
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Control System ◽  
Land Use Change ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Arable Land ◽  
Federal State ◽  
Agricultural Land Use ◽  
Study Region ◽  
Physical Conditions ◽  
And Control

European landscapes have featured considerable changes towards intensification and marginalisation. These major trends are expected to continue in the future. Besides, the cultivation of bioenergy crops has become an important factor in agricultural land use. A thorough understanding of land-use processes for management purposes is needed. In this study, the spatial and temporal pattern of agricultural land use and land-use change was classified at the scale of municipalities from 2005 to 2010. The study region was the German federal state Hesse. By using data of the Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS) of the European Union and with the help of k-means cluster analysis, five types of agricultural land-use patterns and dynamics (TLPDs) were detected. These TLPDs represent different sub-regions. Sub-regions with favourable physical conditions for cultivation are dominated by arable land. A progressive land-use change occurred by conversion of grassland to arable land. In sub-regions, where physical conditions are rather unfavourable, especially in mountainous areas, grassland is the predominant land use. But on the remaining arable land, there is a slight change in favour of maize. The knowledge of sub-regions with spatially and temporally different agricultural land use could be utilised to develop land management instruments like site-specific agri-environmental schemes.

scholarly journals Which quality indicators reflect the most sensitive changes in the soil properties of the surface horizons affected by the erosion processes?

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (No. 2) ◽  
pp. 116-124
Author(s):  
Petra Bíla ◽  
Bořivoj Šarapatka ◽  
Ondřej Horňák ◽  
Jaroslava Novotná ◽  
Martin Brtnický
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Arable Land ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Erosion Processes ◽  
Physical Chemical

Soil erosion, especially water erosion, is one of the most widespread types of soil degradation, not only worldwide, but also within the Czech Republic, where it endangers more than a half of the agricultural land. In addition to farming, the landscape structure has a significant impact on soil erosion in the conditions under study, where, especially in the post-war period, the collectivisation of large-scale arable land was accompanied by the abolition of the associated landscape elements. The agricultural production area of South Moravia is one of the most endangered areas in the Czech Republic, therefore, it was selected for our research, whose main objective was to verify the sensitivity of the selected physical, chemical and biochemical characteristics to identify the changes in the soil properties in the erosion processes at the identified erosion areas. The testing was carried out within a period of 5 years in 60 locations with Chernozems with cultivated corn. To assess the quality of the soil properties, indicators of soil quality from the physical, chemical and biological – biochemical groups were selected. The results of the analyses and the subsequent statistical evaluation showed that the chemical characteristics, especially those related to the quantity and quality of the organic matter, were the most sensitive to the changes in the soil properties. From the biochemical indicators, some enzymes, particularly dehydrogenase and acid phosphatase, reacted sensitively. The physical characteristics were not significantly affected by the erosion processes.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document