Land use-induced spillover: priority actions for protected and conserved area managers

Earth systems are under ever greater pressure from human population expansion and intensifying natural resource use. Consequently, novel micro-organisms that cause disease are emerging, dynamics of pathogens in wildlife are altered by land use change bringing wildlife and people in closer contact. We provide a brief overview of the processes governing ‘land use-induced spillover’, emphasising ecological conditions that foster ‘landscape immunity’ and reduce the likelihood of wildlife that host pathogens coming into contact with people. If ecosystems remain healthy, wildlife , and people are more likely to remain healthy too. We recommend practices to reduce the risk of future pandemics through protected and conserved area management. Our proposals reinforce existing conservation strategies while elevating biodiversity conservation as a priority health measure. Pandemic prevention requires that human health be regarded as an ecological service. We call on multi-lateral conservation frameworks to recognise that protected area managers are in the frontline of public health safety.

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GIS-Based Assessment of Habitat Networks for Conservation Planning in Kas-Kekova Protected Area (Turkey)

ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information ◽

10.3390/ijgi9020091 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 91

Author(s):

Dilek Tezel ◽

Saban Inam ◽

Sultan Kocaman

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Spatial Analysis ◽

Land Use Planning ◽

Protected Area ◽

Conservation Strategies ◽

Biodiversity Data ◽

Expert Opinions ◽

Habitat Networks ◽

The Government ◽

Sustainable Conservation

The determination of protected area (PA) boundaries and the level of restrictions is very important for sustainable conservation, and such decisions must involve biodiversity data and assessment. In a PA, the consensus of the government and the locals is crucial to ensure protection–use balance. The PA restrictions constrain legal human activities, and the boundary determination and the restrictions should be based on various scientific analyses to achieve consensus. In this study, a GIS-based approach is proposed to utilize the biodiversity data for efficient conservation and land use planning in Kas-Kekova PA, which is among the most important PAs in Turkey. Spatial analysis methods, i.e., kernel density estimation, natural breaks classification and integrated density index, were performed for the assessment of the habitat networks using georeferenced biodiversity datasets, and the results were evaluated with respect to the actual land use data and the land ownership pattern. The developed spatial analysis approach is efficient to produce the conservation base maps required for regional land use planning, for defining sustainable conservation strategies, and to provide a widely accepted base for land use planning and biodiversity monitoring in the PA; although careful investigations and expert opinions are still required for data deficient areas.

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Transfer of Development Rights – Its Problems and Potential as a Land-Use Control Technique

Journal of the Northeastern Agricultural Economics Council ◽

10.1017/s0163548400004362 ◽

1973 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

pp. 185-197 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Donn A. Derr ◽

Thomas Norman ◽

Lee D. Schneider

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Resource Use ◽

Open Space ◽

Control Mechanism ◽

Control Technique ◽

Natural Resource Use ◽

Land Use Controls ◽

Development Rights ◽

Transfer Of Development Rights ◽

Land Use Control

In the Northeast, major problems relating to natural resource use, particularly agriculture, can be attributable in large part to outgrowths of the rural-urban interface. As communities (cities, towns, boroughs, townships, and counties) strive to fulfill their basic needs for health, education, police protection, recreation, housing, highways, and productive open space, new and more sophisticated methods of implementing land-use controls are needed. Experience indicates that in rapidly urbanizing areas traditional land-use mechanisms for directing growth do not guarantee the degree of permanence that is required to preserve productive open space. An alternative land-use control mechanism to ensure open space preservation explored in this paper is the transfer of development rights and the purchase of development easements.

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Micro-organisms and earth systems – advances in geomicrobiology

10.1017/cbo9780511754852 ◽

2005 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Hilary Lappin-Scott

Keyword(s):

Earth Systems ◽

Micro Organisms

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Modeling Community-Scale Natural Resource Use in a Transboundary Southern African Landscape: Integrating Remote Sensing and Participatory Mapping

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs13040631 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (4) ◽

pp. 631

Author(s):

Kyle D. Woodward ◽

Narcisa G. Pricope ◽

Forrest R. Stevens ◽

Andrea E. Gaughan ◽

Nicholas E. Kolarik ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Remote Sensing ◽

Land Use ◽

Resource Use ◽

Training Data ◽

Systems Science ◽

Participatory Mapping ◽

Land Use Patterns ◽

Modeling Framework ◽

Use Patterns ◽

Human Habitation

Remote sensing analyses focused on non-timber forest product (NTFP) collection and grazing are current research priorities of land systems science. However, mapping these particular land use patterns in rural heterogeneous landscapes is challenging because their potential signatures on the landscape cannot be positively identified without fine-scale land use data for validation. Using field-mapped resource areas and household survey data from participatory mapping research, we combined various Landsat-derived indices with ancillary data associated with human habitation to model the intensity of grazing and NTFP collection activities at 100-m spatial resolution. The study area is situated centrally within a transboundary southern African landscape that encompasses community-based organization (CBO) areas across three countries. We conducted four iterations of pixel-based random forest models, modifying the variable set to determine which of the covariates are most informative, using the best fit predictions to summarize and compare resource use intensity by resource type and across communities. Pixels within georeferenced, field-mapped resource areas were used as training data. All models had overall accuracies above 60% but those using proxies for human habitation were more robust, with overall accuracies above 90%. The contribution of Landsat data as utilized in our modeling framework was negligible, and further research must be conducted to extract greater value from Landsat or other optical remote sensing platforms to map these land use patterns at moderate resolution. We conclude that similar population proxy covariates should be included in future studies attempting to characterize communal resource use when traditional spectral signatures do not adequately capture resource use intensity alone. This study provides insights into modeling resource use activity when leveraging both remotely sensed data and proxies for human habitation in heterogeneous, spectrally mixed rural land areas.

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Extinction Risk Assessment of the Greek Endemic Flora

Biology ◽

10.3390/biology10030195 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (3) ◽

pp. 195 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Konstantinos Kougioumoutzis ◽

Ioannis P. Kokkoris ◽

Maria Panitsa ◽

Arne Strid ◽

Panayotis Dimopoulos

Keyword(s):

Risk Assessment ◽

Land Use ◽

Protected Area ◽

Extinction Risk ◽

Endemic Plant ◽

The Past ◽

Extinction Risk Assessment ◽

Endemic Flora ◽

Biodiversity Decline ◽

Iucn Criteria

Human-induced biodiversity decline has been on the rise for the past 250 years, due to various causes. What is equally troubling, is that we are unaware which plants are threatened and where they occur. Thus, we are far from reaching Aichi Biodiversity Target 2, i.e., assessing the extinction risk of most species. To that end, based on an extensive occurrence dataset, we performed an extinction risk assessment according to the IUCN Criteria A and B for all the endemic plant taxa occurring in Greece, one of the most biodiverse countries in Europe, in a phylogenetically-informed framework and identified the areas needing conservation prioritization. Several of the Greek endemics are threatened with extinction and fourteen endemics need to be prioritized, as they are evolutionary distinct and globally endangered. Mt. Gramos is identified as the most important conservation hotspot in Greece. However, a significant portion of the identified conservation hotspots is not included in any designated Greek protected area, meaning that the Greek protected areas network might need to be at least partially redesigned. In the Anthropocene era, where climate and land-use change are projected to alter biodiversity patterns and may force many species to extinction, our assessment provides the baseline for future conservation research, ecosystem services maintenance, and might prove crucial for the timely, systematic and effective aversion of plant extinctions in Greece.

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