scholarly journals Forest Transition and Metropolitan Transformations in Developed Countries: Interpreting Apparent and Latent Dynamics with Local Regression Models

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 12
Author(s):  
Leonardo Bianchini ◽  
Rosanna Salvia ◽  
Giovanni Quaranta ◽  
Gianluca Egidi ◽  
Luca Salvati ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Forest Area ◽  
Moderate Increase ◽  
Forest Transition ◽  
Natural Habitats ◽  
Land Protection

Metropolitan fringes in Southern Europe preserve, under different territorial contexts, natural habitats, relict woodlands, and mixed agro-forest systems acting as a sink of biodiversity and ecosystem services in ecologically vulnerable landscapes. Clarifying territorial and socioeconomic processes that underlie land-use change in metropolitan regions is relevant for forest conservation policies. At the same time, long-term dynamics of fringe forests in the northern Mediterranean basin have been demonstrated to be rather mixed, with deforestation up to the 1950s and a subsequent recovery more evident in recent decades. The present study makes use of Forest Transition Theory (FTT) to examine spatial processes of forest loss and expansion in metropolitan Rome, Central Italy, through local regressions elaborating two diachronic land-use maps that span more than 80 years (1936–2018) representative of different socioeconomic and ecological conditions. Our study evaluates the turnaround from net forest area loss to net forest area gain, considering together the predictions of the FTT and those of the City Life Cycle (CLC) theory that provides a classical description of the functioning of metropolitan cycles. The empirical findings of our study document a moderate increase in forest cover depending on the forestation of previously abandoned cropland as a consequence of tighter levels of land protection. Natural and human-driven expansion of small and isolated forest nuclei along fringe land was demonstrated to fuel a polycentric expansion of woodlands. The results of a Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) reveal the importance of metropolitan growth in long-term forest expansion. Forest–urban dynamics reflect together settlement sprawl and increased forest disturbance. The contemporary expansion of fringe residential settlements and peri-urban forests into relict agricultural landscapes claims for a renewed land management that may reconnect town planning, reducing the intrinsic risks associated with fringe woodlands (e.g., wildfires) with environmental policies preserving the ecological functionality of diversified agro-forest systems.

scholarly journals Seeing the Trees in the World’s Forests: An Extension of the Forest Transition Concept

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Daniel Bontemps ◽  
Jean-Christophe Hervé ◽  
Pascal Marty
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Stand Structure ◽  
Dimensional Space ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Forest Area ◽  
Forest Transition ◽  
State Variables ◽  
Forest Protection ◽  
Growing Stock ◽  
Over Time

The forest transition – or forest-area transition – has been put forward as a land-use concept by A.S. Mather in 1992 (The forest transition. Area 24, 367-379), to describe the historical trend generally observed in the forest area of developed countries, embodied in a V-shaped curve of the forest area over time, and that may serve as a paradigm to understand and anticipate deforestation in the developing world. Well in line with a geographical approach to forests, forest transition has thus been defined as one-dimensional, forest area being the reference state variable. From a forestry perspective, the analysis appears to be reductive, as forests are described by many other state variables than area, including forest growing stock, composition in tree species, or stand structure. Whether the drivers of forest transition (population dynamics, economic modes of production and consciousness, as classified by Mather) also impact these other forest state variables in a general way thus comes forth as a logical issue.From a deductive analysis of forest transition drivers, and from forest trends brought to light in Europe, France, and at other places in the world, we here argue that the forest transition concept can be extended to a multi-dimensional space of forest attributes, characterized by typical ideal dynamics. Cumulative impacts onto forests and irreversible losses in forest biodiversity over a forest transition are hence highlighted. Global change, as a parallel consequence of countries’ developing process, further appears as one additional albeit less coupled dimension of forest transition, as it modifies forest productivity and vitality over time. Since forest ecosystem services and forest profitability primarily depend on such attributes, we argue that the extension of the forest transition concept has significance for land-use change and forest protection issues. A prospect on future changes in the forests of developed countries with the European space as a benchmark is finally proposed that leads to extend the temporal significance of forest transition. Though poorly described, returning forests on abandoned agricultural lands are significant, and deserve greater attention.

scholarly journals Toward a Dualistic Growth? Population Increase and Land-Use Change in Rome, Italy

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 749
Author(s):  
Leonardo Bianchini ◽  
Gianluca Egidi ◽  
Ahmed Alhuseen ◽  
Adele Sateriano ◽  
Sirio Cividino ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Land Use Change ◽  
Population Growth ◽  
Mediterranean Basin ◽  
Urban Expansion ◽  
Arable Land ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Population Increase ◽  
Per Capita

The spatial mismatch between population growth and settlement expansion is at the base of current models of urban growth. Empirical evidence is increasingly required to inform planning measures promoting urban containment in the context of a stable (or declining) population. In these regards, per-capita indicators of land-use change can be adopted with the aim at evaluating long-term sustainability of urbanization processes. The present study assesses spatial variations in per-capita indicators of land-use change in Rome, Central Italy, at five years (1949, 1974, 1999, 2008, and 2016) with the final objective of quantifying the mismatch between urban expansion and population growth. Originally specialized in agricultural productions, Rome’s metropolitan area is a paradigmatic example of dispersed urban expansion in the Mediterranean basin. By considering multiple land-use dynamics, per-capita indicators of landscape change delineated three distinctive waves of growth corresponding with urbanization, suburbanization, and a more mixed stage with counter-urbanization and re-urbanization impulses. By reflecting different socioeconomic contexts on a local scale, urban fabric and forests were identified as the ‘winner’ classes, expanding homogeneously over time at the expense of cropland. Agricultural landscapes experienced a more heterogeneous trend with arable land and pastures declining systematically and more fragmented land classes (e.g., vineyards and olive groves) displaying stable (or slightly increasing) trends. The continuous reduction of per-capita surface area of cropland that’s supports a reduced production base, which is now insufficient to satisfy the rising demand for fresh food at the metropolitan scale, indicates the unsustainability of the current development in Rome and more generally in the whole Mediterranean basin, a region specialized traditionally in (proximity) agricultural productions.

scholarly journals Assessment of land cover on soil erosion in Lam Phra Phloeng watershed by USLE model

2018 ◽  
Vol 192 ◽  
pp. 02017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jatuwat Wattanasetpong ◽  
Uma Seeboonruang ◽  
Uba Sirikaew ◽  
Walter Chen
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Soil Loss ◽  
Land Development ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Surface Erosion ◽  
Agricultural Field ◽  
Land Cover Data

Soil loss due to surface erosion has been a global problem not just for developing countries but also for developed countries. One of the factors that have greatest impact on soil erosion is land cover. The purpose of this study is to estimate the long-term average annual soil erosion in the Lam Phra Phloeng watershed, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand with different source of land cover by using the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) and GIS (30 m grid cells) to calculate the six erosion factors (R, K, L, S, C, and P) of USLE. Land use data are from Land Development Department (LDD) and ESA Climate Change Initiative (ESA/CCI) in 2015. The result of this study show that mean soil erosion by using land cover from ESA/CCI is less than LDD (29.16 and 64.29 ton/ha/year respectively) because soil erosion mostly occurred in the agricultural field and LDD is a local department that survey land use in Thailand thus land cover data from this department have more details than ESA/CCI.

scholarly journals Growth of urbanization in Himachal Pra-desh : A statistical analysis

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (1.4) ◽  
pp. 39
Author(s):  
Ridima Sharma ◽  
Sakshi Tanwar ◽  
Safder Rizvi
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Himachal Pradesh ◽  
Land Resource ◽  
Infrastructure Development ◽  
Land Use Management ◽  
Global Integration ◽  
Development Policies

Cities appear as a major role player in the economy of any area reflecting the global integration of its economy as they house majority of large business groups. Migratory population and urban growth are direct contributors in this economic expansion, particularly in the present-day phase of globalization which in under developed countries causes densification and instability of agriculture and other existing land use thus bringing in the need of a proper land resource management.Focused attention is needed to integrate infrastructure development in various cities and linkages should be established between the creation and management of assets through a system of reforms for long-term sustainability. Himachal Pradesh is a hill state with some most difficult terrains of the country making the preparation of complete cadastral record of land nearly impossible only 80% of land is under revenue records. Thus the amount of habitable land decreases further with around 50 % of the land under forest cover. The aim of the study is to analyze the growth of urbanisation in Himachal Pradesh along with the factors responsible. This growth pattern can later be used to formulate proper land use management and infrastructure development policies for equitable development of the area.

Threats to the running water ecosystems of the world

2002 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 134-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Björn Malmqvist ◽  
Simon Rundle
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Running Waters ◽  
Running Water ◽  
Lotic Systems ◽  
The World ◽  
Long Term Trends ◽  
Water Ecosystems

Running waters are perhaps the most impacted ecosystem on the planet as they have been the focus for human settlement and are heavily exploited for water supplies, irrigation, electricity generation, and waste disposal. Lotic systems also have an intimate contact with their catchments and so land-use alterations affect them directly. Here long-term trends in the factors that currently impact running waters are reviewed with the aim of predicting what the main threats to rivers will be in the year 2025. The main ultimate factors forcing change in running waters (ecosystem destruction, physical habitat and water chemistry alteration, and the direct addition or removal of species) stem from proximate influences from urbanization, industry, land-use change and water-course alterations. Any one river is likely to be subjected to several types of impact, and the management of impacts on lotic systems is complicated by numerous links between different forms of anthropogenic effect. Long-term trends for different impacts vary. Concentrations of chemical pollutants such as toxins and nutrients have increased in rivers in developed countries over the past century, with recent reductions for some pollutants (e.g. metals, organic toxicants, acidification), and continued increases in others (e.g. nutrients); there are no long-term chemical data for developing countries. Dam construction increased rapidly during the twentieth century, peaking in the 1970s, and the number of reservoirs has stabilized since this time, whereas the transfer of exotic species between lotic systems continues to increase. Hence, there have been some success stories in the attempts to reduce the impacts from anthropogenic impacts in developed nations. Improvements in the pH status of running waters should continue with lower sulphurous emissions, although emissions of nitrous oxides are set to continue under current legislation and will continue to contribute to acidification and nutrient loadings. Climate change also will impact running waters through alterations in hydrology and thermal regimes, although precise predictions are problematic; effects are likely to vary between regions and to operate alongside rather than override those from other impacts. Effects from climate change may be more extreme over longer time scales (>50 years). The overriding pressure on running water ecosystems up to 2025 will stem from the predicted increase in the human population, with concomitant increases in urban development, industry, agricultural activities and water abstraction, diversion and damming. Future degradation could be substantial and rapid (c. 10 years) and will be concentrated in those areas of the world where resources for conservation are most limited and knowledge of lotic ecosystems most incomplete; damage will centre on lowland rivers, which are also relatively poorly studied. Changes in management practices and public awareness do appear to be benefiting running water ecosystems in developed countries, and could underpin conservation strategies in developing countries if they were implemented in a relevant way.

Long-term effects of combined land-use and climate changes on local bird communities in mosaic agricultural landscapes

2020 ◽  
Vol 289 ◽  
pp. 106722 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Gaüzère ◽  
L. Barbaro ◽  
F. Calatayud ◽  
K. Princé ◽  
V. Devictor ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Climate Changes ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Bird Communities ◽  
Long Term Effects

Land Use, Political Complexity, and Urbanism in Mainland Southeast Asia

2008 ◽  
Vol 73 (2) ◽  
pp. 200-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Kealhofer ◽  
Peter Grave
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Political Complexity ◽  
Alternative Approach ◽  
Central Thailand ◽  
Mainland Southeast Asia

Debates about the development of political complexity and cities are typically focused on material cultural correlates and situated within the wider context of the emergence of states. Conventionally, state emergence is linked to agricultural surpluses and a new phase of agricultural intensification. However, this approach remains fundamentally reliant on the preservation of an appropriate and diverse suite of material cultural correlates. For mainland Southeast Asia, archaeological correlates of early political complexity are comparatively impoverished and are dominated by evidence from disparate burial contexts and architecture. In this paper, we employ an alternative approach based on a case study from north central Thailand that uses paleoenvironmental evidence of land use. These data are then related to historical urban development in the region. We suggest that large-scale patterns of agricultural expansion relate directly to increases in political complexity. Our results demonstrate that the long-term development of large-scale agricultural landscapes in this region predates the earliest evidence of monumental cities in central Thailand. We conclude that significant progress in better understanding the emergence of complex societies, both in Southeast Asia and elsewhere, is unlikely to be possible without more systematic integration of archaeological and paleoenvironmental approaches.

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