scholarly journals Agro-Forest Management and Soil Degradation in Mediterranean Environments: Towards a Strategy for Sustainable Land Use in Vineyard and Olive Cropland

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 2565 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maurizio Marchi ◽  
Carlotta Ferrara ◽  
Rita Biasi ◽  
Rosanna Salvia ◽  
Luca Salvati
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Sustainable Land Use ◽  
Agricultural System ◽  
Multiple Use ◽  
Present Contribution ◽  
The Mediterranean

Landscape fragmentation typical of the Mediterranean region is the result of long-term settlement history and continuous socioeconomic interactions among countries. In complex agro-ecosystems of the Mediterranean basin, formulation of practical guidelines aimed at counteract soil and land degradation, water depletion, rural area depopulation, and the loss of agricultural knowledge is imperative. Based on a multidisciplinary, integrated approach, the present contribution discusses the role of traditional agricultural systems in ecosystem services provision, considering together economic sustainability and the medium-term ecological benefits. A permanent monitoring of rural areas specialized in traditional crop production such as olive and vine may support optimal selection of cultivars finely adapted to a warm climate. A competitive agricultural system may consider human well-being, social equity, and conservation of natural resources, to ensure a high level of services for current and future generations. Recovery and conservation of agricultural resources provide positive externalities and social benefits at both local and regional levels. Understanding the multiple use and functions of tree crop landscapes will contribute to improve food security, land quality, and the provision of related ecosystem services.

scholarly journals Modeling the Supporting Ecosystem Services of Depressional Wetlands in Agricultural Landscapes

Wetlands ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (5) ◽  
pp. 1061-1069
Author(s):  
David M. Mushet ◽  
Cali L. Roth
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
System Modeling ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Floral Resources ◽  
Depressional Wetlands ◽  
Native Plant ◽  
Des Moines Lobe ◽  
Des Moines

Abstract We explored how a geographic information system modeling approach could be used to quantify supporting ecosystem services related to the type, abundance, and distribution of landscape components. Specifically, we use the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs model to quantify habitats that support amphibians and birds, floral resources that support pollinators, native-plant communities that support regional biodiversity, and above- and below-ground carbon stores in the Des Moines Lobe ecoregion of the U.S. We quantified services under two scenarios, one that represented the 2012 Des Moines Lobe landscape, and one that simulated the conversion to crop production of wetlands and surrounding uplands conserved under the USDA Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP). While ACEP easements only covered 0.35% of the ecoregion, preserved wetlands and grasslands provided for 19,020 ha of amphibian habitat, 21,462 ha of grassland-bird habitat, 18,798 ha of high-quality native wetland plants, and 27,882 ha of floral resources for pollinators. Additionally, ACEP protected lands stored 257,722 t of carbon that, if released, would result in costs in excess of 45-million USD. An integrated approach using results from a GIS-based model in combination with process-based model quantifications will facilitate more informed decisions related to ecosystem service tradeoffs.

scholarly journals RURAL TERRITORIES OF KAZAKHSTAN: REALITIES, PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 209-215
Author(s):  
Bakhyt Kalykova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Rural Population ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Main Task ◽  
Rural Settlements ◽  
Social Infrastructure ◽  
Objective Basis ◽  
Effective Development

The study deals with the formation of a model of sustainable and effective development of agriculture and rural areas as the main task of implementing the State agricultural policy. The relevance of the tasks set by the author lies in considering the living conditions in the countryside as an integrated approach to the country's economy in order to diversify the types of activities in rural areas, create new sources of income. The directions representing a new economic paradigm of rural development in Kazakhstan are justified. The ways of implementing a comprehensive policy are shown, which consists in the partnership of public structures, local governments, public organizations and private sector, so that in the future, rural areas will become the most important socioeconomic and ecological subsystem of society. One of the key issues in the development of a model of modernization of the Kazakh countryside - the methodology for assessing the strategy and taken measures are highlighted. It is noted that monitoring of a wide variety of regional situations in rural settlements is of great scientific importance in creating a reliable and objective basis for developing substantiated measures to improve the quality of life of the rural population and determining priorities. The author states that the implementation of the "Auyl - El besigi" program contributes to the development of support and satellite villages, which have the potential to increase the level of life and well-being of rural residents, modernize the social infrastructure of the SNP JSC "Fund for Financial Support of Agriculture" allocated significant amounts to ensure employment of the rural population. The program condition in the funded projects should be startups, proposals for non-agricultural areas of expansion of activities in rural areas.

scholarly journals Urban–rural linkages: effective solutions for achieving sustainable development in Ghana from an SDG interlinkage perspective

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gideon Baffoe ◽  
Xin Zhou ◽  
Mustafa Moinuddin ◽  
Albert Novas Somanje ◽  
Akihisa Kuriyama ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Health Improvement ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Gender Inclusion ◽  
Urban Rural

AbstractUrbanization and concomitant challenges pose a great threat to sustainable development. Urban and rural development interacts through the flows of people, materials, energy, goods, capital, and information. Without building sound urban–rural linkages, achieving development in one area could compromise it in another area. Achieving sustainable development needs customized policy prioritization and implementation in both urban and rural areas. Much literature exists in the research field of urban–rural linkages, but little has been done via a comprehensive analysis from an interlinkage perspective in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Sustainable Development Goal 11 on sustainable cities and several targets embedded under other Goals provides a good framework for analyzing the urban–rural linkages. This paper contributes to this novel research perspective using Ghana as a case. The study applied an integrated approach by combining the results from a solution-scanning exercise with an SDG interlinkage analysis to identify the challenges and priority solutions and assess the synergies and trade-offs of the identified solutions. It extends the conventional solution-scanning approach by further assessing the synergies and trade-offs of the solutions from an SDG interlinkage perspective. It also enables a more practical SDG interlinkage analysis through the contributions from the multi-stakeholder consultations conducted in Ghana. The analyses show that prioritizing gender inclusion (Goal 5) will positively affect many social and well-being outcomes, including poverty elimination (Goal 1), hunger reduction (Goal 2), health improvement (Goal 3) and access to quality education (Goal 4) and basic services, such as water (Goal 6). However, gender inclusion could have potential trade-offs in the agricultural sector (Goal 2) in the case that women who dominate agricultural value chains could move to work in other sectors. Lack of proper infrastructure (Goal 9), such as transport, will hinder wide gender inclusion. An integrated approach that considers both the synergies and trade-offs of relevant solutions is critical for effective policymaking, specifically in developing countries.

scholarly journals Combining Methods to Estimate Ecosystem Integrity and Ecosystem Service Potentials and Flows for Crop Production in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany

2020 ◽  
Vol 79 ◽  
pp. 1-36
Author(s):  
Jakub Zelený ◽  
Sabine Bicking ◽  
Kinh Bac Dang ◽  
Felix Müller
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Ecological Integrity ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Sustainable Land Management ◽  
Ecosystem Integrity ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Service Framework

Human well-being is highly dependent on nature, especially with respect to food provision. This study has been developed in the ecosystem service framework and focuses on the evaluation of ecological integrity as a basefor the capacity of Schleswig-Holstein to provide ecosystem services. The ecosystem service potential is assessed based upon a Bayesian belief network and the study area’s soil fertility. The respective service flow is estimated from official regional statistics, and is represented by the total harvested biomass for food, fodder and energy. The spatial distribution of six different ecological integrity variables and the crop production potentials and flows are compared and interpreted with respect to the characteristics of the main landscape regions within the study area. The results indicate a trade-off between the actual crop production and the underlying ecological integrity and service potentials. This trade-off is strongest in case of croplands, while it gradually diminishes in grasslands and forests. Based on the results, conclusions about the relation between ecosystem services and ecological integrity are drawn. The findings of the study can be used to support the development of sustainable land management strategies, which aim to harmonize agricultural production and environmental conditions.

scholarly journals Income Generation of Non-wood Forest Products in an Innovative Integrated Crop-Livestock-Forestry System

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 235
Author(s):  
Marcos M. Toledo ◽  
Diego P. Santos ◽  
José M. F. Frazão ◽  
Fábio A. Figueiredo ◽  
Joaquim B. Costa
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Forest Products ◽  
Fruit Production ◽  
Real Field ◽  
Agricultural System ◽  
Eastern Region ◽  
Income Generation ◽  
Monthly Income ◽  
Babassu Palm

The wide extension area occupied by babassu palm (Atallea speciosa Mart. Ex Spreng) is usually considered as an important obstacle for agricultural activities, such as crop production and pasture maintenance in Brazil. This study aimed to evaluate the non-wood forest product use and income generated in an Integrated Crop-Livestock-Forestry (ICLF) system using babassu palm as the main forestry component in a rural area of Pindaré-Mirim, a municipality of Maranhão state, in the Amazon Eastern Region, Brazil. In order to rise a well-balanced agroforestry system in numerous rural areas of the country, three main questions were addressed in this study: 1) What is the production of babassu fruits in the system? 2) Is the babassu extractivism income economically suitable for traditional communities of women babassu breakers? 3) Which commercialization scenario of NWFP could generate more income? Data on phenology and fruit production, processing of all fruit components, and commercialization of babassu products were collected in two 12-month seasons of palm production (2017/2018 and 2018/2019). The mean fruit production reached 2,345.49 kg ha-1 season-1, resulting in an estimate of income generation ranging from R$ 8,206.96 ha-1 season-1 to R$ 36,628.54 ha-1 season-1, depending on the commercialization scenario. These numbers were compared to the statewide monthly income per household of R$ 605.00 and to the per capita monthly income of 54% of the municipality of less than R$ 499.00. The real field data and the estimates for two seasons of using babassu palm, as the innovative forestry component in ICLF system, demonstrated that babassu NWFP could generate substantial income for the surrounding user communities. Such innovative agricultural system may contribute to change people understanding, diversifying agrarian production, improving the socioeconomic household welfare, and reducing the long-term conflicts between livestock activities and babassu palm existence in Brazil.

scholarly journals An integrated approach to understanding the linkages between ecosystem services and human well‐being

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (5) ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wu Yang ◽  
Thomas Dietz ◽  
Daniel Boyd Kramer ◽  
Zhiyun Ouyang ◽  
Jianguo Liu
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Well Being

Monetäre Bewertung von Ökosystemleistungen: eine kritische Sicht auf einige Kritiken (Essay)

2017 ◽  
Vol 168 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Elsasser
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Scientific Literature ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Monetary Valuation ◽  
Intrinsic Values ◽  
Ethical Norms ◽  
Valuation Of Ecosystem Services ◽  
Environmental Valuations

Monetary valuation of ecosystem services: a critical view of some critiques (essay) Diverse objections against the monetary valuation of ecosystem services are being raised in transdisciplinary discussions as well as in the scientific literature. The monetary valuation is said to overlook nature's intrinsic values, to infringe ethical norms, to narrow down perspectives to economic welfare alone, or even to nothing but material well-being, to stimulate the commercialisation of nature – conversely, others criticize that it fails exactly in this respect –, to favour social inequality, and to rely upon undependable methods. This essay questions the cogency of these criticisms and highlights some prejudices and misconceptions, often rooted in an erroneous understanding of the function of environmental valuations in the political decision process.

Human potential in the system of social and economic development: problems and prospects of Vinnytsia region

2020 ◽  
pp. 71-80
Author(s):  
Olesya Tomchuk
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Human Development ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Human Potential ◽  
High Tech ◽  
Social And Economic Development

The article highlights the problems and prospects of human development, which is the basis for the long-term strategies of social and economic growth of different countries and regions at the present stage. Submitting strategies of this type provides an opportunity to focus on individual empowerment and to build a favorable environment for effective management decisions in the field of forming, maintaining, and restoring human potential. The analysis of the Vinnytsia region human potential dynamics in the regional system of social and economic development factors was carried out. Application of generalized assessment of the regional human development index components allowed the identification of the main trends that characterize the formation of human potential of the territory, including the reproduction of the population, social environment, comfort and quality of life, well-being, decent work, and education. The article emphasizes that despite some positive changes in the social and economic situation of the region and in assessing the parameters of its human development level relative to other regions of Ukraine, Vinnytsia region is now losing its human potential due to negative demographic situation and migration to other regions and countries. The main reason for such dynamics is proven to be related to the outdated structure of the region's economy, the predominance of the agricultural sector, the lack of progressive transformations in the development of high-tech fields of the economy. An important factor is the low level of urbanization of the region, which leads to the spread of less attractive working conditions and less comfortable living conditions. The key factors that cause the growth of urbanization in the region have been identified, including the significant positive impact of the transport and social infrastructure expansion, the lack of which in rural areas leads to a decrease in the level and comfort of life. Without progressive structural changes in the economy and the resettlement system, the loss of human potential will continue.

The Nexus Between Seniors' Tourism Expenditure and Well-Being in China

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 169-174
Author(s):  
Renuka Mahadevan ◽  
Vanessa Sha Fan
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Government Policy ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Empirical Relationship ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Tourism Demand ◽  
Leisure Travel ◽  
Policy Strategy ◽  
Tourism Expenditure

An examination of the two-way relationship between tourism expenditure and life satisfaction for seniors is undertaken in this article. This examination uses panel data on China's seniors and tracks the same seniors over 3 years. Results show that there is bidirectional causality between tourism expenditure and life satisfaction, casting doubt on previous studies that do not consider this two-way relationship. This empirical relationship highlights the importance of a two-pronged policy strategy— a government policy committed to social tourism programs for seniors who may not be able to afford travel and those who reside in rural areas. Another government strategy is to address aged concerns related to mobility and health to improve well-being and the provision of appropriate facilities for leisure travel. Senior tourism demand was found to be income inelastic and this result means that senior tourism can buffer Chinese economic growth in times of economic crisis and uncertainty, making the twin policy strategy a worthwhile consideration.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document