Assessment of Local Adaptive Capacity of Mountain Farmers: A Way Forward for Sustainable Livelihood Development

This study aims to understand the perception of mountain farmers towards the local adaptive capacity at a household level in an agro-ecological landscape. An indicator-based assessment is conducted to examine the 6 determinants and 27 indicators to give a local adaptive capacity index of the villages around Govind Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park, located in the Indian Himalayan region. The findings indicate that, though the connected and isolated villages have a low and very low adaptive capacity, respectively, the effect of various determinants on the local people varies among the village settlements, based on their socio-economic capacity. Despite the government endeavours to build the livelihood of mountain farmers through different programmes and policies, it still lacks proactive decision-making. The study suggests for an integrated assessment and sustainable enhancement of the landscape as a whole, with a focus on community-level adaptation strategies. It draws attention to the need for enhanced collaboration between research institutions, government and private sectors with the mountain community in the centre.

Why Geographical Indications Can Support Sustainable Development in European Agri-Food Landscapes

Implementing the European Green Deal and transforming agricultural practices requires a wider and amplified policy toolbox. As many sustainability considerations are context-dependent, there is a need for instruments, which take individual characteristics of production landscapes into account. Food products with a particularly strong relationship to their landscape of origin can be marketed under the “Protected Designation of Origin” label (PDO). In this article, we analyze synergies between PDO production and regional sustainable development by assessing to what extent social-ecological landscape characteristics appear in landscapes with PDO-labeled food production systems. Building upon 12 social-ecological variables we defined three landscape characteristics influential for the presence of PDOs by using a principal component analysis. By running regression models combining those characteristic landscapes with the spatial distribution of PDO certification we were able to explore linkages between landscapes and products. Additionally, a geographically weighted regression delivered insights into the regional differences and product-specific relationships throughout the EU countries. Overall, we could prove the assumed positive correlation between PDO production and ecologically valuable landscapes. Further, we showed that mostly meat PDOs coincide with landscapes influenced by structural change, while cheese PDOs are not well captured by our models despite their large number. We can conclude that PDOs have the potential to jointly support conservation and rural development, especially when they would be tied to sustainable management standards in the future.

Pedagogical model for the development of a sustainable lifestyle of a student in a cultural landscape

The article considers the eco-friendly lifestyle of a person in a cultural landscape as a prerequisite for sustainable development of a territory and a practical basis for creating a qualitatively new harmonious interaction between society and natural systems. The goal of the article is to theoretically substantiate, devise, and test a pedagogical model that would teach students a sustainable lifestyle in a cultural landscape. The methodological basis of the study is the co-evolutionary subjective, activity, transdisciplinary, integral, situational, cultural, ecological, landscape, and environmental approaches, as well as some principles embodying them. Educational modeling and design were the key theoretical methods. The pedagogical model created combines the target, substantive, procedural, technological, productive, and evaluative components. Its practical use in schools proved to be effective regarding the formation of an eco-friendly lifestyle of students in the cultural landscape.

Towards human and nature reconciliation: a Māori worldview approach to ecological landscape architecture.

<p>This research explores how applying Māori worldview principles can reconcile and allow mutualism between people and ecologies within the post industrial urban setting of Wellington wharf. The aim of this thesis is to develop three possible solutions to reconcile people with ecologies and allow for mutual benefits within natural ecologies of the intertidal zone below Wellington wharf. This research explores how a nonconventional ecological approach that includes human interaction in restorative landscape design can create beneficial interactions between humans and microorganisms.</p>

Towards human and nature reconciliation: a Māori worldview approach to ecological landscape architecture.

<p>This research explores how applying Māori worldview principles can reconcile and allow mutualism between people and ecologies within the post industrial urban setting of Wellington wharf. The aim of this thesis is to develop three possible solutions to reconcile people with ecologies and allow for mutual benefits within natural ecologies of the intertidal zone below Wellington wharf. This research explores how a nonconventional ecological approach that includes human interaction in restorative landscape design can create beneficial interactions between humans and microorganisms.</p>

Recreational Services from Green Space in Beijing: Where Supply and Demand Meet?

Green space, mainly forests, shrubs, and grasslands, provides essential ecosystem services for human well-being. Based on multi-source data and using the Maximum Entropy model and Geographical Information System (GIS) tools, this research comprehensively assesses the supply and demand of recreational services from green space in Beijing. The supply of recreational services in Beijing is influenced by natural and human factors, showing large spatial variability. The supply level of mountainous areas with good natural geographical conditions and intact ecological landscape is significantly higher than that of plain areas with reduced vegetation and overexploitation. Residents have a high demand for recreational services in green space landscape and low demand in non-green space landscape. The quantitative balance pattern of supply and demand varies greatly, and most areas show the state of undersupply. The spatial matching pattern of supply and demand varies significantly too, and the mismatch is apparent. Spatial allocation should be more carefully considered than the aggregated supply and demand. Differentiated development strategies such as ecological reshaping, ecological development, restoration, and protection should be implemented for different areas in the future of planning and management in urban green areas. This will optimize and balance the supply-demand matching pattern for recreational services and promote the effective improvement of ecosystem service functions and residents’ ecological welfare.

Research on Campus Landscape Planning Strategy Based on the Ecological Health Effect

The water landscape in college and university is the research object in this article. Through on-site investigation, monitoring and computer simulation in campus, combined with qualitative and quantitative research methods, the advantages and disadvantages of the spatial layout of the water landscape in campus are compared. In addition, the surrounding building layout and greening layout are aslo separately studied in this article. The research results show the influence mechanism of the water landscape and its spatial layout on the ecological health effect, providing a reference experience and basis for the campus ecological landscape planning.