Land use intensification affects the relative importance of climate variation and active land degradation: convergence of six regions around the world

We explored the relative importance of climate oscillations and human-driven disturbances on the change of vegetation biomass in agroecosystems, and whether it is associated with land use. The study was carried out in the drylands of the Iberian Peninsula, NW Maghreb, Palestinian West Bank, Mozambique, China and NE Brazil, using satellite time-series and the corresponding climate fields, at ten-year observation periods with spatial and temporal resolutions of 1000 m (250 m in Palestine) and one year, respectively. For each region, we separated the relative weights of climate and time by fitting multiple-stepwise regressions to a vegetation index as the dependent variable, and annual aridity (Aridity) and year number (Time) as predictors. The relative strength of the resulting standard partial regression coefficients was then compared by the Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test, and their combined associations with land uses were determined using chi-square tests. Some points of convergence are: 1. The relative weights of Aridity and Time depend on particular regional conditions and can be determined. 2. Such weights are associated with land use intensification, such that if vegetation increases over Time, Aridity increases its relative importance with intensification; if vegetation is degrading, Aridity is always more important than Time. 3. Aridity is an indicator of vulnerability to climate warming. Resilience can be improved by reducing land use intensification. 4. Vulnerability may worsen under constant climate if agriculture is intensified. These patterns enhance an integrated understanding of Sustainable Development Goals Indicator 15.3.1, particularly its land cover and productivity trend components.

Budgetary Systems in Organisations: An Anatomy of Management Views, Employees’ Behaviour and Productivity Trend of 21st Century Firms in a Tropical Nation

The success or failure of any budgetary system depends to a large extent on the management assumptions of human nature (views), employees’ behavior and level of commitment towards productivity. The budgetary system may be non-humanistic (autocratic) or humanistic (participatory). Autocratic budgetary system is synonymous with employees’ negative reactions including counter productive work behaviours while participatory budgetary system is identified with employees’ positive reactions embedded in productive work behaviours. While admitting the proposition that certain settings may require the operation of autocratic budgetary system, this paper holds that available accounting literature on management theories and empirical researches support the assertion: Participatory budgetary system is a panacea; that is, a cure for all the many ills which have been associated with autocratic budgetary system. The unconcerned attitude of enterprise management towards modern theories and researches in budgetary systems and practices, the level of counterproductive work behaviours and some illicit acts in businesses and the environment, the corruption trend in a tropical Nation like Nigeria, productivity downturn and economic depression have posed serious concern. Participatory budgetary system relative to modern management views and motivated work behaviours will boost productivity upturn in Nigerian firms.

Rice Productivity Growth During Nine Years in Badung Regency, Bali Province

The trend of rice productivity and its stability in Badung Regency are presented in this study. The area is a tourism-based economy without leaving the role of rice production to feed the people. Time series data were collected from five sub districts covering 53 villages during 2008-2016 due to the completeness of the data. Variability of the data was observed from the coefficient of variance (C.V.) to decide rice productivity stability. This study also observed correlation between rainfall and rice productivity in the area. Result of the study shows that rice productivity trend in Badung Regency tend to decline during nine years of observation especially in 2014-2016. Three sub-districts had stable condition, while two sub-districts in tourism area contributed to the decline of this matter. Analysis using bi-plot revealed that there is no significant correlation between rainfall in sub-district and rice productivity, implying that water is available throughout the year. In terms of stability, majority of villages (69.81%) had stable condition of rice productivity ranging from middle and high category. Other 30.19% villages were categorized as unstable ranging from low to high productivity. This condition showed that Badung Regency were able to maintain stability of rice productivity during nine years of observation. Implication of this study is to pay more attention to two sub districts in tourism area to improve their rice productivity such as implementation of good agricultural practices.

Combining Earth Observations, Cloud Computing, and Expert Knowledge to Inform National Level Degradation Assessments in Support of the 2030 Development Agenda

Monitoring progress towards the 2030 Development Agenda requires the combination of traditional and new data sources in innovative workflows to maximize the generation of relevant information. We present the results of a participatory and data-driven land degradation assessment process at a national scale, which includes use of earth observation (EO) data, cloud computing, and expert knowledge for Argentina. Six different primary productivity trend maps were produced from a time series of the Terra Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) dataset (2000–2018), including the most widely used trajectory approach and five alternative methods, which include information on the timing and magnitude of the changes. To identify the land productivity trend map which best represented ground conditions, an online application was developed, allowing 190 experts to choose the most representative result for their region of expertise nationwide. Additionally, the ability to detect decreases in land productivity of each method was assessed in 43,614 plots where deforestation had been recorded. The widely used trajectory indicator was the one selected by most experts as better reflecting changes in land condition. When comparing indicators’ performance to identify deforestation-driven reductions in productivity, the Step-Wise Approach Trend Index (SWATI), which integrates short- and long-term trends, was the one which performed the best. On average, decreases of land productivity indicate that 20% of the Argentine territory has experienced degradation processes between 2000 and 2018. The participatory data generation and verification workflow developed and tested here represents an innovative low cost, simple, and fast way to validate maps of vegetation trends and other EO-derived indicators, supporting the monitoring of progress towards land degradation neutrality by 2030.

Measuring technical efficiency of Thai rubber production using the three-stage data envelopment analysis

The study investigated the technical efficiency of rubber production in Thailand. Secondary data were collected from the Thai rubber plantations in four regions from 2005 to 2014 by using a three-stage data envelopment analysis (DEA) model. The DEA was used to evaluate the technical efficiency levels and to remove undesirable environmental impacts. Furthermore, the Malmquist productivity index was used to measure the changes in the rubber production efficiency and estimate the rubber productivity trend. The findings indicate that the efficiency scores obtained using adjusted inputs in stage 3 of the DEA approach were higher than the efficiency scores in stage 1 of the DEA approach. Moreover, the results also showed that the Northern region has the worst scores of technical efficiency and declination of productivity among the four regions. However, the technical performance of the Thai rubber production has shown a good performance, an upward productivity trend, and has demonstrated the advantages of the method used. Findings from the study could provide crucial information to farmers, the Thai government, and agricultural planners for formulating effective strategies or plans to improve their technology and efficiency levels.