Indigenous Lands at Risk: Identifying Global Challenges and Opportunities in the Face of Industrial Development

Indigenous Peoples’ (IP) stewardship has helped conserve biodiversity and maintain healthy ecosystems worldwide. Among many challenges to this role are mounting pressures from industrial development. By assessing the current ecological condition of Indigenous lands with their potential for future industrial development, we show that the ecological integrity of 22% (8.6 million km2) of Indigenous lands is highly threatened across five continents and 37 countries. We further find that the risk to Indigenous lands is greatest across West and Central Africa because of their high ecological threat and greater obstacles for Indigenous Peoples to realize self-determined and culturally-responsive development outcomes. Using a novel national-level framework that examines the security of IP’ rights and authority over their lands, their capacity to engage in decision-making, and support for facilitating sustainable development, we highlight potential challenges and opportunities for strategic investments and interventions to help IP safeguard their futures and rights, as well as the ecological integrity of their lands.

A Priority in Land Supply for Sustainable Transportation of Chinese Cities: An Empirical Study from Perception, Discrimination, Linkage to Decision

With the rapid development of China’s economy, alleviating the shortage of land resources has become a significant challenge. Transportation infrastructure is a channel connecting cities, which carries the flow of population and material circulation. The efficient allocation of land used for transportation is closely related to production and life. By investigating the main factors affecting the priority of the supply of land used for transportation, this paper evaluates the transportation condition of all cities in China from five aspects: dominance, dependence, coordination, accessibility, and land demand for transportation. Furthermore, this paper constructs a multi-objective decision support system for land supply, which aims to find out which cities are in urgent need of the supply of land for transportation and what types of transportation infrastructure need to be focused on. The results of this paper show that most of the cities with high land supply priority are non-provincial capital cities and are important growth poles of regional economic development. The construction of a comprehensive transportation system is the short-term goal of these cities. Most cities with low land supply priority are sparsely populated, in good ecological condition, and far away from the core areas of economic development. The preferred transportation mode of these cities is generally land transportation. The main contribution of this paper is to provide a comprehensive decision support system for the land management department to determine land supply priorities and achieve the sustainable use of land.

Sponge City Policy and Sustainable City Development: The Case of Shenzhen

The massive construction of buildings has changed the city’s aquatic ecological environment. The aquatic ecological condition of the city has been deteriorated with serious water issues. To coordinate various departments to jointly build the sponge city and improve the water environment, the Shenzhen government formulated the policy note on “Interim Measures for the Construction Management of Shenzhen Sponge City”. This article discusses the impact of the policy note on Shenzhen’s construction of sponge cities. The result shows that the policy is effective from the perspective of the environment. However, in the face of a complex water ecological environment, there are still some deficiencies in the policy. We therefore put forward policy suggestions for the Shenzhen municipal government to better manage its construction of sponge city in the future.

Ecological State Assessment of Urban Green Spaces Based on Remote Sensing Data. The Case of Aktobe City, Kazakhstan

The rapid pace of urban development triggers complex problems mostly related to urban environment pollution, and shortcomings of city’s improvement. The modern city is characterized by the highest man-made pressure on the natural environment, the main problems being overcrowding, lack of open-access green areas, as well as the decrease of vegetation areas, fact that does not create comfortable living conditions for urban residents. At present, remote sensing methods are some of the priority tools used in vegetation state assessment, particularly, the calculation of vegetation index (NDVI). But often, obtaining the necessary information is limited only to the analysis of satellite data, without geobotanical field surveys, which considerably increase the reliability of the detected results. In addition, the definition of dependencies when using an integrated approach of different man-affected surfaces with a different type of overgrowth within the city remains insufficiently studied. The purpose of this study is to assess the ecological condition of the green area (parks and squares) in Aktobe city. A comprehensive processing of satellite images including the calculation of NDVI index, mapping of green areas and data statistical analysis, was carried out. We learned that the average value of NDVI for green spaces in Aktobe ranges from 0,11 µm to 0,47 µm, which allows for the categorization of planted areas by levels of photosynthetic activity, from “unsatisfactory” to “good”, yet, with 59% of them in an unsatisfactory condition. This means that the city is underdeveloped in terms of modern landscape and infrastructure. The obtained results make it possible to assess the current situation, determine the dynamics of urban green spaces and optimize spatial planning measures for green space management.

Indigenous Lands at Risk: Identifying Global Challenges and Opportunities in the Face of Industrial Development

Indigenous Peoples’ (IP) stewardship has helped conserve biodiversity and maintain healthy ecosystems worldwide. Among many challenges to this role are mounting pressures from industrial development. By assessing the current ecological condition of Indigenous lands with their potential for future industrial development, we show that the ecological integrity of 22% (8.6 million km2) of Indigenous lands is highly threatened across five continents and 37 countries. We further find that the risk to Indigenous lands is greatest across West and Central Africa because of their high ecological threat and greater obstacles for Indigenous Peoples to realize self-determined and culturally-responsive development outcomes. Using a novel national-level framework that examines the security of IP’ rights and authority over their lands, their capacity to engage in decision-making, and support for facilitating sustainable development, we highlight potential challenges and opportunities for strategic investments and interventions to help IP safeguard their futures and rights, as well as the ecological integrity of their lands.

Ecotoxicological assessment of Zn, Cu and Ni based NPs contamination in Arenosols

Nanoparticles are increasingly used in many industrial fields because of their special properties. In this context, several questions arise related to possible negative consequences associated with nanoparticle (NPs) entrance into the ecosystem. The adsorption of NPs by soil can adversely influence its biological properties. In the present article, the influence of Cu, Zn, and Ni NPs on the biological characteristics of Arenosol is considered. Research aimed to study the effect of Cu, Zn, Ni NPs on the biological characteristics of sandy loam chernozem. Copper, Zn, and Ni NPs were added to the soil in concentrations of 100, 1,000, and 10,000 mg kg^-1. The effect of NPs on the biological properties of Arenosol was evaluated after 10-day incubation. The biological indices of the ecological condition of the soil, including the germination of radish, the length of the roots, the bacteria population, <em>Azotobacter</em> sp. count, the catalase activity, and dehydrogenases were studied. As a result of this study, it was revealed that the degree of indices changes depending on the concentration of Cu, Zn, and Ni NPs in the Arenosols. Microbiological characteristics (bacteria population, and <em>Azotobacter</em> sp. count) and phytotoxic feature (length of roots and radish germination) properties were most sensitive to contamination compared to the enzyme activity of Arenosol. Based on the soil integral index of a biological state, the strongest inhibitory effect on biological parameters of Arenosols relative to the control was exerted by Cu NPs (lower than control by 48-72%), while the greatest stability in Arenosol was found for Ni NPs (lower than control by 30-55%). The studied biological parameters allow characterizing the severity of nanoparticle exposure on Arenosols. Early diagnostics of the severity of soil contamination by NPs can be successfully used to quickly assess their impact on the soil condition and prevent possible adverse consequences.

The Performance Evaluation of State Grassland Ecological Compensation and Rewards—A Case Study in Yili, Xinjiang, China

Since 2011, the State Grassland Ecological Compensation and Rewards(GECR) had implemented in 13 provinces (regions) in China. This policy controlled livestock carrying capacity on pasture and provided subsidies to pastoralists, aimed at reducing livestock number on grassland, increasing income of pastoralist households, and restoring degraded grassland ecosystem. Taking Nileke County of Xinjiang, China as a case study, this research evaluated the ecological, economic and social performance of GECR in agro-pastoral area. Using annual series data during 2006-2010 and 2011-2015, the change of grassland ecological condition, household living standard and labor population was compared between the two periods, and the influence of GECR were validated and detailed with semi-structured household interviews. The results showed that after 2011, livestock number in pastoral area decreased. In contract, the livestock in agricultural area showed large growth. Farmers’ livestock use pasture through grazing transaction, which means farmers paid herders to graze their livestock on the herder’s pasture. Widespread transactions between farmers and herders led to overgrazing on pasture and grassland degradation. GECR also had no significant contribution on improving household income and encouraging livelihood transition. The policy had no significant benefits in ecology, economy and society in case area. Based on the findings, we put forwards suggestions from three aspects: improving the design of the GECR policy, establishing performance evaluation system, strengthening the supervision and punishment of grassland overgrazing and improving local human capital quality .

STUDY OF THE ECOLOGICAL CONDITION OF AGRICULTURAL LAND ADJACENT TO THE REGULATORY IRRIGATIVE POOLS

In the article considers the environmental problems that arise during the construction or operation of irrigation systems and analyzes the methods of monitoring the technical condition of their elements. The relevance of research on this topic is due to the progressive dynamics of pollution of surface, groundwater and soils around irrigation networks, which leads to the deterioration of their condition and the development of erosion. The purpose of the study is to identify ways of migration of filtration waters and the consequences of this, to provide an objective justification for the geophysical method of the natural pulsed electromagnetic field of the Earth that was used. To achieve this goal, a number of tasks were solved, such as: the choice of methods for detecting water filtration zones using remote methods; conducting field studies of the state of agricultural lands around the regulatory basins of Tsarychanska irrigation systems. Construction of maps, graphs, diagrams; comparison, analysis of surveys conducted around the basin of the Tsarychanska irrigation system; identification of water movement routes in the underground space depending on the geological structure of the region, forecasting the consequences of soil flooding around the basin. Previous studies are considered. The research of lands located around the regulatory basins was carried out by the method of PIEMPZ, the position of water filtration zones in the soils adjacent to the basin and the direction of water migration were established, the nature of their flow and possible consequences were analyzed. During the research, all the anomalies of the increased and decreased values ​​of the flux density of the magnetic component of PIEMPZ were identified and their characteristics were given. According to the data, the groundwater level rose to almost 3 m. In the eastern part of the RB there is an abnormal decrease in relief. All filtration and flood zones allocated in 2016 increased. According to the filming in 2018, both the northern and eastern sides, except for a small area in the north-western part, are flooded. This level of groundwater worsens the yield and environmental situation around RB. Recommendations provided.

Basin-centric approach to the sustainable development of agriculture in the context of climate change

The aim is to develop conceptual principles of sustainable development of the agrosphere and reproduction of degraded riverbeds of small rivers under climate change. Methods. Methodology and methods of system approach, monitoring, statistical analysis, and synthesis of scientific data. Results. It has been determined the ecological condition in Ukraine and the world has been by the manifestations of degradation processes in terrestrial ecosystems and small river basins on the principle of causation. It has been suggested the conceptual bases of restoration of channels of small rivers and their basins by carrying out engineering, culture-technical works in channels and floodplains of small rivers, the organization of adaptive landscaping of the territory, and also carrying out agro-, chemo-, bio- and phyto-meliorations in their basins without disturbance the basis of erosion and giving impetus to self-renewal of natural fauna and flora. In the processes of nature restoration, the leading role of domestic science in the methodological and methodological support of projects has been identified, and importance is attached to the restoration of natural biodiversity and biologization in agricultural systems. We proposed to create a state mortgage land bank with a concentration in it of land fees of ecological funds with the involvement of domestic and foreign investment. It is recommended to test the idea in several model pools of soil-climatic zones with further replication in Ukraine and the spread of technology beyond its borders. Conclusions. А systematic approach is needed to carry out reclamation works in the basins of small rivers is to implement the basin approach. To implement the program, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine must adopt the Law of Ukraine “On Agriculture, Sustainable Development of the Biosphere and Ecological Nature Management”, the project of which was developed at the NSC “Institute of Agriculture of NAAS”. The NSC “Institute of Agriculture of NAAS” with appropriate financial and personnel support on a multifunctional basis can perform the functions of a methodological center for the development of methodology and techniques of land management and reclamation in the process of restoring small river basins.