Drivers,constraints and trade-offs associated with recultivating abandoned cropland in Russia,Ukraine and Kazakhstan

Further cropland expansion might be unavoidable to satisfy the growing demand for land-based products and ecosystem services. A crucial issue is thus to assess the trade-offs between social and ecological impacts and the benefits of converting additional land to cropland. In the former Soviet Union countries, where the transition from state-command to market-driven economies resulted in widespread agricultural land abandonment, cropland expansion may incur relatively low costs, especially compared with tropical regions.Our objectives were to quantify the drivers, constraints and trade-offs associated with recultivating abandoned cropland to assess the potentially available cropland in European Russia, western Siberia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan—the region where the vast majority of post-Soviet cropland abandonment took place. Using spatial panel regressions, we characterized the socio-economic determinants of cropland abandonment and recultivation. We then used recent maps of changes in cropland to (i) spatially characterize the socio-economic, accessibility and soil constraints associated with the recultivation of abandoned croplands and (ii) investigate the environmental trade-offs regarding carbon stocks and habitat for biodiversity.Less cropland abandonment and more recultivation after 2000 occurred in areas with an increasing rural population and a younger labor force, but also improved yields. Synergies were observed between cropland recultivation and intensification over the 2000s. From 47.3 million hectares (Mha) of cropland abandoned in 2009, we identified only 8.5 (7.1–17.4) Mha of potentially available cropland with low environmental trade-offs and low to moderate socio-economic or accessibility constraints that were located on high-quality soils (Chernozems). These areas represented an annual wheat production potential of ∼14.3 (9.6–19.5) million tons (Mt). Conversely, 8.5 (4.2–12.4) Mha had high carbon or biodiversity trade-offs, of which ∼10% might be attractive for cropland expansion and thus would require protection from recultivation. Agro-environmental, accessibility, and socio-economic constraints suggested that the remaining 30.6 (25.7–30.6) Mha of abandoned croplands were unlikely to provide important contributions to future crop production at current wheat prices but could provide various ecosystem services, and some could support extensive livestock production. Political and institutional support could foster recultivation by supporting investments in agriculture and rural demographic revitalization. Reclaiming potentially available cropland in the study region could provide a notable contribution to global grain production, with relatively low environmental trade-offs compared with tropical frontiers, but is not a panacea to address global issues of food security or reduce land-use pressure on tropical ecosystems.     

Land-cover change in the conterminous United States from 1973 to 2000

Land-cover change in the conterminous United States was quantified by interpreting change from satellite imagery for a sample stratified by 84 ecoregions. Gross and net changes between 11 land-cover classes were estimated for 5 dates of Landsat imagery (1973, 1980, 1986, 1992, and 2000). An estimated 673,000 km²(8.6%) of the United States’ land area experienced a change in land cover at least one time during the study period. Forest cover experienced the largest net decline of any class with 97,000 km² lost between 1973 and 2000. The large decline in forest cover was prominent in the two regions with the highest percent of overall change, the Marine West Coast Forests (24.5% of the region experienced a change in at least one time period) and the Eastern Temperate Forests (11.4% of the region with at least one change). Agriculture declined by approximately 90,000 km² with the largest annual net loss of 12,000 km² yr^?1 occurring between 1986 and 1992. Developed area increased by 33% and with the rate of conversion to developed accelerating rate over time. The time interval with the highest annual rate of change of 47,000 km² yr^?1 (0.6% per year) was 1986–1992. This national synthesis documents a spatially and temporally dynamic era of land change between 1973 and 2000. These results quantify land change based on a nationally consistent monitoring protocol and contribute fundamental estimates critical to developing understanding of the causes and consequences of land change in the conterminous United States.     

Linkages between soybean and neotropical deforestation: Coupling and transient decoupling dynamics in a multi-decadal analysis

Soybean expansion, driven by growing global meat demand, has accompanied neotropical deforestation in past decades. A recent decoupling between soybean production and deforestation in Brazil is taken as evidence of efficient deforestation regulation. Here, we assessed the relationships between soybean economy, livestock production and deforestation from 1972 to 2011 in Northern Argentina Dry Chaco. We used Panel Analysis to evaluate the relationship between soybean cultivated and deforested area in different periods and we used high resolution time series analysis of a deforestation hotspot, to explore links between soybean economy, cattle ranching and deforestation. In northern Argentina, 2.7 millions ha were deforested from 1972 to 2011, 56% of which occurred after 2002. The results of the Panel analysis indicate a strong link between soybean expansion and deforestation but with variation among periods mediated by the links between soybean and livestock productions. Deforestation was strongly coupled with soybean expansion during the 1972–1997 and 2002–2011 periods; but was largely decoupled between 1997 and 2002, when strong increments in production were accompanied by low deforestation. The high resolution analysis also indicated contrasting levels of association after and before 1997. The soybean deforestation decoupled periods in Brazil and Argentina shared similarly weak economic incentives for soybean production, rapid technological innovation and preceding high deforestation periods. In the Argentine case, when economic incentives turned positive after a 5-years decoupled period, new government measures were unable to regulate deforestation. Our study suggests that macroeconomic factors can be a much stronger deforestation force compared with domestic legal frameworks. Effectiveness of neotropical deforestation regulation should be carefully monitored and interpreted with caution paying special attention to global economic context for soybean expansion.     

中国农田下垫面变化对气候影响的模拟研究

使用同期的美国国家环境预报中心/能源部(NCEP/DOE)再分析资料驱动区域气候耦合模式AVIM-RIEMS2.0,从遥感卫星图像资料中获取3期中国土地利用/覆盖数据中的农田植被类型,将其分别引入到AVIM-RIEMS2.0模式进行积分,研究中国农田下垫面变化对东亚区域气候的影响。结果表明:中国农田变化对气候影响具有冬季弱、夏季强的季节性变化,夏季气温和降水的差异在一些地区通过了95%的显著性检验;20世纪80年代农田扩张,林地、草地为主的植被类型转化为农田,植被变化区域的叶面积指数降低,反照率升高,且通过了95%的显著性检验,使得中国东部地区的气温由南到北呈现增加—减少—增加—减少的相间变化趋势,而降水的变化趋势大体相反;20世纪90年代农田面积减少,除东北地区外,农田变化引起的植被变化与80年代基本相反,叶面积指数变化、反照率以及由此导致的气候各要素也呈现大体相反的变化趋势;不同时期农田变化引起的植被类型转化的差异,使850 hPa风场变化趋势基本相反,可能是导致气温和降水变化趋势差异的主要原因之一。     

The climatic impacts of land surface change and carbon management, and the implications for climate-change mitigation policy

Strategies to mitigate anthropogenic climate change recognize that carbon sequestration in the terrestrial biosphere can reduce the build-up of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere. However, climate mitigation policies do not generally incorporate the effects of these changes in the land surface on the surface albedo, the fluxes of sensible and latent heat to the atmosphere, and the distribution of energy within the climate system. Changes in these components of the surface energy budget can affect the local, regional, and global climate. Given the goal of mitigating climate change, it is important to consider all of the effects of changes in terrestrial vegetation and to work toward a better understanding of the full climate system. Acknowledging the importance of land surface change as a component of climate change makes it more challenging to create a system of credits and debits wherein emission or sequestration of carbon in the biosphere is equated with emission of carbon from fossil fuels. Recognition of the complexity of human-caused changes in climate does not, however, weaken the importance of actions that would seek to minimize our disturbance of the Earth’s environmental system and that would reduce societal and ecological vulnerability to environmental change and variability.     

土地利用城市化对珠三角炎热天气的影响.

土地利用类型的变化对MM5模拟结果的准确性有着重要的影响。不同的土地利用类型,有着不同的地表粗糙度,反照率,热容量,有效湿度等,从而产生不同的模拟地面热通量及地面水汽通量,并通过垂直方向的湍流输送,影响到高空气象场的模拟结果。利用2001年卫星遥感土地类型等数据,对MM5系统旧的24类全球土地利用数据在珠三角区域进行了更新;通过把珠三角地区的土地利用设为常绿阔叶林和城市两种不同类型的敏感性模拟测试,可以看到土地利用的变化,对温度、风场等气象场的模拟结果影响较大;通过1993年和2001年土地利用情况下的模拟气象场及与观测数据的对比分析可以知道,采用新的土地利用类型可以较好地改进MM5气象场模拟结果的准确性,土地利用的城市化趋势会造成城市密集地区地表温度升高,水汽混合率降低。     

When enough should be enough: Improving the use of current agricultural lands could meet production demands and spare natural habitats in Brazil

Providing food and other products to a growing human population while safeguarding natural ecosystems and the provision of their services is a significant scientific, social and political challenge. With food demand likely to double over the next four decades, anthropization is already driving climate change and is the principal force behind species extinction, among other environmental impacts. The sustainable intensification of production on current agricultural lands has been suggested as a key solution to the competition for land between agriculture and natural ecosystems. However, few investigations have shown the extent to which these lands can meet projected demands while considering biophysical constraints. Here we investigate the improved use of existing agricultural lands and present insights into avoiding future competition for land. We focus on Brazil, a country projected to experience the largest increase in agricultural production over the next four decades and the richest nation in terrestrial carbon and biodiversity. Using various models and climatic datasets, we produced the first estimate of the carrying capacity of Brazil's 115 million hectares of cultivated pasturelands. We then investigated if the improved use of cultivated pasturelands would free enough land for the expansion of meat, crops, wood and biofuel, respecting biophysical constraints (i.e., terrain, climate) and including climate change impacts. We found that the current productivity of Brazilian cultivated pasturelands is 32–34% of its potential and that increasing productivity to 49–52% of the potential would suffice to meet demands for meat, crops, wood products and biofuels until at least 2040, without further conversion of natural ecosystems. As a result up to 14.3 Gt CO₂ Eq could be mitigated. The fact that the country poised to undergo the largest expansion of agricultural production over the coming decades can do so without further conversion of natural habitats provokes the question whether the same can be true in other regional contexts and, ultimately, at the global scale.     

Panarchy of an indigenous agroecosystem in the globalized market: The quinoa production in the Bolivian Altiplano

Agricultural globalization is blamed for destructive impacts on small farms in developing countries. Yet, many local societies are proactive in the face of these changes and show high adaptive capacity. Investigating their transformations with an integrative perspective and enough hindsight may reveal some of the bases of their resilience and adaptive capacity. Using field data and the panarchy concept of resilience theory, we analyzed the territorial and social dynamics of quinoa growers’ communities in southern Bolivia over the last four decades, a case study of regime shift in a poverty-stricken rural society which deliberately entered the global food market. Linking the dynamics of the household economy to the territorial and social subsystems over several decades, we gained insights into the interactions that shaped the rise of quinoa production in the region. We found that a vivid tradition of mobility allowing for pluriactivity on- and off-farm, combined with community self-governance, explains how local populations succeeded in articulating individual agency with collective control over their commons of land, seed resources, and social rules. Our vulnerability analysis points to landscape homogenization, social inequity, and increased dependence on external factors as potential sources of unsustainability. We conclude that, to cope with the changes of unprecedented magnitude they are facing, local producers should retain social cohesion and autonomous governance, without giving up on their heritage of mobility and economic redundancy. As regards theory, we identified cross-scale subsystem configurations critical for regime shifts, and confirm the value of panarchy in capturing complex socioecological dynamics.     

内蒙古高原中部主要气候因子及地表覆盖对沙尘暴影响分析

通过对内蒙古中部不同地表覆盖类型和土地利用方式下降水、气温、0 cm地温等气候因子和地表植被对沙尘暴频率和强度的影响分析, 认为:气温、降水等气候因子与地表植被覆盖对沙尘暴频率和强度的影响不具有普遍性, 降水影响相对明显, 地表植被覆盖的影响仅在农牧交错区和牧区草甸草原亚区表现明显。通过防治荒漠化来减少沙尘暴的危害需要因地制宜, 农牧交错区应该是植被恢复的重点区域。     

Crop booms at the forest frontier: Triggers,reinforcing dynamics,and the diffusion of knowledge and norms

Crop booms in forest frontiers are a major contributor to deforestation and global change. Because of their non-linearity, intensity, and unpredictability, booms are specific instances of land change, namely land system regime shifts, which require an analysis going beyond that of their drivers or individual actors’ decisions. So far, the combined effect of behavioral dynamics at the household, village, and higher levels, which are often mutually-reinforcing, have not been considered in the empirical analysis of crop booms. In this paper, we aim to further the understanding and the theory behind the dynamics of crop booms and land regime shifts. We focus on the smallholder-driven northern Laos rubber boom and analyze two case study areas with different intensity of rubber expansion. We use a combination of household surveys and interviews with villagers, government officials and private sector actors to analyze the preconditions, triggers and reinforcing effects at household and higher levels that help explain the timing and extent of the boom. In particular, we focus on the role of information transmission and imitation in household decisions to adopt and expand rubber. Our findings show that the rapid expansion of rubber in northern Laos was in part the result of household decisions spurred by economic and policy triggers that changed the real and perceived benefits of growing rubber. In addition, there were higher-level and mutually-reinforcing dynamics, such as the conversion of village communal forests, a rush for land, and individual behavior contingent on others’, including imitation. The transmission of information through social networks played a key role in rubber adoption decisions, but the diffusion of new norms and values was also important and may have accelerated adoption decisions. Rubber adoption and expansion decisions thus had normative and informational, as well as knowledge-based and imitation components.     

全球气候变化对我国自然资源的影响

阐述全球气候变化的现状和趋势，探讨了气候变化对我国水、森林和土地等自然资源的影响，以期为合理开发利用自然资源提供理论依据。     

A global estimate of carbon stored in the world's mountain grasslands and shrublands,and the implications for climate policy

Carbon market and climate finance schemes (e.g. the CDM, REDD+ and the Green Climate Fund) are being investigated for their ability to achieve enhanced sustainability outcomes in terrestrial forests, lowland grasslands and marine ecosystems, all which store large amounts of carbon (C). To date however climate policy discourse has largely overlooked the conservation of existing C stored in mountain grasslands and shrublands. These ecosystems provide critical ecological goods and services to humanity yet are increasingly at risk from anthropogenic stressors including agricultural intensification, mining and climate change. The absence of a global estimate for these C stocks is likely to be one reason for their exclusion from climate change policy discussions, both on a political and scientific basis. This represents a missed opportunity in two respects: firstly, by conserving and restoring existing C stocks the impacts of climate change can be lessened; and secondly, carbon finance and climate finance might provide the necessary financial support to address the aforementioned stressors. In this paper we use spatial analysis and estimate there to be between 60.5 Pg C and 82.8 Pg of C contained within biomass and soils of the world's mountain grasslands and shrublands. To put this in perspective, globally tropical Savannas and grasslands, temperate forests and tropical peatlands are estimated to contain 326–330 Pg C, 159–292 Pg C and 88.6 Pg C respectively. Our review of existing empirical studies and of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) national greenhouse accounts suggests that this C is not reliably accounted for in international carbon budgets. Our estimate is the first to provide a global point of reference, useful in developing future research and in climate policy discussions. We conclude by briefly discussing how climate finance might be leveraged to support the sustainable management of these C stocks, and in so doing uphold the other important socioeconomic benefits provided to humanity.     

21世纪初中国北方半干旱区土地利用变化对地表温度的影响

利用区域模式WRF(Weather Research and Forecasting)模拟分析了21世纪初期2001~2010年中国北方半干旱区土地利用变化对地表温度影响,通过给出区域尺度的人类活动影响气候变化的定量表达,有助于我们理解中国北方半干旱区气候变化的归因,也将对我国科学规划土地利用、合理开展有序人类活动具有一定的参考价值。研究结果表明:农田扩张、植树造林和草地恢复3类土地利用与覆盖变化(land use and cover change,LUCC)现象对格点尺度多年平均温度的影响均呈现负效应。农田扩张导致当地多年平均温度降低0.11°C,夏季和冬季分别降温0.39°C和0.06°C。植树造林格点的多年平均温度降低0.33°C,冬季强于夏季,冬季平均温度减小0.24°C,夏季减小0.15°C。草地恢复使得格点年平均温度降低0.41°C,夏季降低0.58°C,冬季减小0.51°C。LUCC对最低温度的影响强于最高温度,并且由于最低温度减小使得大部分地区日较差显著增大。LUCC导致的局地温度变化与同期背景温度的变幅相当,但对区域平均温度的影响很小。一方面由于LUCC格点占区域的面积很小,另一方面由于正、负温度效应在区域平均的过程中相互抵消,使得LUCC对区域温度变化的影响微乎其微,21世纪初期现实LUCC对地表温度的影响主要限于局地。     

Production scenarios and the effect of soil degradation on long-term food security in China

Food security in China underlies the foundation of the livelihood and welfare for over one-fifth of the world's population. Soil degradation has an immense negative impact on the productive capacity of soils. We simulated the effect of soil degradation, which occurs in combination with increases in population size, urbanization rate, cropping intensity and decrease in cropland area, on long-term food security in China using a web-based land evaluation system. Our results predict that food crops may experience a 9% loss in productivity by 2030 if the soil continues to be degraded at the current rate (business-as-usual scenario, BAU). Productivity losses will increase to the unbearable level of 30% by 2050 should the soil be degraded at twice the present rate (double-degradation scenario, 2× SD). China's capacity for producing food from agricultural crops will be either adversely affected by the loss of cropland area (130, 113 and 107 million ha in 2005, 2030 and 2050, respectively) or favorably affected by agricultural intensification (in terms of the multi-cropping index at 120, 133 and 147% in 2005, 2030 and 2050, respectively). The loss of cropland is predicted to cause a 13–18% decrease in China's food production capacity by 2030–2050 relative to its 2005 level of 482 Mt, while agricultural intensification is predicted to cause an 11–23% increase. In total, China will be able to achieve a production level of 424 and 412 Mt by 2030 and 2050, respectively, under BAU, while this production will be only 386 and 339 Mt under 2× SD, respectively. In per capita terms, the relationship between food supply and demand will turn from an 18% surplus in 2005 to 3–5%, 14–18% and 22–32% deficits by 2030–2050 under the zero-degradation (0× SD), BAU and 2× SD scenarios, respectively. Our results show that the present-day production capacity will not sustain the long-term needs of a growing population under the current management level. Technical countermeasures and policy interventions need to be enacted today in order to avoid food insecurity tomorrow.     

Multiple cropping systems of the world and the potential for increasing cropping intensity

Multiple cropping, defined as harvesting more than once a year, is a widespread land management strategy in tropical and subtropical agriculture. It is a way of intensifying agricultural production and diversifying the crop mix for economic and environmental benefits. Here we present the first global gridded data set of multiple cropping systems and quantify the physical area of more than 200 systems, the global multiple cropping area and the potential for increasing cropping intensity. We use national and sub-national data on monthly crop-specific growing areas around the year 2000 (1998–2002) for 26 crop groups, global cropland extent and crop harvested areas to identify sequential cropping systems of two or three crops with non-overlapping growing seasons. We find multiple cropping systems on 135 million hectares (12% of global cropland) with 85 million hectares in irrigated agriculture. 34%, 13% and 10% of the rice, wheat and maize area, respectively are under multiple cropping, demonstrating the importance of such cropping systems for cereal production. Harvesting currently single cropped areas a second time could increase global harvested areas by 87–395 million hectares, which is about 45% lower than previous estimates. Some scenarios of intensification indicate that it could be enough land to avoid expanding physical cropland into other land uses but attainable intensification will depend on the local context and the crop yields attainable in the second cycle and its related environmental costs.     

Impact of land surface roughness on downslope windstorm modelling in the Arctic

The article considers the reasons for the underestimation of the wind speed by the WRF-ARW model when simulating downslope windstorms in the Russian Arctic. Simulation results for the Tiksi windstorm, for which sensitivity tests were carried out, appeared to be weakly dependent on the initial and boundary conditions, topography resolution, and boundary layer parameterization. Wind speed underestimation was mostly related to improper land use and the highly overestimated roughness length, which are used in the model. Reduction of the roughness length in accordance with the observations leads not only to a quantitative change in the wind speed in the boundary layer, but to qualitative changes in the dynamics of the flow. Wind underestimation in simulations with the overestimated roughness was caused by the jet stream unrealistically jumping over the lee slope and wake formation in the station area, while jet stream stayed near the surface and propagated to the station area in simulations with the modified roughness length. Modification of land use and roughness length in Tiksi and other regions where downslope windstorms are observed (Novaya Zemlya, Pevek, Wrangel Island) led to a decrease in wind speed modelling error by more than 2.5 times.     

辽河保护区生态恢复遥感分析

利用2009年和2011年分辨率为10 m的法国SPOT卫星和日本ALOS卫星遥感资料,以ArcGIS9.3软件ArcMap模块为平台,采用人机交互目视解译对辽河保护区地类特征进行提取,对辽河保护区生态恢复状况进行监测分析。结果表明：2009年保护区土地利用类型以旱田、芦苇型湿地和水域为主,三种土地类型所占比例为72.9 %;2011年土地利用类型主要以水域、芦苇型湿地和草地为主,三种土地利用类型所占比例为62.9 %。 2011年保护区土地利用变化主要表现为旱田大幅度转出,转化为水域、草地和林地,与2009年相比,耕地显著减少,植被覆盖度增加了15.4 %。     

土地利用变化对20世纪中国地区气候干湿变化的影响

利用CMIP5耦合模式历史情景和土地利用情景结果,定量评估了模拟的土地利用变化对20世纪中国地区气候干湿变化的影响。结果表明,土地利用的变化加剧了20世纪中国地区干旱化的进程,其贡献约为1/3。其中,湿润区具有显著变干的趋势,土地利用变化的贡献约为35.4%;半干旱区显著变干,土地利用对半干旱地区变干的贡献不显著;两种情景下干旱区干湿变化都不显著。在土地利用情景下,中国地区土地利用的变化主要表现为一级土地的减少和牧草用地的增加,二者分别从国土面积的72.7%和12.9%(1901年)变为36.0%和41.9%(2004年),且1950年代之后变化速率显著增大。其中大面积显著的变化主要发生在青藏高原、内蒙古以及新疆北部地区,导致这些地区降水减少、温度降低,而降水减少带来的干旱化作用大于温度降低带来的变湿作用。     

Stability and change within indigenous land use in the Ecuadorian Amazon

In the Amazon basin and other tropical forest regions, many forested landscapes are inhabited by indigenous peoples who are increasingly exposed to infrastructure expansion, large-scale natural resource extraction, and development programs. How indigenous land use evolves in this context will be a critical determinant of the future of these forests. To date, few studies have had access to longitudinal, large-sample and field-based data that enables the measurement of indigenous land use change and its correlates in these contexts. To address this lacuna, we make use of a unique multi-ethnic household survey conducted in 32 indigenous communities of the Northern Ecuadorian Amazon in 2001 and again with the same households in 2012. We analyze these data to measure land use and land use change as well as their determinants. This reveals that the overall household agropastoral footprint has remained close to constant over time, but with important changes within particular land uses and ethnicities. Notably, cacao has largely replaced coffee (tracking commodity price changes), and Kichwa and Shuar households have intensified production on increasingly subdivided plots, with the Shuar specializing in cattle. In contrast, Waorani and Cofán households have maintained small footprints, while Secoya households largely abandoned cattle ranching. Taken together, the results emphasize ethnic heterogeneity in indigenous land use change, a pattern which is only visible through the use of a longitudinal, large-sample, field-based design.     

Interface bureaucrats and the everyday remaking of climate interventions: Evidence from climate change adaptation in Zambia

When climate change policies are implemented in practice, they travel through the hands of a range of practitioners who not only mediate but also potentially transform climate interventions. This article highlights the role of a group of actors whose practices have so far received little attention in the study of climate change governance, namely the public servants who are responsible for the everyday implementation of national climate change policies and associated programmes on the ground. Situated at the frontline of the state and often engaging directly with citizens, these “interface bureaucrats” occupy a complex position in which they must balance their role as representatives of the state with the need to accommodate the pressures, interests and practical challenges associated with everyday policy implementation. In this article we examine how interface bureaucrats in Zambia seek to navigate this role as they go about implementing national climate change adaptation policies in practice, and what this means for the nature and outcome of these interventions. We identify key dilemmas of the interface bureaucrats in our study areas, namely (i) intervening with limited reach, (ii) implementing generic policies, and (iii) managing conflicting interests. We show how they address these dilemmas through highly pragmatic practices involving informal agreements with community members, discretionary adjustments of official policies, and negotiation of contested interventions. As a result, the nature and outcomes of climate change adaptation interventions end up differently from the official policies and the underlying governance interests of the central state. Our findings suggest a need for greater attention to the role of interface bureaucrats as everyday climate policy makers and point to the significance of pragmatism and compromise in the interaction between state actors and citizens in environmental interventions.