Refugees, land cover, and environmental change in the Senegal River Valley

This paper seeks to explore the complex relationships between land cover, environmental change and forced migration in the middle valley of the Senegal River, attempting both to identify the nature of environmental impacts of forced displacement with specific reference to land cover, and to examine the social, political and economic circumstances in which these are exacerbated or reduced. The study concludes that change in land cover caused by the presence of refugees is not a major cause for concern in this area, despite the vulnerability of the natural environment. Significant factors in reducing negative impacts include the dispersal of the refugee population, and cultural and social proximity of the refugee and local populations surveyed. At the same time, observed changes in land cover need to be treated with caution, given the often cyclical nature of environmental change, and the range of factors associated with it.     

Population growth and its spatial distribution as factors in the deforestation of Nang Rong, Thailand

Frontiers constitute a major source of global land cover change hot spots, with forests and grasslands being converted into agricultural uses. As such, frontiers provide an opportunity to see how people manipulate the land and their lives in the context of social, cultural and environmental constraints. This paper examines frontier settlement and land cover change in Nang Rong district, Northeast Thailand for the last half century. It uses a Cellular Automata (CA) model to explore the land cover consequences of alternative patterns of settlement in a setting where people establish dwelling units in nucleated villages and work agricultural plots that surround villages. Forested land around the center of a village is converted into agricultural uses in an inverse relationship to the distance from the village center, but frequently modified by biophysical conditions. Land at the center of the village may be reforested after the village is established as a source of shade as well as fruit and other products. Model variation in land cover change is more sensitive to the spatial reach of village households than their temporal reach, suggesting the important role that technology plays in how villagers travel to their fields (walking versus motorized transit).     

Climatic and anthropogenic drivers of land use/cover change in fragile karst areas of southwest China since the early 1970s: a case study on the Maotiaohe watershed

Land use/cover change and its driving forces has been one of the most important fields in global environmental change research since the 1990s. Karst areas are distributed extensively on the Earth’s surface and are usually characterized by a fragile eco-environment. In southwest China, karst landforms are fully developed and their eco-environment is highly fragile. Over the past decades, irrational land use practice has caused a series of alarming eco-environmental issues including forest clearing, soil erosion, and karst rocky desertification. Therefore, it is of great practical significance to study land use/cover change in this area and its driving forces in order to re-build the damaged eco-environment and achieve sustainable land use. In this paper, the authors conduct a case study on land use/cover change and its natural and human driving forces since the early 1970s in southwest China’s Maotiaohe watershed. The results indicate that the land use/cover pattern in the study area has undergone a very complex change, which is a result of combined action of both natural and anthropological factors. In the 1970s and 1980s, climate change and fast population increase played dominating roles in the change of arable land, shrub land, grassland, and rocky desertification land. Since the early 1990s, economic development has gradually taken the place of population change to become the overwhelming human factor to go along with climate change in driving the land use/cover change, particularly the change in arable land, construction land, and rocky desertification land.     

Complexity theory, spatial simulation models, and land use dynamics in the Northern Ecuadorian Amazon

Our research questions and analytical approaches are used to examine coupled human-natural systems in the Northern Ecuadorian Amazon. They are based on complexity theory and extend from our earlier work in Cellular Automata (CA) in which land use/land cover (LULC) change patterns were spatially simulated to examine deforestation and agricultural extensification on household farms. The basic intent is to understand linkages between people and the environment by explicitly considering pattern-process relationships and the nature of feedback mechanisms among social, biophysical, and geographical factors that influence LULC dynamics within the study area. In this research, we describe how our CA modeling approach emphasizes the human dimensions of LULC change by including socio-economic and demographic characteristics at the household-level along with biophysical data that describe the resource endowments of farms, geographic accessibility of farms to roads and communities, and the evolving nature of human-environment interactions over time and space in response to exogenous and endogenous factors.A LULC change scenario is examined by comparing model outcomes generated for a base CA model and an alternative CA model to explore the effects of increases in household income on land use change patterns at the farm level, achieved as a consequence of improved geographic accessibility to roads and communities and increased off-farm employment as a household livelihood strategy. Growth or transitions rules in our CA model, as well as neighborhood associations are sensitive to socio-economic and demographic factors of households, resource endowments of farms, geographic accessibility, and the uncertainty associated with peasant farming in a frontier setting. Model outcomes indicate that increases in household income are associated with more land in pasture and more land being cultivated for crops as a result of greater access to agricultural markets. In addition, more land in secondary forest succession occurs as a consequence of greater access to roads and communities, thereby, affording a better opportunity for off-farm employment and greater levels of household income.     

气候与土地利用变化对水文水资源的影响研究

水资源短缺和水患灾害已成为全球关心的重大问题。气候与土地利用变化对流域水资源和旱涝的影响以及由此产生的社会经济后果已引起人类社会的广泛关注。深入综合地开展这方面的研究对国民经济建设和可持续发展规划决策有重要的意义。通过分析总结已进行的有关研究工作 ,对该领域的研究进展作了简要回顾 ,讨论了现有工作的不足和今后的研究内容和方法。     

新疆阿克苏河流域昆马力克河积雪消融规律对气候变化的响应

作为气候变化产物及气候变化敏感指示器的积雪, 对干旱区的区域社会经济的发展、 生态环境的改善起着极其重要的作用. 为能够更好的指导环境变化下积雪水资源的合理开发利用, 基于2001-2010年MODIS积雪数据、 2005年MODIS土地利用/覆被变化(LUCC)数据及阿克苏气象站气象数据, 对昆马力克河流域积雪消融规律对气候变化的响应进行分析. 结果表明: 研究区气温自1997年后快速升高, 尤其以冬季和春节较明显; 年际、 年内及时段积雪消融规律对气候变化有较好的响应关系; 不同覆被下除农用地所在区域积雪覆盖率与气温变化服从线性变化外, 其他覆被下均服从抛物线型变化. 积雪覆盖率对气温变化的敏感程度有一定的差异, 以林地所在区域最敏感, 变化较快, 其次依次为灌丛、 草地和稳定雪/冰所在区域.     

Hydrological situation of a typical watershed in the Loess Tableland Area of China over the past 30 years

Due to deficient water resources in the Loess Plateau, watershed management plays a very important role, not only for ecological and environmental protection but also for the social development of the region. To better understand the hydrological and water resource variations in the typical watershed of the Loess Plateau and the Qinghe River Basin, the influences of land cover and climate change were analysed, and a SWAT model was built to simulate the response of the hydrological situation to land cover changes that have occurred over the past 30 years. The results demonstrated that the main land cover change occurring in the Qinghe River Basin was the conversion of land cover from grassland to woodland and farmland from the late 1980s to 2010. Woodland and farmland took 87.36 and 10.55%, respectively, from the overall area transferred over 20 years and more than 18% of the total watershed area. Hydrological simulation results indicated that land cover played a predominant role in the hydrological variation of the Qinghe River Basin, although the effects of climate change should not be discounted. The significant changes in land cover could be superimposed by policy orientation and economic requirements. Although it is hard to evaluate the land cover changes and the corresponding hydrological responses in a simple language, related analyses have demonstrated an increasing trend of runoff in the dry season, while there is a somewhat decreasing trend during the flood season in the river basin. There results could be significant and provide a positive influence on both future flood control and the conservation of water and soil.     

Reverse osmosis on a small barrier island: transformations of water,landscape, and vulnerability on Ocracoke Island,NC, USA

Globally, modifications to the landscape have drastically transformed social and ecological communities. The implication of global climate change for small islands and small island communities is especially troublesome. Socially, small islands have a limited resource base, deal with varying degrees of insularity, generally have little political power, and have limited economic opportunities. The physical attributes of small islands also increase their vulnerability to global climate change, including limited land area, limited fresh water supplies, and greater distances to resources. The focus of this research project is to document place-specific human–environmental interactions from a political ecology perspective as a means to address local concerns and possible consequences of global environmental change. The place in which these interactions are examined is the barrier island and village of Ocracoke, NC. I focus on the specific historical-geography of land and water management on Ocracoke as a means to examine relationships between local human–environmental interactions and environmental change. I provide an account of technological changes in potable water procurement and the paralleling development of island growth (i.e. people, buildings, tourism). Then, relying on interviews with island residents, I consider how advancements in local water infrastructure, specifically the installation of an additional reverse osmosis unit, are hinged on anticipated future economic development. Lastly the social dimensions of change are discussed with specific focus on the increase in housing density and overburdened septic drainage fields in relation to changing hydrologic processes with an examination of how all of these factors affect local vulnerability.     

Land use and land cover change and implication to watershed degradation by using GIS and remote sensing in the Koga watershed,North Western Ethiopia

Information on use/land cover change is important for planners and decision makers to implement sustainable use and management of resources. This study was intended to assess the land use land cover (LULC) change in the Koga watershed. The MSS of 1973, TM images of 1986, 1995 and 2011 were used together with survey and demographic data to detect the drivers of land cover changes. The result revealed that a remarkable LULC change occurred in the study area for the past thirty eight years. The area of cultivated and settlement has increased by 7054.6 ha, while, grass and bush lands decreased by 4846.5 and 3376 ha respectively. Wetland also declined from 580.2 ha to 68.3 ha. The growing demand for cultivable land and fuel wood were the major causes to the deterioration of grass and bush lands. Hence, the appropriate land use policy should be employed to sustain available resource in the watershed.     

北京城乡过渡区土地利用变化驱动力分析

在多时相遥感数据和实际调查数据的支持下，采用典型样带和样点相结合的研究方法，对北京西部城乡过渡区的土地利用/覆盖变化驱动力进行了研究。结果表明，研究区的土地利用/覆盖变化受到了不同层次、多种驱动力的综合作用，人类活动从整体上改变着城乡过渡区的景观特征，政策体制转变下的经济高速增长和快速的城市化过程是北京城乡过渡区土地利用/覆盖变化的根本原因。在这个过程中，城市投资和产业的转变与农村农业用地内部的结构调整相互结合，从城市和农村两个方向共同推动着北京城乡过渡区的土地利用/覆盖变化，而地形、交通等因素则从局部尺度上决定着土地利用/覆盖变化的方向。此外，人类个体的行为选择，尤其是就业和消费选择，也在一定程度上对北京城乡过渡区的土地利用/覆盖变化起着调整和修改作用。     

应用集成的遥感识别技术进行土地利用变化分析

以厦门市为研究区域,以1988-1998年为时间跨度,利用Landsat5TM遥感数据开展土地覆盖变化识别中多种遥感数据处理方法的集成应用研究。以后分类比较法的结果为基础,运用改进的差值法定义的"变化"目标进行修正,将两种方法有机集成综合地确定土地覆盖变化。根据变化前与变化后覆盖不同但土地利用方式相同或类似的原则进行合并处理,最后得到厦门市10年间土地利用结构变化各种成因类型及其数量。结果表明,10年间厦门市因城市化引起的土地覆盖变化为590．83km²,变化强度为31.14％,引起厦门市土地利用结构发生变化主要有 8种成因机制类型,面积达351.99km²,变化强度为18.55％。     

Land alienation,land tenure,and tourism in Vanuatu,a Melanesian Island nation

Land is a primary resource for international tourism development. The relation of indigenous systems of land tenure and the history of land alienation to tourism in Pacific Island nations, however, is problematic. Governments of some Pacific Island nations are now emphasizing the traditional land rights of indigenous people in determining land use for economic development. Land is a key resource for the local participation of Islanders in development, and indigenous land claims are a volatile political issue. There has been little substantive research on tourism and land tenure in Melanesia. This paper examines the history of the problem of land alienation, the nature of traditional land tenure, and the relation of current land claims to tourist development in Vanuatu. Land alienations are tied to modern tourist developments, and issues of land tenure are a central aspects of political debate in local cultures. Suggestions are offered for regional planning for tourism, and local control of tourist development and land use.     

Regional integration or disintegration? Recent road improvements in Petén, Guatemala: A review of preliminary economic, agricultural, and environmental impacts

Many studies have examined the impacts of new roads in tropical forest frontiers. In general, these have led to substantial deforestation because they provide access to peasant farmers in need of land for food production and income generation. But few studies have investigated the impacts of improvements made to existing roads in frontier regions, and more specifically, their effects on the rural economy, land use, and land cover. This paper discusses the results of a 2001 study of these impacts, following the recent paving of the main road between Petén, a lowland frontier region in northern Guatemala, and the more densely populated highland regions of the country. This improvement, completed in late 1999, has yielded a major reduction in travel time between Flores, Petén and Guatemala City, the capital, from 12 to 14 h, or more, previously, to 7-8 h currently. The effects of this substantial change were examined through interviews and discussions with farmers, market vendors, and representatives of governmental and non-governmental organizations in the region, and through analyzing the limited available data on imports to Petén from other parts of the country. The results indicate that to date, the farmers in the study area have not altered their land use patterns because the prices they receive from intermediaries have not changed, and no market for new crops has emerged. However, more agricultural products raised in other regions of Guatemala are now being sold in Petén. Therefore, producers in Petén seemingly face greater competition from those elsewhere in the country. This trend has important implications regarding the impacts of regional integration, and for the difficult challenge of improving agricultural and environmental conditions in Petén.     

Monitoring land use/land cover change using multi-temporal Landsat satellite images in an arid environment: a case study of El-Arish,Egypt

Environment in arid conditions is dynamic and needs more investigation to understand the complexity of change. This spatiotemporal study will help to assess and monitor the land use and land cover change in the arid region of El-Arish area, where the climate and human activities are the major threats to rural development. In the past 11 years, dramatic changes of environment have been recorded in case studies. The post-classification comparison method was used to observe the changes using multi-temporal satellite images which were captured in the years 1999, 2001, 2005, and 2010. The overall accuracy of the produced thematic images was assessed regarding to the quantity and allocation disagreements. Five classes were defined in this investigation: bare soil, vegetation, urban, sand dunes, and fertile soil. From the year 1999 to 2010, fertile soil was increased by 13 %. Bare soil class occupied more than 50 % of land in the case study during for over a decade. From year 1999 to 2010, vegetation cover witnessed a dramatic increase. Soil and water management are the keys of land development and positive land use and land cover dynamics. Changing agricultural policies of using the available water resources are needed in the case study to prevent severe food shortage in the future.     

加强我国土地利用/覆盖变化及其对生态环境安全影响的研究——-从荷兰“全球变化开放科学会议”看人地系统动力学研究的发展趋势

综述了在荷兰阿姆斯特丹召开的"全球变化开放科学会议"的主要学术成果,从中分析了在全球变化研究的各个领域,人类活动在全球变化中所起作用的重要方面。在此基础上,阐述了我国如何加强在全球变化和可持续发展研究中,开展土地利用/覆盖变化及其对生态环境安全影响研究的重要方向。以此研究揭示土地利用变化的驱动力,土地覆盖变化的生态效应,土地利用/覆盖格局对生态环境安全的影响机理。着眼我国生态系统对全球变化的可能响应,重构了我国生态环境安全条件下的土地利用/覆盖的空间宏观格局。     

Eroding battlefields: Land degradation in Java reconsidered

Land degradation has been a major political issue in Java for decades. Its causes have generally been framed by narratives focussing on farmers’ unsustainable cultivation practices. This paper causally links land degradation with struggles over natural resources in Central Java. It presents a case study that was part of a research project combining remote sensing and political ecology to explore land use/cover change and its drivers in the catchment of the Segara Anakan lagoon. Historically rooted land conflicts have turned the land into a political battlefield, with soil erosion being the direct outcome of the political struggles. Starting from an analysis of environmental changes using satellite images and historical maps, the research explored a history of violent displacements in the frame of a series of brutal insurgencies and counterinsurgencies in the 1950/60s. In these struggles over national political power, entire villages were erased, and peasants’ land was appropriated by the state. This political history is ‘inscribed’ in today’s landscape. The contested land comprises some of the most erosion-prone sites in the entire catchment of the lagoon. The landscape of erosion is a landscape of conflict and a symbol of historical violence and injustice. In line with our research in other parts of the catchment, the case study presented here challenges dominant political discourses about the nature of upland degradation in Java. It provides insight into still unresolved and underexplored chapters of Indonesian history and presents a strong plea for combining land use change science and (historical) political ecology.     

Evaluation of natural resource potential in semi-arid micro-watershed, eastern Rajasthan, using remote sensing and geographic information system

The natural resources are considered more efficient and appropriate for necessary survey and investigation for the assessment, subsequent planning and implementation of various developmental programmes. Hence, it is necessary to increase the land and water resources levels for future demands. Morphometric, land use/land cover and hydrogeomorphic analyses have been carried out by visual interpretation method of remote sensing data of IRS, 1D-LISS III and IRS, P6-LISS III, and FCCs of band combination 2, 3 and 4. The interpreted data is supplemented as well as cross checked by field visits. The remote sensing and GIS tool could be helpful in getting the precise and valuable spatial information in understanding the present scenario contemplating with the past data and predicting the future trends. Morphometric analysis was done to determine the drainage characteristics of Bankukara watershed. The drainage pattern of the study area is predominantly dendritic to sub-dendritic in nature; however, locally structurally controlled drainage pattern is also seen. The development of stream segments is affected by slope and local relief. The bifurcation ratio indicates that the drainage pattern is structurally controlled. The land use/land cover change detection for 2001 and 2005 showed an increase in uncultivated land by 1.37%, dense forest by 0.17%, wasteland by 1.46% and rock quarry by 0.10%. There has been a decrease in the area under cultivated land by 1.99%, open forest by 0.12%, open scrub by 0.54% and water body by 0.40%. Hydrogeomorphic units identified through visual interpretation of FCC include alluvial plain, valley fills, plateau, buried pediment, pediments and intermontane. Based on land use/land cover change detection and hydrogeomorphological mapping, the Bankukara watershed has qualitatively been categorized into four groundwater potential zones, viz. good to very good, moderate to good, poor to moderate and very poor to poor.     

Multi-temporal landsat images based on eco-environmental change analysis in and around Chah Nimeh reservoir,Balochestan (Iran)

Chah Nimeh reservoirs have served as a water storage facility, especially during droughts over the last three decades. It is also an important wintering site for migratory birds. In this study, thematic mapper time-series data were derived from Landsat images for prolonged droughts that occurred in two satellite images (2002 and 2011). The data derived from these images were used for the detection of changes in land cover and water storage in the reservoirs. First, a vegetation cover map was produced using soil-adjusted vegetation index and field sampling. Subsequently, land use/cover maps were generated using supervised and hybrid image classification method. Using the spatial change detector (SCD v1.0) software extension, the layers were combined and the change map was generated. The overall accuracy of the produced thematic images was assessed in regards to quantity and allocation disagreements. A total of five classes were defined in this investigation: deep water, shallow water, vegetation, salt land and bare land. The results showed that during the period of study, water volume reduced and vegetation cover increased, especially around the reservoirs that are important as shelter for wintering migratory birds. Comparison of land use/cover maps showed the increase in total available surface of shallow water, which indicated an increase in the habitats for surface feeding and diving birds.     

Nature–society and development: social, cultural and ecological change in Nepal

This paper presents a theoretical framework for analyzing human–environment issues that examines shifting, dialectical relationships between social and power relations, cultural beliefs and practices, and ecological processes to allow an interdisciplinary, complex assessment of social and environmental change in Nepal. The purpose of this analysis is to capture the complexity and non-static nature of environmental and social change in the context of uneven development. Drawing from political ecology and feminist geography, this framework brings together scholarship on aspects of human–environment issues that are often pursued in isolation, yet all three processes, social–political relations, cultural practices and ecological conditions, have been acknowledged as important in shaping the trajectory of social and ecological change. I argue that a consideration of the articulations between them is necessary to understand first, how specific land management regimes arise and are dominant over time in specific places. And second, I examine the extent to which these regimes distribute resources equitably within communities, promote economic development and sustain ecological resilience. In this analysis, ecological processes are conceptualised as co-productive of social and cultural processes to explore their role in land management regimes without resorting to environmental determinist or similarly reductive paradigms. I present this framework through the example of natural resource management, specifically community forestry in Nepal, as it offers a rich case study of the relationships between the political economy of land use and the ecological effects of natural resource extraction.     

Dynamics of land use/cover changes and the analysis of landscape fragmentation in Dhaka Metropolitan, Bangladesh

Rapid urban expansion due to large scale land use/cover change, particularly in developing countries becomes a matter of concern since urbanization drives environmental change at multiple scales. Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, has been experienced break-neck urban growth in the last few decades that resulted many adverse impacts on the environment. This paper was an attempt to document spatio-temporal pattern of land use/cover changes, and to quantify the landscape structures in Dhaka Metropolitan of Bangladesh. Using multi-temporal remotely sensed data with GIS, dynamics of land use/cover changes was evaluated and a transition matrix was computed to understand the rate and pattern of land use/cover change. Derived land use statistics subsequently integrated with landscape metrics to determine the impact of land use change on landscape fragmentation. Significant changes in land use/cover were noticed in Dhaka over the study period, 1975–2005. Rapid urbanization was manifested by a large reduction of agricultural land since urban built-up area increased from 5,500?ha in 1975 to 20,549?ha in 2005. At the same time, cultivated land decreased from 12,040 to 6,236?ha in the same period. Likewise, wetland and vegetation cover reduced to about 6,027 and 2,812?ha, respectively. Consequently, sharp changes in landscape pattern and composition were observed. The landscape became highly fragmented as a result of rapid increase in the built-up areas. The analysis revealed that mean patch size decreased while the number of patches increased. Landscape diversity declined, urban dominance amplified, and the overall landscape mosaics became more continuous, homogenous and clumped. In order to devise sustainable land use planning and to determine future landscape changes for sound resource management strategies, the present study is expected to have significant implications in rapidly urbanizing cities of the world in delivering baseline information about long term land use change and its impact on landscape structure.