AHP-based site suitability for agrivoltaics in Lublin Voivodeship, Poland

’s (2012) conclusion that observed climate change is comparableto projections, and in some cases exceeds projections, allows further inferences ifwe can quantify changing climate forcings and compare those with projections.The largest climate forcing is caused by well-mixed long-lived greenhouse gases.Here we illustrate trends of these gases and their climate forcings, and we discussimplications. We focus on quantities that are accurately measured, and we includecomparison with fixed scenarios, which helps reduce common misimpressionsabout how climate forcings are changing.Annual fossil fuel CO

Carbon capture and utilization: More than hiding CO2 for some time

The excessive expansion of urbanized areas has resulted in haphazard land utilization, immoderate consumption of superior agricultural land and water resources, significant fragmentation of agricultural landscape, and gradual deterioration of the agro-ecological environment. Combined, these factors cause poor land use efficiency. Under these circumstances, comprehensively assessing land use efficiency for urban agriculture is a key issue in land use research. Currently, evaluation methods for agricultural land use efficiency narrowly concentrate on aspects of economic input and output. However, urban agro-ecosystems can provide diverse economic, social, and ecological services and functions. In particular, the social and ecological services and functions originating from agricultural land, which have a higher value than economic services, play a significant role in ensuring regional social, ecological, and environmental security. However, recent research has rarely taken these benefits into consideration. Therefore, land use value has been greatly underestimated, which has resulted in mishandled and poor land use policies. In this study, we apply Landsat imagery and social and economic statistical data for the Xi’an metropolitan zone (XMZ) to investigate agricultural multi-functionality. We develop an evaluation framework for urban agricultural land use efficiency and identify agro-ecosystem services and functions as important outputs from agricultural land. The land use efficiency of urban agriculture is then evaluated using ecosystem services models, providing a mechanism for assessing spatial-temporal changes in land use efficiency in the XMZ from 1999 to 2015. Four important conclusions are reached from this analysis. First, the rapid urbanization and agricultural transformation from traditional cereal cultivation to modern urban agriculture has resulted in steadily increasing costs, outputs, and land use efficiency of urban agriculture. The total output value increased 41% and land use efficiency per hectare increased by 33.13% on average. Second, the spatial patterns of comprehensive output and land use efficiency were dominated by economic outputs from agricultural land. Areas near cities, which are dominated by orchard and arable land, provide more economic functions. These areas support and regulate services due to the transformation from extensive cereal production to intensive modern urban agriculture; therefore, they have higher output value and land use efficiency. In contrast, areas distant from cities, towns, and high traffic roads, namely, remote rural areas, provide more support and regulating services, but have relatively lower economic function due to inaccessibility to urban markets and slow agricultural transformation. Therefore, these areas have lower output value and land use efficiency. The spatial change in agricultural output and land use efficiency in urban areas is strongly dependent on the degree of urbanization and agricultural transformation. Third, the total output value and land use efficiency of urban agriculture measured with our approach are much higher than evaluations using traditional methods. However, the spatial patterns measured using the two approaches are in agreement. The evaluation framework integrates ecological services and economic and social functions into a comprehensive output from agricultural land. This approach is more methodical and accurate for evaluating the comprehensive efficiency of land use based on quantities and spatial scale because they are at the pixel scale. Finally, the evaluation results have important implications for enhancing current agricultural subsidies and even implementing ecological payment policies in China. Most importantly, they can be directly applied to agricultural transformation regulations, decision- making, and guidance for rational land utilization.

The island Tenerife has always been used for intensive agriculture, whereby the natural landscape was continuously altered. Especially mountainous areas with suitable climate conditions have been drastically transformed for agricultural use by building of large terraces to get flat surfaces. In recent decades political and economic developments lead to a transformation process (especially inducted by an expansive tourism), which caused concentration- and intensificationtendencies of agricultural land use as well as agricultural set-aside and rural exodus. In order to get information about the land use and land cover (LULC) patterns and especially the agricultural dynamics on Tenerife, a multi-scale, knowledge-based classification procedure for recent RapidEye data was developed. Furthermore, a second detection technique was generated, which allows an exact identification of the total ever utilised agricultural area on Tenerife, also containing older agricultural fallow land or agricultural set-aside with a higher level of natural succession (under the assumption that long-term fallow areas can be detected mainly together with old agricultural terraces and its specific linear texture). These areas can hardly be acquired in the used satellite imagery. The method consists of an automatic texture-oriented detection and area-wide extraction of linear agricultural structures (plough furrows and field boundaries of arable land, utilised and non-utilised agricultural terraces) in current orthophotos of Tenerife. Through the detection of recent agricultural land use in the satellite imagery and total ever utilised agricultural area in the orthophotos, it is possible to define the total non-active agricultural land as well as hot spots of agricultural decrease.

The paper deals with modern trends in global renewable energy development. Despite the fact that nowadays the dynamic deployment of renewable energy capacities is observed around the world, global energy market continues to be based on non-renewable energy resources. In the paper the drivers for global renewable energy market development and their impact on renewable energy plants construction are examined. The analysis has shown that the main driving forces for world renewable energy sector growth are policy factors, especially implementation of well-designed support mechanisms to promote energy production from renewables. As such support tools were mainly implemented in power sector, now it holds leading position, while insufficient implementation of motivational tools in transport, heating and cooling sectors slowed down their development. In addition, the main challenges, which inhibit increasing the competitiveness of renewable energy on the global energy market, are outlined.

At present, the sustainable development of rural areas is one of the main goals of modern state agrarian policy. The system of modern agricultural land use should be formed under the influence of economic, social, legal, environmental and natural conditions of the territory. The authors of modern scientific publications on the sustainability of agricultural land use often consider the concept of sustainability from an agroecological point of view, as maintaining fertility and preventing negative processes. Agroecological capacity is the most important factor affecting agricultural land use efficiency. The paper considers the role of agroecological potential in the system of sustainable agricultural land use. A survey of domestic sources on the importance of agroecological and bioclimatic potential in enhancing the sustainability of agricultural land use was conducted. The concept of agroecological potential of agricultural land use was clarified. The object of the study is the agricultural land use in Volokolamsk district of Moscow region. A comprehensive analysis of financial results of agricultural enterprises and organizations in Moscow region was carried out, which showed low profitability of agricultural land use. The methodology and calculation of agroecological potential of agricultural land use in Volokolamsk district of Moscow region were considered. The measures to increase the possibility of using the generalized assessment of bioclimatic and agroecological resources of Volokolamsk district of Moscow region were proposed and the efficiency assessment on main crops over the past 15 years and comparison with the values of bioclimatic potential of agroecological potential for agricultural land management purposes was performed. The modern principles of sustainable agricultural land use require the placement and specialization of agricultural production in accordance with the agroecological conditions of the territories.

Subject. The subject of the study is the financial results of the largest companies operating in the main industry segments of the global energy market in the process of its transformation. Goal. The article aims to assess the effectiveness of the world's largest energy companies concerning the structure, behavior, regulation, and identification of areas of transformation processes in the global energy market; improving the methodology of analysis of the transformation of the global energy market in the study of the effectiveness of energy companies based on the model «structure-behavior-efficiency-regulation». Methodology. The research methodology chosen is the model «Structure-Behavior-Effectiveness-Regulation» based on the basic paradigm of analysis of the industry market «Structure-Behavior-Effectiveness». Results. The study of the essence of transformation processes in the world energy market is based on the methodology of causal analysis of the sectoral (energy) market. Improved methodology for studying the transformation of the global energy market by adapting the model «Structure-Behavior-Effectiveness-Regulation» for the global energy market with the allocation of basic conditions and public policy, which allowed to analyze the relationship between regulation, market structure, behavior, effectiveness companies in the industry and obtaining socially significant externalities. The evaluation and comparative analysis of performance indicators in the world energy market of the largest companies of different types depending on the legal status, a form of ownership (private, collective, state, and municipal), socialization of capital, nationality. Conclusions. Improved methodology for studying the transformation of the global energy market by adapting the model «Structure-Behavior-Effectiveness-Regulation» for the global energy market with the allocation of basic conditions and public policy, which allowed to analyze the relationship between regulation, market structure, behavior, effectiveness companies in the industry and obtaining socially significant externalities. Performance appraisal and comparative analysis of the performance of the world's largest energy companies by type of fuel showed that in terms of absolute and relative terms, companies specializing in fossil fuels are currently leading. Renewable energy companies have high importance of profitability of sales and on average – other indicators, which is explained by stimulating government measures that increase the profitability of asset use. It is shown that the regulation, in particular, the development of antitrust institutions, stimulating low-carbon energy production, and increasing requirements for man-made security in the global energy market has positive externalities, such as increased access to energy sources due to liberalization, improved environment due to renewable energy companies.

Investing in the renewable energy sources (RES) is gaining in popularity each year with the amount of investment gradually increasing and surpassing further records. In the last few years, investments in the commissioning of RES-based capacities have exceeded the financing of traditional energy capacities. As a result, the relevance of a comprehensive study of the motives behind investing in renewable energy (RE) is becoming more acute. The methodological basis relies on the provisions of the authors’ concept of competition in the global energy market, as well as the theory of aggregate risk. During the study, the authors apply a wide spectrum ofquantitative and qualitative evaluation methods, including the econometric, financial and economic evaluation, retrospective and system- based approaches. The paper presents the results of the analysis of investment in the global renewable energy market. The analysis reveals the types of RES and countries with the greatest investment potential in this market. Our method of studying the dependence of market profitability of renewable energy companies relies on the assessment of a set of quantitative and qualitative indicators. The method allows assessing the system of financial indicators of companies on the basis of methods of econometric analysis, as well as a number of specific risks of the industry by expert means. The paper provides the case study of the world’s top renewable energy companies. The obtained results can be used to design an integrated model for assessing the investment potential of renewable energy companies, taking into account its regional characteristics, to improve the methodology for assessing the dependence of market profitability on investments in renewable energy, as well as to perform the empirical evaluation of the efficiency of investments in the energy sector.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19 and the American decoupling policy, the global value chains (GVCs) have been switched to regional GVCs, and, in the worst case, are subject to a potential alteration of reversing the GVCs, ultimately entailing a severe impact on international trade and the global energy market. This paper applies a quantitative approach using a computational general equilibrium (CGE) model to estimate the effects of the reverse GVC factors on the global economy, trade, and energy market. These reverse GVC factors will decrease the global GDP, and such effect will bring a greater influence on both China as well as the United States, which is pursuing decoupling. The increased trade costs due to these factors will reduce the GVC indices, mostly in ASEAN by 0.2~1.15%, followed by Korea, Japan and China. Surprisingly, the GVC index in the United States is expected to be strengthened due to the enhanced GVC with its allies such as Canada and Mexico. In China, the use of oil, gas and petroleum is expected to decrease by around 10%, and similar effects are expected in Korea and the EU. Among the world’s major energy producers, it is estimated that the US will reduce energy exports by 16–62% depending on the energy source, and the Middle East and Russia will significantly reduce their gas exports. The global energy market is shrinking, but in particular, the international gas market is expected to decrease by 27.3~38.6%.

We examine the dynamic relationships between per capita carbon dioxide emissions, real gross domestic product (GDP), non-hydroelectric renewable energy (NHRE) consumption, agricultural value added (AVA), and agricultural land (AGRL) use for the case of Argentina over the period 1980–2013 by employing the autoregressive distributed lag bound approach to cointegration and Granger causality tests. The Fisher statistics of the Wald test are examined, and the existence of a long-run cointegration between variables is proved. There are long-run bidirectional causalities between all considered variables. The short-run Granger causality suggests bidirectional causality between AVA and agricultural land use, unidirectional causalities running from AGRL to NHRE and from NHRE to AVA. Long-run elasticity estimates suggest that increasing AGRL reduces carbon emissions; increasing AVA increases GDP and reduces pollution, AGRL, and NHRE; and increasing NHRE reduces AVA and AGRL. Thus, it seems that agriculture and renewable energy are substitute activities and compete for land use. We recommend that Argentina should continue to encourage agricultural production. The substitutability between agricultural and non-hydroelectric renewable energy productions, and their competition for agricultural land use, should be at least reduced or even stopped by encouraging research and development in second-generation (or even in third-generation) biofuel production and in new technologies for renewable energy and for agriculture more efficient in land use.

The positive agroecological impact of field-protective forest plantations on the state of agricultural land is noted, which is manifested in the cessation of the development of water and wind erosion, the accumulation of moisture in the soil, the creation of a favorable microclimate in crops, an increase in the general biodiversity, which leads to an increase in the yield of field cult by 20%, the productivity of pastures - up to 25%, dairy production - up to 12%. However, in recent years, the functional properties of field-protective afforestation have sharply decreased due to an unbalanced ratio of arable land, natural hayfields and pastures, forests with a significant predominance of arable land; strengthening of the negative impact on agricultural landscapes and their biological component, in particular climate change in the direction of aridity, aridization, technogenic load, and the like; deterioration of the silvicultural state of field-protective forest plantations of a linear type, a decrease in their areas, a decrease in protective and reclamation functions, a violation of their optimal age and species structure; the inconsistency of the structures of field-protective forest plantations with certain types of agricultural landscapes, reduces their ameliorative impact on agricultural land; the absence of completed systems of protective forest plantations of the linear type; application of simplified technologies in agriculture, weakening the ameliorative influence of protective forest plantations of a linear type on agricultural land; decrease in the volume of creation of agroforestry plantations over the past decades; lack of targeted systemic government measures for protective forest plantations of the linear type; insufficient total area of various categories of protective forest plantations of the linear type; reduction of the area of protective forest plantations of the linear type due to illegal economic activities; liquidation of agroforestry services; a significant decrease in the amount of funding for scientific research on agroforestry; lack of legal norms that provide for liability for inefficient land use. Analysis of the current degree of completeness and completeness of systems of field-protective forest plantations and the need for their optimization showed that field-protective forest cover in Ukraine is only 1.5% of the total land use area, in particular, in the Steppe zone - 2.2%, in the Forest-steppe - 1.0 and in Polesie - 0.4%. The area of forest shelter belts for various purposes, as well as forests, which, in turn, perform protective functions, is insufficient to stabilize the environment and create conditions for normal management. The total and field-protective forest cover of agricultural land in Ukraine is significantly lower than the established standards, which are about 3%. At this time, the situation with field-protective plantations is as follows: lands under field-protective forest belts no longer belong to the lands of the forest fund, but have become agricultural lands with the status of non-agricultural lands; lands under forest shelter belts are in communal ownership; lands for forest shelterbelts are transferred for permanent use and lease; permanent use of land for field protection plantations is transferred exclusively to specialized enterprises of communal and state forms of ownership; any natural or legal person can get a lease of field-protective forest belts, provided that the lease agreement includes the obligation to maintain and preserve such belts and ensure that they perform the functions of agroforestry reclamation; the rules for the maintenance of shelterbelts must be approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

Agricultural land-use diversity and forest regeneration potential in human- modified tropical landscapes

Close the carbon loophole

Planning of land use by land - is an integral part of the management of land use, which provides a mechanism by which decisions are coordinated among various local, regional and national authorities, and helps implement social responsibilities of public authorities in the use and protection of land and other natural resources. Today, during the implementation of the decentralization of power, much attention is given to the transition from the existing centralized approach to conventional land-use planning (conventional land use planning), which the world is seen more as a institutional approach (institutional approach) to the agreed land use planning (rarticipatory land use planning), which puts the interests of the foundation rights of economic, environmental, technological and socio-cultural conditions. Accordingly, it is important to define the relationship between the components of local governance in land development and local communities to identify the main stages of its planning, which will allow to solve social and economic problems of land use while preserving the natural ecological sustainability of land and other natural resources like land development and land use planning. It is also associated with a change in the land system ofUkraineand the transition to market land relations, which requires the transition to a new system of land use and proper planning it with the realities of today. During the 2000-2016 biennium. Ukraine has experienced an unprecedented reform of collective agricultural enterprises in market-oriented agricultural farm land for the project made it possible to dramatically increase the share of agricultural land owned by agricultural cooperatives (14.5%), limited liability companies (26.4%) and private (private rental) companies (10.4%). Nearly 405,000 farmers based on their land shares (shares) created over an area of more than 1.6 mln. Ha of farmland farms. However, after the enactment of the Land Code of Ukraine (2001) power rural town councils on order, including the management of land use, land narrowed to only settlements. This led to the decline in land management activities performed. Also, due to lack of funding work on complex land use of rational use of land and their health are not implemented. This land use agricultural land use, which functioned until 1990 was destroyed, and new forms of the rational internal build area to date has not been established. According to Art. 130 Land Code of Ukraine emptive right to purchase agricultural land are citizens ofUkraine, permanently residing in the territory of the local council, where the sale of land, as well as relevant local authorities. However, the status of territory of the local council in land law is not defined. No separation of state and municipal property without development of land management projects within the areas of village councils to streamline land farms has created a number of problems of forecasting, planning and organization of rational use and protection of land at local and economic levels, and therefore financially stable communities. Thus, the importance and role of land management at the local level in the development of local communities land use at this stage of development of land relations is growing. But it needs to speed up recovery (existing before the adoption of the Land Code of Ukraine in 2001) the powers of local communities in the sphere of land relations. Keywords. Land management, land use, site councils, land reform .

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