An extra-urban soil cadastre for Italy: a first guide for the introduction of soil information

<p>One of the biggest challenges for digital soil mapping is the limited of field soil information (e.g., soil profile descriptions, soil sample analysis) for representing soil variability across scales. Global initiatives such as the Global Soil Partnership (GSP) and the development of a <strong>Global Soil Information System</strong> (GloSIS), World Soil Information Service (WoSis) or SoilGrids250m for global pedometric mapping highlight new opportunities but the crescent need of new and better soil datasets across the world. Soil datasets are increasingly required for the development of soil monitoring baselines, soil protection and sustainable land use strategies, and to better understand the response of soils to global environmental change.  However, soil surveys are a very challenging task due to their high acquisition costs such data and operational complexity. The use of legacy soil data can reduce these sampling efforts.</p><p>The main objective of this research was the rescue, synthesis and harmonization of legacy soil profile information collected between 2009 and 2015 for different purposes (e.g., soil or natural resources inventory) across Ecuador. This project will support the creation of a soil information system at the national scale following international standards for archiving and sharing soil information (e.g., GPS or the GlobalSoilMap.net project). This new information could be useful to increase the accuracy of current digital soil information across the country and the future development of digital soil properties maps.</p><p>We provided an integrated framework combining multiple data analytic tools (e.g., python libraries, pandas, openpyxl or pdftools) for the automatic conversion of text in paper format (e.g., pdf, jpg) legacy soil information, as much the qualitative soil description as analytical data,  to usable digital soil mapping inputs (e.g., spatial datasets) across Ecuador. For the conversion, we used text data mining techniques to automatically extract the information. We based on regular expressions using consecutive sequences algorithms of common patterns not only to search for terms, but also relationships between terms. Following this approach, we rescued information of 13.696 profiles in .pdf, .jpg format and compiled a database consisting of 10 soil-related variables.</p><p>The new database includes historical soil information that automatically converted a generic tabular database form (e.g., .csv) information.</p><p>As a result, we substantially improved the representation of soil information in Ecuador that can be used to support current soil information initiatives such as the WoSis, Batjes et al. 2019, with only 94 pedons available for Ecuador, the Latin American Soil Information System (SISLAC, http://54.229.242.119/sislac/es),  and the United Nations goals  towards increasing soil carbon sequestration areas or decreasing land desertification trends.  In our database there are almost 13.696 soil profiles at the national scale, with soil-related (e.g., depth, organic carbon, salinity, texture) with positive implications for digital soil properties mapping. </p><p>With this work we increased opportunities for digital soil mapping across Ecuador. This contribution could be used to generate spatial indicators of land degradation at a national scale (e.g., salinity, erosion).</p><p>This dataset could support new knowledge for more accurate environmental modelling and to support land use management decisions at the national scale.</p><p> </p>

Green Economy and Infrastructure Contributions of USDA Urban and Nonfarm Soil Projects in the U.S.

Biodiversity loss and climate change are the major global problems threating livelihoods in developing countries. Agroforestry as an integrated land use system has been proved to reduce these problems. However, contributions of agroforestry for conservation of flora and fauna biodiversity and reduction climate change impacts faced empirical evidence. This paper aimed to provide empirical information on role of agroforestry for conservation of flora and fauna biodiversity and climate change mitigation and adaptation. The result reveled that agroforestry has played a greater role for conservation of fauna and native flora diversity and mitigation of CO 2 than monocroping and open cereal based agriculture but less than natural forest. The tree components of agroforestry are important for biodiversity conservation, CO 2 sequestration and climate change adaptation. CO 2 sequestration through above and ground biomass, offsetting CO 2 emission from deforestation and microclimate modification are major climate change mitigation effect. Provision of numerous ecosystem services such as food, fodder and fuel wood, income source, enhancing soil productivity, protecting pest and increased resistance to diseases help community to sustain changing climate effects.. Hence, considerable attentions need to be given to agroforestry to contribute considerable benefit in conservation of biodiversity, and climate change mitigation and adaptation next to forest. Keywords : Agroforestry, flora and fauna diversity, mitigation of CO 2 , ecosystem services. DOI : 10.7176/JNSR/9-19-07 Publication date :October 31 st 2019

The Queensland government is the custodian of soil and land resource information with an estimated value of $75 million. The Soil and Land Information (SALI) system houses this data from over 600 distinct studies with some 96,000 soil observations dating back to the 1940s. This data is now not only used by government but by universities, councils, landowners, consultants and schools. Providing this information to the public in an easy and accessible way, with a focus towards online delivery is crucial. Previous issues with distribution of online soils information in Queensland have stemmed not only from limits to technology but also, changing departmental structures and multiple websites. The department which manages soils information in Queensland has undergone nine name changes in the last 12 years due to Machinery of Government (MoG) restructures. This constantly changing web presence and branding is as confusing for people sourcing soils information as it is for those providing it.The Queensland government has now moved to a whole of government online environment. This is a single website with no reference to the convoluted structures within government or department names. The aim is to prevent impacts from future MoG changes on the provision of data and information to the public. Queensland government soils now has a single dedicated website (qld.gov.au/environment/land/soil) which has allowed us to start to build a repository for soils information and is a single portal for people to access soils data. It has been demonstrated that this consistent approach to websites improves trust and confidence of users [1] and from this, confidence in using Queensland soils information and data and ultimately better land management decisions.

A soil information system was developed to manage soil survey data and to ensure that soil information is readily available to support land use planning and development. The Soil Information System combined spatial information management of a Geographical Information System (GIS) with the textural information management of a relational database management system. The GIS is capable of manipulating and displaying area and point data with the logical framework of a database to store data for interpretation. The main objective of this paper was to demonstrate one of the approaches to utilize and interpret data from the soil information system for identifying soil suitable for irrigated agriculture. The design and implementation of the soil information system are discussed, and an example of system output, such as mapping soils suitable for irrigated agricultural, is presented in this paper. For mapping these areas, a criterion was defined to select potential areas for irrigated agriculture. The criterion was applied to each of the soil property classes and subclasses to determine the most limiting rating for each soil. The rating was applied to map units and was allocated by the geographic soil map units in the GIS to produce a suitability map for irrigated agricultural areas in Kuwait. The soil information for the State of Kuwait provided information in a digitized format that can be further extended to interpret other land uses.

Soil data form the basis of soil information systems across the globe. Soil information needs, and the questions posed by users, are likely to evolve in response to advances in technology in this era of Big Data. This poses a challenge to the pedological community which is already experiencing a decline in soil knowledge and expertise. With a decrease in soil data collection by governments, it is timely to reconsider how and what soil information should be provided to future users. A public–private partnership is advocated to deliver timely and accessible soil information to users. Two public–private provisioning programs are presented, and advantages and considerations for sharing soil data and information amongst industry, government, research organizations, service providers and land managers for these are discussed. Interoperable, open‐source and agreed soil community standards are used to present soil data and information through spatial web portals with tools for interpretation of soil data for public and private beneficiaries.

Although carbon sequestration through better management of forests and farmland does not provide a long-term alternative to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, it might provide limited and short-term benefits for the climate. The Kyoto Protocol of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change allows Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) projects under certain constraints. These projects include a planned set of activities designed to enhance carbon sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems. Concerns have been raised about the potential effect of such projects on biodiversity; for example, that old growth, biodiversity-rich forests could be replaced by plantations of fast-growing trees. However, under a number of circumstances, win-win situations could be created between climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation, and these were the topic of discussion at the international conference “Carbon Sinks and Biodiversity” held in Liege, Belgium, in October. For example, in developed countries and countries whose economies are in transition, ecosystem restoration through revegetation of a fraction of noncultivated agricultural and marginal lands offers a potential for climate change mitigation. This requires taking all greenhouse gas fluxes into account. Such revegetation can be achieved in a number of ways, including by encouraging the use of biofuels and chemicals derived from biomass. Peatlands could be protected and former peatlands converted back to either their original state or some other managed state with higher water tables. Afforestation of peatlands should generally be avoided, as it would endanger biodiversity and the greenhouse gas balance of such ecosystems. In developing countries, measures to avoid deforestation and to restore native forests strike a good balance between climate change mitigation and conservation of biological diversity. Policies for the conservation and sustainable use of existing forests should be aimed at increasing rural incomes, empowering local users of forests, and promoting good governance of natural resources. Because measures to avoid deforestation would be difficult to translate into verifiable greenhouse gas emission credits in the Kyoto Protocol, they should be promoted through other policies. Sustainable agroforestry systems should be promoted as a form of land management for mitigating climate change and for biological diversity conservation, because these provide numerous socioeconomic and environmental benefits. Whereas the potential of carbon sequestration measures in a given terrestrial ecosystem mainly depends on the quantity of land that would be managed for this purpose, biodiversity conservation also depends on the landscape spatial pattern. Therefore, land use planning is important to optimize climate change mitigation through carbon sinks while maintaining or developing conservation areas, for example, through protected reserves and reforestation of corridors and buffer zones. Potentially, there are large synergies between LULUCF projects within the Kyoto Protocol and the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity, but for these to be realized, we need effective coordination between these international conventions, and among national policies on land use and natural resource management. Measures that ensure a long-term reduction in greenhouse gas emissions should always have priority over carbon sinks, as the latter only have short-term benefits for the climate. However, LULUCF projects will yield other long-term benefits when they have positive impacts on ecosystem functioning, including biodiversity conservation.

As one of the last agricultural frontiers of the humid tropics, Amazonia is the largest area of the world currently undergoing frontier settlement. Although the earliest intrusions of foreign populations into Amazonia date from pre-Hispanic times, the large-scale entrance of peasant colonists into the vast region is a recent phenomenon. Much of this movement represents the spontaneous migration of peoples, but governments in the region have also become increasingly interested in opening up and integrating Amazonia to national and international economies. These actions are frequently seen as potential solutions to a number of national problems, including the need to increase agricultural production, correct spatial imbalances in the distribution of population, exploit frontier lands for reasons of national security, and defuse potentially serious political problems resulting from the existing agrarian structure, landlessness, and unemployment. The upper basin of the Amazon in Ecuador, bordering on the eastern slopes of the Andes, is one such area of frontier settlement. Recent decades have witnessed the rapid conversion of these Amazonian forests to agricultural uses through a series of schemes bearing such labels as land development and colonization. Most forest intervention in the region has come at the hands of colonist farmers attempting to establish land claims along transport routes originally constructed to aid in petroleum exploration and exploitation. These are farmers who formerly have made a living in long-established farmlands and who, for various reasons (population pressures, pervasive poverty, maldistribution of farmland, lack of inputs for intensive cultivation, lack of nonagrarian livelihood opportunities, and generally inadequate rural development) have been increasingly squeezed out of their homelands. A marginal person by virtue of his low socioeconomic and political status, the farmer often perceives

Peculiarities of legal regulation of legal relations in the field of conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity are considered. The provisions of national and international legislation in this area have been studied, as well as the meaning of the terms «biological diversity» and «sustainable use of biological diversity» from the point of view of law. From the standpoint of law, the program documents are analyzed, based on the provisions of which the state policy in the field of conservation and use of biodiversity is formed, as well as the place of norms on conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in the environmental legislation of Ukraine. The necessity of developing a single categorical-conceptual apparatus in the field of regulation of relations on conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity is substantiated. It is established that the legal regulation of conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity is provided mainly by national programs, strategies and other policy documents, and ensuring the requirements of conservation and sustainable use of natural, spatial, species, population and coenotic diversity of biodiversity components. It is noted that the term «biological diversity» and its species (spatial, species, population and coenotic diversity (depending on the level of organization)) are used mainly in setting legal requirements for the protection, use and reproduction of certain natural resources. in order to uniformly apply the term «biodiversity» and understand its meaning, its definition should be introduced into national legislation at the level of natural resource laws. It is also considered necessary to include basic terms, including the concept of «biological diversity», in the future Environmental Code. At the same time, relations in the field of biodiversity (its components) should be considered in the context of its sustainable use as part of a more global concept of sustainable development, where the principle of rational use of natural resources is a key condition for sustainable economic and social development.

In Tanzania, land use and planning are under the land authority. They are responsible for ensuring sustainable land use and management in urban and rural areas. Nevertheless, lack of adherence to the soil to detailed soil properties and land use constraints by urban planners, urban explosions in different areas in Tanzania, particularly Morogoro have been a big issue of concern as it poses danger to the environment and also to themselves as urban areas they are also vulnerable to land use constraints such as flood, erosion, water logging, erosion hazards and rock outcrop. This study aims to assess the available soil information and analyze land constraints related to the Selected Detailed Town Planning Schemes in Morogoro Municipal so as to address failures of the current urban planning approach. Detailed soil information provided by the municipality and literature of previous studies were accessed. A total of six land use constraints: poor drainage and waterlogging, rock outcrop, erosion hazard, flood hazard, soil depth and surface slope were analyzed in this study to map major land use constraints in the study area. A geospatial analysis approach was used to combine these constraints so as to map total land use constraints and asses the spatial distribution of the constraints. Finally, detailed land use schemes accessed from the Morogoro land management authority were digitized and overlayed on the constraints map. Detailed schemes approved in areas of Mkundi have shown to be a success as these areas have the lowest land use constraints whilst areas of Kilakala, and Mlimani has been a failure due to high slope, erosion hazards and shallow soil, the middle part of Morogoro including the new Kingalu market have been a failure and costly due to flood and water logging mitigations.

A comprehensive soil information system was identified as essential for land use planning decisions, especially for sustainable agriculture and natural resources conservation in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The lack of such a system limits the capacity of government, businesses, policy makers, and land users to make sustainable land use planning decisions, and considerably hampers land degradation assessments and adaptive sustainable land management interventions. This paper presents a solution developed to disseminate value-added soil information gathered from soil surveys, enabling decision makers, policy formulators, land use planners, and agriculturalists to efficiently manage soil resources. The UAE Soil Information System (UAESIS, www.uaesis.ae ) is a web-based repository of soil data with geographical representation and provides descriptive, quantitative, and geographical data in a simple interface. The system has a number of components including a geospatial soil database, a field operating system, and a highly intuitive web-based secure application. This paper highlights the structure, capabilities, functions, benefits, applications, and uses of the UAESIS. Two case studies demonstrate the application of the system to evaluation of land suitable for date palm production and the growth of salt tolerant crops are presented

본 연구에서는 우리나라 산림부문 공적개발원조(Official Development Assistance, ODA) 이해관계자 집단을 대상으로 한국 임업발전에 기여한 분야와 분야별 국제경쟁력에 대한 평가를 통해 우리나라 산림부문 공적개발원조현주소를 파악하고 향후 우선 중점분야에 대한 인식 조사를 통해 한국 산림ODA의 확산 및 발전 방향을 모색하고자 하였다. 이를 위해 일반인과 전문가 248명을 대상으로 설문조사를 실시하였으며 결과분석을 위해 교차분석의 카이검정, 독립표본 t-검정, 일원배치분산분석과 Duncan 사후검정을 실시하여 집단 간 인식차이를 비교하였다. 조사결과 한국 산림 및 임업발전 기여도와 산림ODA 사업 시 국제경쟁력에 대해 조사대상자 전체적으로 '산림보존 및 산림황폐지 복구' 영역을 가장 높게 평가하는 것으로 나타났고, 전문가 집단 중 ODA 전문가 집단은 '산림정책 및 제도 연구 역량강화' 영역의 국제경쟁력을 산림전문가 집단에 비해 높이 평가하는 특징을 보였다. 그리고 한국 산림 ODA 우선 중점분야에 대하여 일반인은 '탄소배출권 관리'와 '산림 종 다양성 보전'을 중요하게 인식하는 것으로 나타나 산림황폐지 복구 등과 같은 기존의 단위사업을 선호하는 전문가 집단과는 큰 인식차이를 보였다. 결론적으로 효과적인 산림ODA 실행을 위해서는 과거 한국의 산림복구녹화경험을 기초로 하고 국제사회에서 새롭게 요구하는 기후변화대응, 생물다양성 보존 등의 신 분야에 대처할 수 있는 산림역량강화 프로그램 개발과 함께 이해집단 간 인식차이를 완화시키기 위한 노력이 우선될 필요가 있다. 이는 향후 북한 산림 복구에도 활용될 수 있을 것이다. The purpose of this study was to draw policy implications for the development and expansion of Korea's forest ODA through investigating the perceptions of stakeholder on the fields that contributed the development of forestry in Korea and would have competitiveness in developing countries and priority fields for Korea's forest ODA. For this, the survey was conducted for 248 subjects from the general and expert stakeholder groups. Chi-square test in cross analysis, independent sample t-test, ANOVA and Duncan test were conducted to compare the difference of perceptions by group. The whole general and expert groups consider that 'forest conservation and rehabilitation' contributed to the development of Korea's forestry most and consider its global competitiveness most high. Comparing expert groups, ODA experts evaluated the competitiveness of 'capacity building for policies, institutions and research' higher than the forestry experts. For priority fields of Korea's forest ODA, general groups perceived 'management of CERs' and 'conservation of biodiversity' most important, showing the clear difference in perception compared to that of experts. In Conclusion, for the effective forest ODA of Korea, the effort to fill the gap between the general and expert groups needs to be made, as well as developing forestry capacity building programs to cope with the fields such as climate change adaptation and biodiversity conservation, which is newly required in a global society, in addition to using the past experience of forest rehabilitation in Korea. It will be useful for the rehabilitation of North Korea's forest in the future.

Protected area (PA) downsizing has been documented worldwide, but associated challenges on biodiversity and large mammal conservation in Chirisa Safari Area (CSA) are poorly understood. This study assesses the challenges associated with CSA downsizing on large mammals and biodiversity conservation. Field observations and face-to-face interviews were done with park management of CSA and SWRI from the 28th May 2021 to 10th June 2021. Analysis of station records on illegal activities, human-wildlife conflict (HWC) reports and land cover changes from 2010 to 2020 was also done. Poaching, encroachment by local people and veld fires, habitat fragmentation and HWC were sighted as major threats to large mammal biodiversity conservation in CSA. Analysed land cover and land use changes show evidence of the expansion of cultivation land and human settlements into areas that previously served as wildlife habitats. These changes have implications on large mammal and biodiversity conservation in CSA related to species migration, population decline, habitat loss and conflicts. We recommend that further research be undertaken in other areas affected by downsizing in Zimbabwe to aid knowledge in explaining its effect on large mammals and biodiversity conservation in adjacent PAs.

Trade-offs between land use intensity and avian biodiversity in the dry Chaco of Argentina: A tale of two gradients

The soil survey of Abu Dhabi Emirate was completed in two stages, the extensive (4th-order level) and intensive (2nd-order) levels of USDA-NRCS classification system. Both surveys have generated an enormous amount of primary soils data that is now available to land use planners and decision-makers in the Emirate. The soil information provides farmers, land managers, planners and the like with baseline information upon which they can base future land use and environmental management decisions and policies. As such, the information can be regarded as a great asset for future generations of the UAE. The information is stored in the Abu Dhabi Soil Information System (ADSIS) database that has been designed to provide ready online access to users. In its raw form, the majority of the soil data is only usable by specialist soil scientists and geoscientists. Land evaluation methods provide a mechanism for the soil information to be synthesised, simplified, interpreted and presented to a far wider audience. Several land evaluations were conducted on the extensive and intensive data sets generated by the soil survey of Abu Dhabi Emirate. They included assessments to identify soils suitable for the generalised land use irrigated agriculture, which was subsequently used to delineate areas for more detailed examination in the intensive survey. Assessments of other land uses including afforestation, range management, recreation, urban development, construction material and sanitary landfill were also conducted. These assessments can be used to identify the potentials and limitations of soils for the different land uses. However, a more detailed analytical and modelling approach is required to extract the full worth of the data set and solve complex management issues such as sustainable irrigation practices for intensive agricultural development in the Emirate.