Comprehensive Land Research Articles

MetroScan: A Quick Scan Appraisal Capability to Identify Value Adding Sustainable Transport Initiatives

One of the most important features of comprehensive land use and transport planning is an ability to identify candidate projects and policies that are adding value to the sustainable performance of transport networks and to the economy as a whole. Standard methods of identifying a shortlist of projects to assess are often qualitative in nature and/or influenced by prejudices of elected officials or their advisers without a systematic way of narrowing the many potential options to evaluate, in sufficient detail, a truly value-adding set. There is a case to be made for having a capability to undertake, in a timely manner, a scan of a large number of potentially worthy projects and policies that can offer forecasts of passenger and freight demand, benefit–costs ratios and economy-wide outcomes. Such a framework would then be meaningful in the sense of offering outputs that are similar to those that are the focus of assessments that are typically spread over many months, if not years, on very few projects, which may exclude those which have the greatest merit. This paper introduces MetroScan, a strategic-level transport and land use planning application system that allows for mapping of passenger and freight activity, as well as an endogenous treatment of the location of households and firms. We summarise the analytical framework of MetroScan and show its capability (including the many useful outputs) with a case study for a 25 percent reduction in public transport fares across the entire network.

Comprehensive land consolidation as a development policy for rural vitalisation: Rural In Situ Urbanisation through semi socio-economic restructuring in Huai Town

This paper reviewed the history of the coupling relationship between land consolidation and urban-rural development in China since 1949. It found that, although land consolidation projects in non-integrated urban-rural development phases improved the quality and quantity of cultivated land, it did not improve the rural decline effectively before 2013 because it focused more on land issues and did not complement and stimulate urban and rural development. Comprehensive land consolidations in China are expected to operate as both a tool and a platform for the operation of a developmental policy that aims to promote rural vitalisation through the integration of urban-rural development. The case of Huai Town was analysed using a framework of Rural In Situ Urbanisation (RISU) through a semi socio-economic restructuring. This was done to present an innovative style of RISU in which villagers live in towns and their livelihoods, living spaces, and public services are urbanised while they still retain both their rural land rights and rural household registrations, which allowed for the integration of urban and rural resources, the protection of villagers' interests, and a smooth social transition. The key factors for these comprehensive land consolidations to help combat rural decline include a bottom-up, community-supported structure; a coordinated approach incorporating livelihood transformation, population urbanisation, and land urbanisation, with livelihood transformation serving as the foundation; and the protection of villagers’ rights and interests.

Evaluating the Global State of Ecosystems and Natural Resources: Within and Beyond the SDGs

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) purport to report holistically on progress towards sustainability and do so using more than 231 discrete indicators, with a primary objective to achieve a balance between the environment, social and economic aspects of development. The research question underpinning the analyses presented in this paper is: are the indicators in the SDGs sufficient and fit for purpose to assess the trajectory of natural resources towards sustainability? We extracted the SDG indicators that monitor the state of natural resources, or alternately support policy or governance for their protection, and determined whether these are adequate to provide the essential data on natural resources to achieve the aims of the SDGs. The indicators are clustered into four natural resource categories—land, water (both marine and freshwater), air and biodiversity. Indicators for monitoring land resources show that the most comprehensive land resource indicator for degraded land is not fully implemented and that missing from land monitoring is an evaluation of vegetation health outside of forests and mountains, the condition of soils, and most importantly the overall health of terrestrial ecosystems. Indicators for monitoring water resources have substantial gaps, unable to properly monitor water quality, water stress, many aspects of marine resources and, most significantly, the health of fresh and salt water ecosystems. Indicators for monitoring of air have recently become more comprehensive, but linkage to IPCC results would benefit both programs. Monitoring of biodiversity is perhaps the greatest weakness of the SDG Agenda, having no comprehensive assessment even though narrow aspects are monitored. Again, deliberate linkages to other global biodiversity programs (e.g., CBD and the Post-2020 Biodiversity Framework, IPBES, and Living Planet) are recommended on condition that data can be defined at a country level. While the SDG list of indicators in support of natural resource is moderately comprehensive, it lacks holistic monitoring in relation to evaluation of ecosystems and biodiversity to the extent that these missing but vital measures of sustainability threaten the entire SDG Agenda. In addition, an emerging issue is that even where there are appropriate indicators, the amount of country-level data remains inadequate to fully evaluate sustainability. This signals the delicate balance between the extent and complexity of the SDG Agenda and uptake at a country level.

Modern treaty making and the limits of the law

In recent years, several Australian states have formally committed to treaty negotiations with the First Peoples whose traditional lands they claim. The emerging treaty processes in Australia build on both the comprehensive land claim agreements currently under negotiation in Canada as well as the historic treaties struck between First Peoples and colonial powers in North America and Aotearoa / New Zealand. Parties engaged in these negotiations appropriately view treaties as mechanisms through which First Peoples and non-Indigenous political communities can settle ongoing tensions surrounding political autonomy, citizenship, and pluralism. However, it is not clear whether these processes can produce such outcomes. In this article, we contend that, although fairer processes of negotiation may avoid some of the problems of historic treaties, modern treaty making in Canada, Australia, and elsewhere will fail to meet the parties’ aspirations unless greater attention is paid to building relational characteristics. We do so by outlining the promises and perils in modern treaty making with an eye toward understanding the limits of the law.

Decision support framework to rank and prioritise the potential land areas for comprehensive land consolidation

In Europe and often worldwide, national and local government authorities utilise different means to stimulate economic development and environmental protection of the land through the application of land consolidation. The direction of these efforts should take into consideration the fact that some administrative regions may have a higher potential for land consolidation than others. This is supported by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) that advises on the identification of favourable regions for implementation of pilot land consolidation projects. In many European countries, especially those receiving European Union (EU) support for implementation land consolidation projects, the scrupulous allocation of funds to the best suitable regions is very important. The research in this paper identifies a key set of criteria and offers multiple-criteria analysis-based approach to rank and prioritise administrative regions for implementation of land consolidation. This methodology is applied in the case study identifying Klaipeda district as a municipality with the highest potential for land consolidations in the Western part of Lithuania. The proposed framework will enable national and local authorities to identify and prioritise regions for land consolidation in a transparent way ensuring efficient management of resources and fair allocation of financial support.

Spatio-temporal variances and risk evaluation of land finance in China at the provincial level from 1998 to 2017

Excessive dependence on land finance (hereafter LF) in China’s urbanisation process has generated various problems and compromised the interests of future generations, hence a transformation from “land urbanisation” to “population urbanisation” is now called for. Nevertheless, before turning towards a new urbanisation strategy, the spatio-temporal variances of LF and associated risks for regional sustainability deserve further investigation. This study developed a comprehensive evaluation indicator system from administrative, economic, social and ecological perspectives, to evaluate the LF risks at provincial scale in mainland China from 1998 to 2017, applying the combined AHP-Entropy method and Multi-Criteria analysis. The results indicated that land transfer dependence remained high across all provinces over the last two decades, and the LF risk increased accordingly. In 2015, economic, social, and total risks of China as a whole all reached a “high” risk level, ecological risk was at the level of “critical”, although administrative risk kept going down and was at a “low” risk level in recent years, thanks to the persistent nation-wide effort on cracking down on corruption. Spatially, total LF risk generally presented a declining gradient from east to west. Through analysing the tentative and plausible causes to above spatio-temporal variances, five policy suggestions were put forward: (1) reforming current cadre assessment and fiscal decentralisation systems; (2) transforming the residential housing supply structure; (3) establishing a comprehensive land ecological conservation system; (4) promoting a flexible leasehold mechanism in primary land market; and (5) restructuring the industrial layout to defuse differentiated LF risks across provinces. With empirical data and comprehensive risk evaluations, this study contributed to improve our knowledge on the spatio-temporal patterns of LF and its associated risks at provincial scale, helped to inform future urbanisation policy designs and ultimately to promote regional sustainability for China and beyond.

A Pesquisa em Ciência Política e os Povos Indígenas no Canadá: uma entrevista com Christopher Alcantara

Christopher Alcantara is a professor of political science at Western University in London, Canada, and has dedicated himself to the study of indigenous peoples and Canadian indigenous politics from this disciplinary field. His book Negotiating the Deal: Comprehensive Land Claims Agreements in Canada, published by the University of Toronto Press in 2013, received several major awards and was a reference for researchers in the field. In this interview, we sought to present this important author of the field of Canadian political science to the Brazilian academic community, reviewing the main arguments of his two most recent books. Alcantara discusses the challenges of doing scientific research that is, at the same time, decolonial and emancipatory, in addition to bringing concrete benefits to the indigenous communities involved. Finally, the researcher gives advice to those who want to start their studies on this topic of research and do not know where to start. With this interview, we aim to strengthen the academic exchange of ideas and research methodologies between Brazil and Canada, instigating the interest of undergraduate and graduate students and students for issues related to the indigenous issue in both countries.

Spatiotemporal characteristics of land degradation in the Fuxian Lake Basin, China: Past and future

AbstractFuxian Lake is one of the most important freshwater supply lakes of China; however, its water quality is affected by land degradation in its basin. This study aimed to monitor and simulate the spatiotemporal characteristics of land degradation in Fuxian Lake Basin. A comprehensive land degradation index (LDI), which integrates the indices for land use/land cover (LULC), vegetation coverage (VC), water loss and soil erosion (WLSE), wind erosion (WE) and soil moisture content (SMC), was proposed to describe the spatiotemporal characteristics of land degradation in 1990–2015; a CA‐Markov model was used to simulate and forecast the land degradation in 2020 and 2025; and the mechanisms behind land degradation were analyzed. The results showed that: (a) the degree of land degradation from 1990 to 2015 generally decreased, the most severe years of land degradation were 1990, 2000, and 2005, and the total area of degraded land remained steady at around 250 km2 from 2005 to 2015; (b) the land degradation in different years was primarily moderate, with few severe or extreme degradation; (c) the simulation showed land degradation would remain relatively stable in 2020 and 2025, and the degraded area would fluctuate slightly compared with that in 2015; and (d) the land degradation in this region was driven by both human factors and natural drivers. Therefore, some land degradation control measures should be set in advance for protecting this important supply area for freshwater.

DEVELOPMENT OF A GIS-BASED LAND REGISTRY SYSTEM FOR THE GAZA STRIP

Gaza Strip suffers from a lack of advanced techniques that help and support land registration such as GIS technology. The currently-used-system for land registration in the Gaza Strip is extremely traditional and not able to meet the increasing demand. Conflicts between data on maps and on ground are frequently faced and decisions relating to these problems cannot easily be made. Such an out of date system leads to difficulties in tracking and updating land owners and identifying the actual current owners. This research aims to suggest a new automatic land registration system in the Gaza Strip. Through a multi users unified database with identified access per each user, this new system will ease land registration for both Gaza citizens as well as the Palestinian Land Authority's (PLA) employees. A user-friendly web-based GIS tool is developed to accelerate the land registration process, in addition to providing a decision support system through easily managing and interpreting attribute and spatial data in a precise logical way. The aforementioned new developed tools will create and maintain an accurate, secure and comprehensive land registration system in the Gaza Strip.

Effects of Cultivated Area on Smallholder Farm Profits and Food Security in Rural Communities of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa

As rural poverty deepens over much of Sub-Saharan Africa, smallholder transformation has become more urgent than ever before. A majority of rural people derive their livelihoods from agriculture, hence the urgent need for transforming the sector. The South African government launched a comprehensive land reform programme at the dawn of democracy in the country on the assumption that constraints on land size would be eliminated to make room for a more inclusive agricultural economy. The present study sought to assess how cultivated area affects food security and the profits of maize and cabbage farmers. The purposive sampling technique was used for the selection of study sites, from which 158 irrigators and homestead gardeners were selected. The data were then subjected to analysis by defining a maximum likelihood estimator that combines the seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) and one-way error correction model, to determine the factors influencing food security and farm profits. The model revealed diverse relationships, suggesting that location, farm type and income were important variables in explaining food security. The area under cultivation was found to influence profits for both crops. Policies in favour of technology adoption, market access and input use would greatly incentivize farmers to cultivate larger plots of land.

Critical land change information enhances the understanding of carbon balance in the United States.

Large-scale terrestrial carbon (C) estimating studies using methods such as atmospheric inversion, biogeochemical modeling, and field inventories have produced different results. The goal of this study was to integrate fine-scale processes including land use and land cover change into a large-scale ecosystem framework. We analyzed the terrestrial C budget of the conterminous United States from 1971 to 2015 at 1-km resolution using an enhanced dynamic global vegetation model and comprehensive land cover change data. Effects of atmospheric CO2 fertilization, nitrogen deposition, climate, wildland fire, harvest, and land use/land cover change (LUCC) were considered. We estimate annual C losses from cropland harvest, forest clearcut and thinning, fire, and LUCC were 436.8, 117.9, 10.5, and 10.4 TgC/year, respectively. C stored in ecosystems increased from 119,494 to 127,157 TgC between 1971 and 2015, indicating a mean annual net C sink of 170.3 TgC/year. Although ecosystem net primary production increased by approximately 12.3 TgC/year, most of it was offset by increased C loss from harvest and natural disturbance and increased ecosystem respiration related to forest aging. As a result, the strength of the overall ecosystem C sink did not increase over time. Our modeled results indicate the conterminous US C sink was about 30% smaller than previous modeling studies, but converged more closely with inventory data.

Correlation Studies between Land Cover Change and Baidu Index: A Case Study of Hubei Province

Current land cover research focuses primarily on spatial changes in land cover and the driving forces behind these changes. Among such forces is the influence of policy, which has proven difficult to measure, and no quantitative research has been conducted. On the basis of previous studies, we took Hubei Province as the research area, using remote sensing (RS) images to extract land cover change data using a single land use dynamic degree and a comprehensive land use dynamic degree to study land cover changes from 2000 to 2015. Then, after introducing the Baidu Index (BDI), we explored its relationship with land cover change and built a tool to quantitatively measure the impact of changes in land cover. The research shows that the key search terms in the BDI are ‘cultivated land occupation tax’ and ‘construction land planning permit’, which are closely related to changes in cultivated land and construction land, respectively. Cultivated land and construction land in all regions of Hubei Province are affected by policy measures with the effects of policy decreasing the greater the distance from Wuhan, while Wuhan is the least affected region.

Decoupling of Land Use Intensity and Ecological Environment in Gansu Province, China

Land is the carrier of the production and living activities of human society and the basis of survival and development of all living organisms. With the continuous development of the social economy, the unreasonable use of land is becoming more and more serious, aggravating the deterioration of the ecological environment. Most studies in this field have mainly focused on land use changes and the corresponding impacts on the ecological environment, but relatively few studies have delinked the relationship between land use intensity and the ecological environment. Based on data on these two factors for Gansu Province from 1998 to 2017, we used the Tapio decoupling model to evaluate the decoupling relationship between land use intensity and ecological environment. From 1998 to 2017, the comprehensive land use intensity in Gansu province increased by 107.77%, and the comprehensive ecological environment index increased by 63.76%. In general, the relationship between land use intensity and ecological environment experienced five states, namely weak decoupling, strong negative decoupling, strong decoupling, expansive negative decoupling, and declining decoupling. During 1999–2013 and 2013–2016, land use intensity and ecological environment had decoupled, and the main reasons were as follows: (1) The Chinese government introduced a series of farmland protection policies and measures, controlled the area of newly added construction land, and reduced urban land expansion; (2) ecological restoration projects for mountains, forests, fields, lakes, and grassland strengthened the environmental protection in Gansu Province; and (3) in the process of economic development, the increased investment of technology and capital improved the land use efficiency, finally realizing the “double growth” of land use intensity and environmental quality. Based on these results, land use intensity and environmental quality are not necessarily contradictory, and a moderate improvement of land use efficiency and environmental protection can probably result in increased land use intensity and higher environmental quality.

The Politics of Free, Prior and Informed Consent: Indigenous Rights and Resource Governance in Ecuador and Yukon, Canada

What are the institutional arrangements required to implement a genuine process of free, prior and informed consent (fpic)? This article provides a comparative perspective on the politics of consent in the context of relations between Indigenous peoples, states and extractive industries in Canada and Latin America. The case of Ecuador is presented as an emblematic example of a hybrid regime in which Indigenous communities have the right to free, prior and informed consultation, not consent, concerning planned measures affecting them, such as mineral, oil and gas exploitation. In the case of Yukon, Canada, the settlement of a comprehensive land claim with sub-surface mineral rights has provided the institutional basis for the implementation of a genuine fpic process, one that includes participatory decision-making power over natural resource development projects. The article concludes with a discussion on the necessary conditions for moving governments from a consultation to a consent regime.

The Value of Strategic Planning to Prioritize Acquisition and Management of Ecological Coordinators in an Urbanizing County – Hillsborough County (Tampa), FL

In response to sustained rapid development, which began in the 1960’s, the Florida Legislature passed the 1985 Growth Management Act. The Act required development of comprehensive land use plans for every county within the state. The comprehensive plans were required to have goals, objectives and policies aimed at, among other things, the conservation of vital natural resources. Hillsborough County’s comprehensive plan established the Significant Wildlife Habitat Program. The program is applicable to large tracts and can only protect a portion of a landowner’s upland habitat at the time of development. Those habitats that were protected have become more isolated over time and lack consistent management, reducing their ecological function. The county’s comprehensive plan also set the context for public acquisition and management of natural areas which began in 1987. The Jan K. Platt Environmental Lands Acquisition and Protection Program (ELAPP) is an outcome of Hillsborough County Comprehensive Plan. ELAPP is Florida’s largest local land preservation program and has been successful in protecting more than 63,000 acres of natural lands across all municipalities in the county. As Hillsborough County continues to urbanize, it is important to focus preservation and restoration efforts on the most valuable ecological landscape corridors critical to maintaining ecological function and biological sustainability across the system.

Analysis of Land Use Change in Jining City

Based on the LANDSAT remote sensing image data of 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015, this paper applies RS, GIS, mathematical statistics and other methods, mainly about land use transfer matrix, single land use dynamic and comprehensive land use dynamic to analyse land use change in Jining City during the period from 2000 to 2015. The results show that: (1) The transfer intensity of grass is gradually increasing. Dry land and house-site in the countryside are transferred largely into town house. The transfer between dry land and house-site in the countryside is obvious. The imported area of waters is always larger than the exported area in three periods. Retention rate of dry land has remained relatively high. In addition, the unutilized land retention rate varies greatly. (2) The single dynamic of paddy field, town house and unutilized land are large, indicating changes of these types are intensive; the lower dynamic of dry land and waters indicates the stability of these types is good. The comprehensive land use dynamics first decreased and then increased, indicating that the intensity of land use change in Jining City first decreased and then increased, and the overall land use change is large.

Dividing the Expropriated Areas Based on Multi-Factor Comprehensive Evaluation—A Case Study of Gongcheng Yao Autonomous County

In recent years, with the rapid development of urbanization in China, land acquisition work is particularly important. The division of expropriated area is the primary factor to be considered when evaluating the comprehensive land price of expropriated area. Reasonable division can help to improve the scientific and applicability of the comprehensive land price of the region. How to maximize the protection of farmers’ rights and interests by the division of land requisition is an urgent problem to be solved. Taking Gongcheng Yao Autonomous County as an example, this study adopted the multi-factor comprehensive evaluation method to evaluate the division of land requisition in this area, and carried out the corresponding spatial analysis and data processing based on GIS technology. Gongcheng Yao Autonomous County was divided into levy areas, and the Delphi method was used to screen the impact factors and determine the weight of the levy areas. Reasonable division of land requisition area can provide references for land requisition area, make it more scientific and reasonable, and protect the rights and interests of farmers.

Les apories des politiques autochtones au Canada par Thierry Rodon

Reviewed by: Les apories des politiques autochtones au Canada par Thierry Rodon Gavin Furrey Rodon, Thierry, Les apories des politiques autochtones au Canada. PU du Québec, 2019. ISBN 978-2-7605-5158-9. Pp. 298. An "aporia" reveals itself to be an appropriate descriptor of indigenous policies as the reader is introduced to the numerous contradictions insolubles that mark the relationship between Canada and the first societies existing above (and before) the 49th parallel. While the work of studying politics as issues of a settler colonial nature has always been of importance, recent blockades and protests by indigenous peoples toward Canada's resource extraction projects may spark increased interest among citizens and scholars. The first section of this text guides the reader through the evolution of the relationship between Canada and indigenous societies. Rodon describes the periods of alliances, submission, then that of a new relationship. Various approches toward a new relationship are discussed with critical attention given to the La loi sur les Indiens, recognition of ancestral rights and title, and the consequences of L'acte constitutionnel, 1982. This section also presents indigenous peoples as political actors through a discussion of the modalities and sources of power in Canada, and untangles the complex relationships between the Federal government, provincial governments, and the various governing systems of indigenous peoples. The following section focuses on territorial politics, autonomous government systems, and economic development. Canada's current Comprehensive Land Claims policy is a major topic here. Rodon does not shy away from asserting that this policy initially sought to extinguish ancestral titles of indigenous peoples in return for compensation, and maintains that there remains a tension in how these agreements are understood: an ever-evolving and forward-moving relationship with indigenous peoples or legal certainty for Canada? He highlights the difficulty of this process for indigenous peoples (in terms of time, cost, and existential weight) and the conflict of interest [End Page 248] at work with Canada being fiduciary, party, and judge in these negotiations. Rodon also clarifies various models of autonomous government based on nationhood (or ethnicity) territory, and interest groups (of pretense for urban indigenous persons far from their ancestral lands), and reminds the reader that for indigenous peoples, "on craint le caractère final de ces ententes" (185), as changes that may be necessary in the future are rendered much more difficult to realize. The importance of land and resource access for economic development is highlighted, however Rodon also underscores the diversity of positions and options in communities in regards to a viable economic future. The final section provides case studies of Quebec's relationship with indigenous peoples (of notable interest due to competing national projects within a larger federation), Inuit autonomies (of particular pertinence due to melting ice in the northern region of multiple nation-states), and the indigenous policies of the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. While it should be considered a relatively comprehensive work, one might be left with questions regarding the increasingly intercontinental and international character of indigenous resistance in the twenty-first century, as accelerating rates and increasing volume of communications, capital, and culture further complicate the aporias of indigenous politics everywhere. Gavin Furrey Université de Montréal (QC) Copyright © 2020 American Association of Teachers of French

The Influence of Comprehensive Land Consolidation on Rural Construction and Development—Taking Xingfu Village of Wenjiang District as an Example

With the development of urbanization (Zhou, 2013), the development and construction of rural areas have received more and more attention from the communist party and the people. Comprehensive land consolidation is an important strategic measure for the country to promote the construction of beautiful and harmonious villages, promote the revitalization of beautiful and harmonious villages, and realize the joint construction of a well-off society between urban and rural areas. This article takes the comprehensive land consolidation of Xingfu Village, Wenjiang District, Chengdu, Sichuan Province as an example, explains the importance and connotation of comprehensive land consolidation in the process of building a beautiful and harmonious village, and discusses the impact of comprehensive land consolidation on rural development and management.

Dispute Resolution in Modern Treaties: Evolutions, Observations and Next Steps

In Canada, comprehensive land claims agreements – often called modern treaties – between the government and Indigenous nations include provisions prescribing how disputes between treaty parties are to be resolved. Experiences with these dispute resolution mechanisms vary across treaty contexts and there is substantial variance in the terms of these treaties. To date, this dimension of modern treaty implementation has received minimal scholarly attention, despite calls for such research. Drawing on specific examples, this article sets a foundation for further research by examining the significant variation across different treaties’ dispute resolution mechanisms and commenting on key differences, similarities and other notable features. A key focus of the analysis is on the observable evolution of these mechanisms from a relatively narrow arbitration board model to a more flexible “staged approach”. The analysis suggests that the latter may provide a stronger basis for joint problem-solving and integrative bargaining, notwithstanding open questions about the extent to which such approaches are warranted in fraught Crown-Indigenous relationships in Canada. The article also discusses the conspicuous absence of dispute resolution mechanisms that accommodate, let alone require, approaches rooted in the traditional or cultural practices of Indigenous treaty parties. Observations throughout are contextualized in relation to a growing body of jurisprudence and a broader context of fast-changing federal law and policy in Canada, which may set the stage for amendments to the dispute resolution provisions of modern treaties.