Drivers Of Land Use Change Research Articles

Human ecology of forest in an extraction-shaped landscape: Economic and demographic drivers of land use change in the Ohio Valley over 220 years

Human ecology of forest in an extraction-shaped landscape: Economic and demographic drivers of land use change in the Ohio Valley over 220 years

Incorporating cropping systems with eco-friendly strategies and solutions to mitigate the effects of climate change on crop production

Agricultural practices account for approximately 13.5% of all human greenhouse gas emissions and are a significant driver of land-use change. As a result, natural soil fertility has been dramatically reduced, impacting agricultural productivity, the environment, and human health. New technologies, such as green technologies, can address these challenges by adjusting agricultural practices. This paper reviews recent research on climate-mitigating agricultural practices in agronomic cropping systems, and to show how they affect crops, pests, and beneficial arthropods. An optimal amount of synthetic fertilizers and agrochemicals are necessary to maintain production costs, while maximizing outputs. There is a need to develop intelligent, responsive, biodegradable, and biocompatible materials to manufacture green, safe, and efficient fertilizers and pesticides. Site-specific nutrient management (SSNM), is an efficient strategy for managing nutrient efficiency. This system employs inorganic and organic supplies, geographical and temporal soil heterogeneity, crop demands of nutrients, and cropping techniques. A practical strategy to exploit the response of plants to abiotic factors, including the duration, extent, and incidence of specific tolerance mechanisms, is to deploy plant-based products (PBPs). Using microbials (MPBs) is a sustainable strategy to promote plant growth and productivity, even under abiotic situations. Further, nanoparticles, such as iron, silicon, silver, and titanium, can boost plant growth and physiological activity in wheat, maize, soybeans, and spinach are excellent alternatives to artificial chemical pesticides, as they are biodegradable and only affect the target species.Pest and predator responses to agricultural techniques require immediate intervention to mitigate against climate change and ensure food security.

Drivers of land use changes and impacts on human-hippos (Hippopotamus amphibius) interactions in villages adjacent to Lake Babati, Tanzania

Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) are victims of land use changes (LUC) due to their semi-aquatic nature. Although human–hippopotamus interactions (HHI) are known to exist in the area surrounding Lake Babati, nothing is known about the LUC in relation to the interactions. The study aimed at assessing the trend of LUC in the last 20 years in relation to time of establishing new settlement and farming seasons in relation to HHI, respondents’ perceptions of HHI, and mitigation measures used by local people against Hippos adjacent Lake Babati. Remote sensing and GIS techniques, questionnaires and focused group discussions were used to assess human perceptions regarding trends of the LUC in the study area. LUC was monitored by using landsat images from the years 1999 and 2019. The findings indicate an increase in settlement while water, agroforestry, and seasonal agricultural lands were decreasing. The time respondents stayed in the village, farm size, and respondents’ perception of HHI trends were observed to vary with the distance from the lake. The presence of LUC on adjacent Lake Babati jeopardized the ecological integrity of Hippos’ habitat and increased tension and overlap between hippos’ and human needs. The findings provide a baseline for managing HHI and recommend proper land use planning that prioritizes the use of alternative crops like fruit trees especially within 3 km from the lake. Human population and settlement expansion patterns should also be monitored in areas closer to the lake for sustaining wildlife conservation and livelihood development in Lake Babati and surrounding areas.

Socioeconomic Development of the Local Community and Causes of Land Use Change in Belaga, Sarawak, Malaysia

The state of Sarawak in Malaysia has witnessed a surge in demand for its valuable land resources, primarily driven by major commodity investors establishing plantations. These land concessions have further exacerbated land scarcity and the depletion of crucial forest areas, which are essential for the livelihoods of indigenous communities. The indigenous community in Sarawak, heavily dependent on forests, faces significant challenges due to land use changes. This study aims to identify the drivers of land use change and assess the socioeconomic impact on the local community in Murum, Belaga, Sarawak. The research was conducted in December 2020, utilizing a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches. Questionnaires, in-depth interviews, and site observations were employed to collect data, involving 511 household heads and ten key informants. Statistical analysis using SPSS software was performed on the collected data. The findings highlight that the primary cause of land use change in the study area was the hydroelectric dam project, followed by the establishment of oil palm plantations, logging activities, forest plantation development, government policies, and agricultural activities. Regarding infrastructure satisfaction levels, respondents ranked sport/recreational facilities as the most important, followed by electricity supply, house/accommodation facilities, education facilities, clean water sources, communication accessibility, health facilities, and road accessibility. Overall, the data indicates an improvement in the economic and social conditions of families due to land use changes in the area. However, the study concludes that there is still a need for further improvements in essential services, including providing multiple clean water sources to each household, enhancing access to healthcare services, and improving road conditions. Improved road access will foster increased business and social activity, facilitating job opportunities and contributing to poverty alleviation within the local community.

Past and future land-use/land-cover change trends and its potential drivers in Koore’s agricultural landscape, Southern Ethiopia

Wise-use of land resources determines sustainability of environment and human welfare. But, the ongoing land-use change constrains environmental sustainability. Thus, this study aims to quantify past and future land-use change trend with its associated drivers in Koore’s agricultural landscape of Southern Ethiopia. To quantify the change trends, geospatial tools were applied. A CA–Markov model was used to predict land-use changes. Relative Importance Index was used to identify major drivers of the change. The result of the study showed agroforestry, built-up and cultivation rise by 192%, 152% and 18% at the expense of natural environment. Population growth and agricultural expansion are among the leading land-use change drivers. CA–Markov model revealed a continued increment of anthropogenically modified land-use classes which adversely affect the sustainability of the landscape. Information on spatiotemporal dynamics has been confirmed as effectual measure for nature conservation, agriculture, urban planners, and policymakers to plan sustainable development actions.

Multi-Scale Drivers of Land-Use Changes at Farm Level I: Conceptual Framework and Application in the Highly Flooded Zone of the Vietnamese Mekong Delta

There is an implementation gap between government plans and land-use changes at the local level in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta. This stands in the way of the sustainable development of the delta, especially in the face of environmental degradation, climate change, and water-use conflicts. To narrow the gap between plans and practice, the government needs a better understanding of what drives land-use decisions at the farm level. Our research developed and applied a multi-scale framework to identify the principal drivers of land-use changes at the farm level in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta over the past 40 years. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 31 farmers in the highly flooded zone, then used transcript analysis to quantify the influence of the drivers mentioned by farmers. We found drastic shifts in land uses, predominantly towards rice intensification. Among the 43 change drivers the farmers mentioned, those operating at the regional scale were particularly influential, including the activities of local authorities, neighborhood effects, and the development of water management infrastructure. Market factors have become more prominent in the last two decades, motivating farmers to shift from double to triple rice or to gradually diversify into vegetables. However, agricultural diversification remains limited by the agro-hydrological context, which favors triple rice cropping, as well as household scale factors such as natural and physical assets of the farm, household capital, and labor capacity. The local community also played a key role in land-use change, though with a double-edged effect, both delaying implementation of central government policy and forcing farmers to follow the majority’s decision.

Drivers of Land-Use Change in Agroforestry Landscapes of Southern Mexico

Drivers of Land-Use Change in Agroforestry Landscapes of Southern Mexico

CO2 fertilization effect may balance climate change impacts on oil palm cultivation

Oil palm cultivation has become one of the world’s most important drivers of land use change in the tropics causing biodiversity loss and greenhouse gas emissions. The impact of climate change and rising carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations in the atmosphere on oil palm productivity is not well understood. If environmental change leads to declining palm oil yields in existing cultivation areas, cultivation areas may expand or shift to other regions. Here we assess climate change impacts on palm oil production using an extended version of the dynamic global vegetation model with managed land, LPJmL4, and a range of climate scenarios from the inter-sectoral impact model intercomparison project. We find increasing average yields under all future climate scenarios. This contradicts earlier studies, which did not consider the potential positive effect of CO2 fertilization. If we do not account for CO2 fertilization, future yields also decrease in our simulations. Our results indicate the potentially large role of rising CO2 levels on oil palm cultivation. This highlights the importance of further applied plant science to better understand the impact of climate change and elevated CO2 levels on oil palm growth and productivity.

Two Decades of Land-Use Dynamics in an Urbanizing Tropical Watershed: Understanding the Patterns and Drivers

Java’s Brantas River Basin (BRB) is an increasingly urbanized tropical watershed with significant economic and ecological importance; yet knowledge of its land-use changes dynamics and drivers as well as their importance have barely been explored. This is the case for many other tropical watersheds in Java, Indonesia and beyond. This study of the BRB (1) quantifies the land-use changes in the period 1995–2015, (2) determines the patterns of land-use changes during 1995–2015, and (3) identifies the potential drivers of land-use changes during 1995–2015. Findings show that from 1995 to 2015, major transitions from forest to shrubs (218 km2), forest to dryland agriculture (512 km2), and from agriculture to urban areas (1484 km2) were observed in the BRB. Responses from land-user questionnaires suggest that drivers include a wide range of economic, social, technological, and biophysical attributes. An agreement matrix provided insight about consistency and inconsistency in the drivers inferred from the Land Change Modeler and those inferred from questionnaires. Factors that contributed to inconsistencies include the limited representation of local land-use features in the spatial data sets and comprehensiveness of land-user questionnaires. Together the two approaches signify the heterogeneity and scale-dependence of the land-use change process.

The Spatio-Temporal Patterns and Driving Forces of Land Use in the Context of Urbanization in China: Evidence from Nanchang City.

Land use change has been one of the common problems in the context of urbanization in China. Social economy and land use interact with each other, and it is especially important for human society to adhere to sustainable development, and to deal with the contradictory relationship between the social-economic needs and land use change. The objectives of this study are: (1) Obtain time-series land-use classification data and its spatial distribution in Nanchang City; (2) Identify the characteristics and driving force of spatial-temporal land use changes in Nanchang City from 2000 to 2020; (3) Discuss the relationship between the urban expansion and social economy in Nanchang City. The results show that the spatial distribution of land use in Nanchang City has changed significantly from 2000 to 2020, and the largest area of land-use type in Nanchang City has been cropland. The cropland has continuously declined, and the urban area has increased significantly. A lot of cropland has been transformed into urban areas, and land use degree in Nanchang City has significantly increased. The spatial pattern of land use has greatly changed, and the city spatial pattern has become more aggregated, while the spatial distribution of cropland, forest and grassland has become more fragmented. Moreover, there has been an obvious correlation between social-economic development and the level of land use, and GDP has been the main driver of land use change. The central urban area of Nanchang city has been the main hotspot of land use change.

Multi-cropping: A land-use pattern that supports livelihood activities and prevents land degradation in Sierra Leone

Land is a precious resource that requires adequate management attention to harness its potential of sustaining life and enhancing livelihood for all. The emergence of multi-cropping practices in Sierra Leone has negative and positive outcomes regarding environ-mental degradation. This article tries to synthesize multi-cropping land use challenges, benefits and role in tackling land degradation. The study was conducted in Mile 91 surrounding communities, Yoni Chiefdom, Tonkolili District, Northern provinces, Sierra Leone. A total of 100 respondents were randomly selected and interviewed. Additional data was collected through observation, group discussions and desktop review. The study reveals that multi-cropping practices, farming and deforestation were the main drivers of land-use change in the study. The key challenges facing the sustainable management of lands in Sierra Leone are obsolete land policies, complex land tenure system and conventional shifting cultivation practices. The land ownership system is strictly communal, with only a few families owning family bushes. The influx of recruited workers from overseas and other parts of Sierra Leone has positive and negative denotation. The study found that social problems like land confrontations, increase in food prices, school dropout rate, and dilution of traditional beliefs and norms are common in the study area. It is concluded that land-use change by multi-cropping is affecting the sustainable land management plan across the country. It is recommended that the government review past land policies and land tenure systems to tackle land confrontations soon.

Slow development of woodland vegetation and bird communities during 33 years of passive rewilding in open farmland.

Passive rewilding is a potential tool for expanding woodland cover and restoring biodiversity by abandoning land management and allowing natural vegetation succession to occur. Land can be abandoned to passive rewilding deliberately or due to socio-economic change. Despite abandonment being a major driver of land use change, few have studied the long-term outcomes for vegetation and biodiversity in Western Europe. Studies are also biased towards sites that are close to seed sources and favourable to woodland colonisation. In this case-study, we reconstruct a time series of passive rewilding over 33 years on 25 ha of former farmland that had been subject to soil tipping, far from woodland seed sources. Natural colonisation by shrubs and trees was surveyed at three points during the time series, using field mapping and lidar. Breeding birds were surveyed at three time points, and compared with surveys from nearby farmland. Results showed that natural colonisation of woody vegetation was slow, with open grassland dominating the old fields for two decades, and small wetlands developing spontaneously. After 33 years, thorny shrub thickets covered 53% of the site and former hedgerows became subsumed or degraded, but trees remained scarce. However, the resulting habitat mosaic of shrubland, grassland and wetland supported a locally distinctive bird community. Farmland bird species declined as passive rewilding progressed, but this was countered by relatively more wetland birds and an increase in woodland birds, particularly songbirds, compared to nearby farmland. Alongside biodiversity benefits, shrubland establishment by passive rewilding could potentially provide ecosystem services via abundant blossom resources for pollinators, and recreation and berry-gathering opportunities for people. Although closed-canopy woodland remained a distant prospect even after 33 years, the habitat mosaic arising from passive rewilding could be considered a valuable outcome, which could contribute to nature recovery and provision of ecosystem services.

Light Rail and Land Use Change: Rail Transit’s Role in Reshaping and Revitalizing Cities

Planners and policymakers often cite the tangible objective of land use change as a primary motivation and justification for an investment in light rail transit (LRT). But how has light rail performed with respect to achieving this goal? This paper reviews and synthesizes the previous literature on LRT and other rail rapid transit systems in North America, demonstrating that rail transit alone is not a primary driver of land use change and that six beneficial factors affect the ability of these systems to have a measurable impact on reshaping and revitalizing cities.

Impact of Spatiotemporal Land Use Land Cover Change on Land under Maize Production in Likuyani Sub-County, Kakamega County, Kenya

Due to its large-scale production of maize seeds, Likuyani Sub-County is regularly known as Kenya's bread basket. The favorable soil and weather conditions are good for agricultural production and, more explicitly, maize, which is Kenya's staple food. Therefore, this study sought to understand the impact of land use land cover changes on land under maize production in Likuyani Sub-County, Kenya, between 1997 and 2017. Landsat 7 ETM+, Landsat 8 OLI/ TIRS, and Sentinel 2A satellite images for the years 1997, 2002, 2007, 2012, and 2017 were analyzed using pixel-oriented supervised image classification technique to produce LULC maps and detect the associated changes. Analysis of remote sensing data on the six categories revealed that land under maize cultivation was reduced by 8.92%, which translated to an annual reduction rate of 0.45%, while land under buildings increased by 10.87%, an annual rate of 0.54% between 1997 and 2017. Grass/Shrub category cover had an annual decrease rate of 0.31%. Forest and swamps were the least affected during the study period. Through the use of statistical package for social science (SPSS version 25) software, data were analyzed using descriptive statistics like percentages, frequencies, and means. Quantitative data were summarized to determine the strength of the connection between the variables; the researcher conducted a regression analysis to establish the relationship between independent and dependent variables. The results were presented in tables, graphs, and pie charts. It was established that land change influenced maize production negatively. Fluctuating market prices (2%), population increase (30%), land subdivision (52%), and introduction of sugarcane farming were the main drivers of land use change. The findings from the research suggest that spatiotemporal land use land cover change had reduced the area of land under maize cultivation, thus negatively impacting the production of maize. The study recommends that there is a need to identify and implement best management practices to sustainably manage land in Likuyani Sub-County. This ought to include all key partners remembering nearby networks for recognizing, planning, and executing supportable methodologies for landing the executives.

Land use change and climate dynamics in the Rift Valley Lake Basin, Ethiopia

Land use and climate dynamics have a pronounced impact on water resources, biodiversity, land degradation, and productivity at all scales. Thus, in this study, we present the spatio-temporal dynamics of land use change and climate aiming to provide a scientific evidence about gains and losses in major land use categories and associated drivers and significancy and homogeneity of climate change. To this end, Landsat images and historical climate data have been used to determine the dynamics. In addition, population census data and land use policy have been considered to assess the potential drivers of land use change. The spatio-temporal land use dynamics have been evaluated using transition matrix and dynamics index. Likewise, shifts in the climate data were analyzed using change point analysis and three homogenous climate zones have been identified using principal component analysis. The results show that, from 1989 to 2019, the areal percentage of agricultural land increased by 27.5%, settlement by 0.8%, and barren land 0.4% while the natural vegetation, wetland, water body, and grass land decreased by 24.5%, 1.6%, 0.5%, and 2.1%, respectively. The land use dynamics have been stronger in the first decade of the study period. An abrupt shift of climate has occurred in the 1980s. In the last four decades, rainfall shows a not significant decreasing trend. However, a significant increasing trend has been observed for temperature. Rapid population growth, agricultural expansion policy, and climate variability have been identified as the underlying drivers of land use dynamics.

Climate change and its impact on rice acreage in high-latitude regions of China: an estimation by machine learning

PurposeFewer researchers have investigated the climatic and economic drivers of land-use change simultaneously and the interplay between drivers. This paper aims to investigate the nonlinear and interaction effects of price and climate variables on the rice acreage in high-latitude regions of China.Design/methodology/approachThis study applies a multivariate adaptive regression spline to characterize the effects of price and climate expectations on rice acreage in high-latitude regions of China from 1992 to 2017. Then, yield expectation is added into the model to investigate the mechanism of climate effects on rice area allocation.FindingsThe results of importance assessment suggest that rice price, climate and total agricultural area play an important role in rice area allocation, and the importance of temperature is always higher than that of precipitation, especially for minimum temperature. Based on the estimated hinge functions and coefficients, it is found that total agricultural area has strong nonlinear and interaction effects with climate and price as forms of third-order interaction. However, the order of interaction terms reduces to second order after absorbing the expected yield. Additionally, the marginal effects of driven factors are calculated at different quantiles. The total area shows a positive and increasing marginal effect with the increase of total area. But the positive impact of price on the rice area can only be observed when price reached 50% or higher quantiles. Climate variables also show strong nonlinear marginal effects, and most climatic effects would disappear or be weakened once absorbing the expected rice yield. Expected yield is an efficient mechanism to explain the correlation between crop area and climate variables, but the impact of minimum temperature cannot be completely modeled by the yield expectation.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to examine the nonlinear response of land-use change to climate and economic in high-latitude regions of China using the machine learning method.

The Development of the Slovak Agricultural Landscape in a Changing World

The agricultural landscape, which serves as a space for food production and a habitat for all kinds of living organisms, is under constant pressure to use the land in various different ways, causing constant changes in the environment. Various socio-economic, technical or political drivers have caused land use changes, which are linked to a number of socio-economic and environmental problems, e.g., different possible land uses competing with each other, changes of landscape character, increasing anthropisation of the territory and disruption of spatial ecological stability, threatening the environmental quality and causing overexploitation of natural resources. The aim of this paper is to evaluate land use changes in Slovakia since the 18th century, to identify key periods of land-management practices and prevailing drivers, and to specify the socio-economic and environmental impacts of land-use change. We organized a workshop with guided brainstorming to identify individual eras of agricultural development and their impacts. In total, we identified five main periods of agricultural landscape development and specified the characteristic landscape structure. Knowledge of the basic drivers of land use change as well as of its effects on the land is important for development of effective policies and for ensuring effective protection of the values of traditional agricultural landscape.

Rapid Land-Cover and Land-Use Change in the Indo-Malaysian Region over the Last Thirty-Four Years Based on AVHRR NDVI Data

The Indo-Malaysian region is a hot spot of rapid land-cover and land-use change (LCLUC) with little consensus about the rates and magnitudes of such change. Here we use temporal convolutional neural networks (TempCNNs) to generate a spatiotemporally consistent LCLUC data set for nearly thirty-five years (1982–2015), validated against two reference data sets with over 80 percent accuracy, better than other LCLUC products for the region. Our results both confirm and complicate estimates from earlier work that relied on decadal, rather than interannual, changes in regional land cover. We find forests decrease in mainland and maritime Southeast Asia and increase in South China and South Asia. Consistent with geographic theory about the drivers of land-use change, we find cropland expansion is a driving force for deforestation in mainland Southeast Asia with savannas playing a superior role, suggesting widespread forest degradation in this region. In contrast to earlier work and theory, we find that South China’s increasing forest cover comes principally from savanna (rather than cropland) conversion. The explicit interannual LCLUC patterns, rates, and transitions identified in this study provide a valuable data source for studies of land-use theory, environmental and climate changes, and regional land-use policy evaluations.

Overwintering in a megacity: Urban green areas and migratory birds in Mexico City

Nearctic-Neotropical migratory birds are threatened by land-use change throughout their complex annual cycles. While urbanization is an essential driver of land-use change, it is unclear how it affects migrant birds. Although migratory birds are more diverse in non-urban patches of native vegetation than in urban areas, neotropical cities can host diverse assemblages of overwintering migrant birds. Migratory birds in neotropical cities tend to be closely associated with urban green areas (UGAs). However, how their presence and abundance are affected by the habitat elements of UGAs and the urban matrix of neotropical cities is poorly understood. In this study, we compared the migratory bird species richness and abundances among UGAs and the urban matrix of the southern section of the megacity of Mexico City and native vegetation sites outside the city. Our results show that UGAs in neotropical cities provide habitats capable of maintaining complex overwintering migratory bird assemblages with local trees as critical features. We also assess the role that UGAs' characteristics play in determining migrant bird assemblages. We conducted bird censuses and measured habitat traits to determine how migrant bird assemblages are related to the habitat features of our study sites. We measured local, buffer, and spatial habitat features of each UGA. We found 23 overwintering migrant species in the three habitats, with 22 present within UGAs. Both UGAs and urban matrix sites had higher estimated species richness of migrant birds than non-urban native vegetation sites located outside the city. Only local features of UGAs affected migrant birds. While tree abundance in UGAs was positively associated with migratory bird species richness, the proportion of tree coverage was positively related to bird abundance. Our results show that UGAs in neotropical cities can maintain complex overwintering migratory bird assemblages, with trees being the most critical habitat feature. As a result, UGA management focused on maintaining trees and increasing their numbers can improve habitat conditions for migratory birds overwintering in neotropical cities.

Phylogenetic, functional and taxonomic responses of wild bee communities along urbanisation gradients

Increasing urbanisation is one of the primary drivers of land-use change that threaten biodiversity. Wild bee communities have been reported with contrasting responses to urbanisation, with varying effects on abundance and taxonomical diversity. The suite of functional traits exhibited by wild bee species might determine their persistence in urban areas. Urbanisation thus can impose an environmental filter with potential consequences on the functional and phylogenetical diversity of wild bee communities.Here, we sampled 2944 wild bee specimens from 156 species in 29 sites located along an urbanisation gradient using a replicated design in three mid-sized cities in the Loire valley (France). We show that urban landscape cover has a negative effect on overall species richness and taxonomical diversity indices, while total abundance remains constant. Species loss was taxon dependent, mainly driven by Andrenidae and Halictidae. Only a few species, especially of the genus Lasioglossum, were positively affected by the urban landscape cover.Urban and peri-urban areas differed in their composition of bee assemblages. Species turnover was the main component of beta diversity, driving community dissimilarities through the urban gradient. Urbanisation favours bees with small body sizes, social structure and extended flight periods but did not affect the phylogenetic or the functional diversity of communities.Our findings have implications for understanding the factors involved in the environmental filter exerted through the urban gradient on bee communities helping to implement conservation measures and managing urban spaces for bees.