Forestry Land Use Research Articles

ЛІСОВА СЕРТИФІКАЦІЯ ЯК ІНСТРУМЕНТ ЗАБЕЗПЕЧЕННЯ ЗБАЛАНСОВАНОСТІ ЛІСОГОСПОДАРСЬКОГО ЗЕМЛЕКОРИСТУВАННЯ

The problem of ensuring the balanced use of forest lands determines the search for new economic and environmental tools that can influence this process. The need to improve the certification tool as part of the financial and economic mechanism for ensuring balanced forestry land use corresponds to the directions of state policy and European integration intentions of Ukraine, modern requirements of the ecological aspect of forestry land use. The work examines the practice in the field of forest certification in Ukraine from the point of view of balanced land use. Spatial-temporal analysis and assessment of the scale and dynamics of the spread of forest FSC certification in Ukraine has been carried out. The study was formed in three stages: (I) study of changes over time in the volume of forest certification on a national scale, (II) assessment of trends over time for indicators on a regional scale, (III) study of the relationship between individual indicators. The analysis of the impact of FSC-certification of forest management in Ukraine on the environmental indicators of forestry land use based on the results of the correlation between the statistical characteristics of certain economic and environmental indicators, such as the area of certified forests, capital investments, reforestation. Analysis of statistical data showed the relationship between environmental and economic performance over time and changes in specific characteristics on a regional scale. The study makes it possible, on the basis of an objectively existing causal relationship between phenomena and indicators, to identify the course of certain positive or negative processes in forestry land use. Forest certification can play a role in maintaining a balanced use of forest lands, preventing illegal logging, forest degradation and contributing to reforestation and capital investments. The study helps to identify certain key variables that limit the ability of forestry operators to ensure balanced use of forest lands and how forest certification can affect this. Foreign experience in stimulating forest certification has been investigated for the possibility of borrowing the experience of using management tools in order to motivate forest certification in Ukraine. It has been proven that certification is a significant environmental tool for ensuring a balanced level of land use and has the potential for further development.

На шляху до збалансованості лісогосподарського землекористування: економіка держлісгоспів Малого Полісся України в умовах пандемії COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic, creating massive social and economic challenges, has started additional risks in ensuring balanced forest land use at the national, regional, and global levels. In this regard, the issues of preserving ecosystems and improving the well-being of citizens, avoiding the risk of deforestation and degradation of forests due to the negative impact of the pandemic on the economy of the forestry sector have become relevant. The article's purpose is a theoretical and methodological substantiation of ensuring a balanced use of forestry lands in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is associated with economic regulation, investments, and the level of financial support. The object of this study is five state forestry enterprises of the Small Polissia region of Ukraine, referred to the jurisdiction of the State Forestry Agency. The main economic problems and financial needs of the studied state forestry enterprises were identified by analyzing the dynamics of their income, the level of depreciation of fixed assets, the volume of capital investments, labor productivity, and workers' wages. Based on the analysis of reporting indicators of state forestry enterprises in the Small Polissia region of Ukraine, conceptual frameworks for coordinating efforts to ensure the balanced use of forestry lands in Ukraine have been prepared. Measures were proposed to help mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the social and economic dimensions of forestry land use. Recommendations for financing forestry activities, accelerating transformational changes in investment support of the forestry industry, revising the tax burden on state forestry enterprises have been substantiated. Balanced forest land use can reduce the risk of future pandemics. Therefore, its financing and incentives based on economic preferences should be a public policy priority on sustainable development.

The Paris Agreement and “Climate neutrality”: the role for “Agriculture, forestry and other land use” sector

The Paris Agreement and “Climate neutrality”: the role for “Agriculture, forestry and other land use” sector

Aboveground Biomass Changes in Tropical Montane Forest of Northern Borneo Estimated Using Spaceborne and Airborne Digital Elevation Data

Monitoring anthropogenic disturbances on aboveground biomass (AGB) of tropical montane forests is crucial, but challenging, due to a lack of historical AGB information. We examined the use of spaceborne (Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission Digital Elevation Model (SRTM) digital surface model (DSM)) and airborne (Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR)) digital elevation data to estimate tropical montane forest AGB changes in northern Borneo between 2000 and 2012. LiDAR canopy height model (CHM) mean values were used to calibrate SRTM CHM in different pixel resolutions (1, 5, 10, and 30 m). Regression analyses between field AGB of 2012 and LiDAR CHM means at different resolutions identified the LiDAR CHM mean at 1 m resolution as the best model (modeling efficiency = 0.798; relative root mean square error = 25.81%). Using the multitemporal AGB maps, the overall mean AGB decrease was estimated at 390.50 Mg/ha, but AGB removal up to 673.30 Mg/ha was estimated in the managed forests due to timber extraction. Over the 12 years, the AGB accumulated at a rate of 10.44 Mg/ha/yr, which was attributed to natural regeneration. The annual rate in the village area was 8.31 Mg/ha/yr, which was almost 20% lower than in the managed forests (10.21 Mg/ha/yr). This study identified forestry land use, especially commercial logging, as the main driver for the AGB changes in the montane forest. As SRTM DSM data are freely available, this approach can be used to estimate baseline historical AGB information for monitoring forest AGB changes in other tropical regions.

Integrating regionalized Brazilian land use change datasets into the ecoinvent database: new data, premises and uncertainties have large effects in the results

Land use change (LUC) is a critical process in the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of agricultural products and Brazil is a major exporter of these. This work had the objective of integrating refined and regionalized datasets of LUC in Brazil into the ecoinvent database, to better represent its dynamics and heterogeneity. We present the adaptations needs for having it suitable for crops, pasture and forestry in state-level and impacts of modelling assumptions and uncertainties. Adaptation and integration were based in ecoinvent version 3 guidelines and the database requirements to LUC modelling. BRLUC, a method for Brazilian LUC accounting, was the main data source. The workflow for the integration process consisted in identifying necessary adaptations in both sources to allow a better representation of Brazilian LUC. Four new reference products and 27 geographies were added in the database. A total of 566 new datasets were integrated into ecoinvent version 3.6, allowing the incorporation of LUC in Brazilian products in state, regional and national level. GHG emissions reduced, being 42.2% and 99.9% lower to soybean and sugarcane than in ecoinvent v3.5. Four improvements were the main causes: (i) state-level LUC modelling with national official data; (ii) regionalizing carbon stocks; (iii) including pasture and forestry land use categories; (iv) and considering sugarcane as a perennial crop. The way to calculate national-level results based on subnational data was an important source of difference in emissions too. Uncertainties specifically associated with land use substitution patterns were not incorporated, and they can potentially have impacts as large as the uncertainties of all the remaining processes combined. Results showed that small changes in data sources and premises have large impacts on emissions associated with LUC in agricultural products. It also showed the large impacts of uncertainties of LUC patterns. Improving current models in better representing regional LUC patterns, regional carbon stocks and uncertainty accounting could reduce these impacts. Nonetheless, efforts in reducing the complexity of LUC accounting methods could enhance transparency and effectiveness.

A Study on the Participatory Forestry Land Use and Farming Practices in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Bangladesh

The study explored the genesis and current status and forms of land use and farming practices in Chittagong hill tracts region of Bangladesh. Some major observations include the following: (i) Lands allotted for horticulture and agriculture were converted to forestry, agro-forestry and agriculture by the participants of the government and NGO projects. Livestock rearing was found as a common practice, (ii) Forestry was preferred topographically as a suitable land use in the region. Both the government and NGO participants were found to be practicing some form of pure forestry, particularly in the comparatively steep slopes. (Hi) Agroforestry, by combining long gestation forestry with short-term horticultural and agricultural species, was found to be the dominant land use practice in CHT. (iv) Agriculture was found as a general land use practice in CHT, mainly following the traditional system (v) Inter-sectoral coordination among the PF agencies and necessary service provision by GO and NGO agencies were almost absent. Strong linkages through inter-sectoral coordination for both GO and NGO agencies must be undertaken in order to involve related agencies in land-based development interventions.

Integrated assessment, valuation and mapping of ecosystem services and dis-services from upland land use in Wales

Upland land use in Wales has high potential value in relation to the delivery of ecosystem services which is currently uncaptured. In this study we assessed the ecosystem services and dis-services generated by the two dominant land uses (forestry and agricultural) in the uplands of Wales in qualitative and monetary units. We also mapped the distribution of ecosystem services and dis-services across the two dominant land uses. Our results provide an initial baseline estimate of the supply and economic value of ecosystem services and dis-services from upland forestry and agricultural land use in Wales. The qualitative assessment showed the highest levels of ecosystem service supply were derived from forestry land use and the highest levels of ecosystem dis-services were derived from agricultural land use. The economic value of ecosystem service benefits from upland land use in Wales is £1,472.25 million year−1 and the total costs of ecosystem dis-services are £101.54 million year−1 using 2018 values. When an economic weighting is applied the per hectare economic value of ecosystem service benefits from agriculture at £1,434.02 ha−1 year−1 is higher than that of forestry at £1,261.09 ha−1 year−1 and the per hectare costs of ecosystem dis-services from agriculture at £96.10 ha−1 year−1 was marginally lower than that of forestry at £98.58 ha−1 year−1. Overall our results highlight an imbalance in the current delivery of ecosystem services from upland land use in Wales with the majority of benefits coming in the form of private benefits through provisioning services. By using systematic qualitative and economic assessment tools this study has highlighted critical data gaps and provides a basis for rebalancing ecosystem service delivery and increasing levels of public benefits through expansion of tree cover within the Welsh uplands. Our mapping highlights where land use adaption and transformation may be approached to address the imbalance in ecosystem service supply.

Modelling Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU) in response to climate change scenarios for the SAARC nations

Agriculture and forestry are the two major land use classes providing sustenance to the human population. With the pace of development, these two land use classes continue to change over time. Land use change is a dynamic process under the influence of multiple drivers including climate change. Therefore, tracing the trajectory of the changes is challenging. The artificial neural network (ANN) has successfully been applied for tracing such a dynamic process to capture nonlinear responses. We test the application of the multilayer perceptron neural network (MLP-NN) to project the future Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU) for the year 2050 for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) nations which is a geopolitical union of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) use much frequently the term 'AFOLU' in their policy documents. Hence, we restricted our land use classification scheme as AFOLU for assessing the influence of climate change scenarios of the IPCC fifth assessment report (RCP 2.6, RCP 4.5, RCP 6.0 and RCP 8.5). Agricultural land would increase in all the SAARC nations, with the highest increase in Pakistan and Maldives; moderate increase in Afghanistan, India and Nepal; and the least increase in Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. The forestry land use will witness a decreasing trend under all scenarios in all of the SAARC nations with varying levels of changes. The study is expected to assist planners and policymakers to develop nations' specific strategy to proportionate land use classes to meet various needs on a sustainable basis.

Diversity of Traditional Medicinal Plants in Agro Forestry Landuse in Govind Pashuvihar Wildlife Sanctuary Uttarakhand India

The present investigation was carried out to document ethano-medicinal plant diversity in agroforestry land-use in Govind pashuvihar wildlife sanctuary Uttarakhand. For the present study 10 sample plots of 1 hectare each were randomly placed in 5 selected villages across the wildlife sanctuary. A total of 29 plant species including 22 herbs, 5 shrubs and 2 tree species were recorded to have medicinal importance in the local recipe. Asteraceae (4), Rosaceae (4) and Polygonaceae (4) form the dominant families of medicinal importance. These plants were used to treat a total of 17 different diseases. The medicinal plants in high altitudes are facing multiple threats due to multiple causes and it is thus imperative to have alternative land-use for conservation of these medicinal plants and agroforestry being the prominent land-use could be precursor for the conservation of medicinal plants and evade pressure from the natural habitat.

Інструменти фінансово-економічного механізму збалансованого використання земель лісогосподарського призначення України

This article presents the author's point of view for to improve of the tools of the financial and economic mechanism of balanced use of forestry land with a description of foreign experience and the definition of priorities for Ukraine. The purpose of the study is to provide a theoretical and methodological justification of the characteristics and organizational and economic factors of improving the tools of financial and economic mechanism and their impact on ensuring balanced use of forestry land. Methods used: dialectical method of cognition – for the analysis of laws and regulations and scientific works of scientists on the issue of balanced use of forest land; analysis of the most pressing problems of functioning of economic and financial tools of the financial and economic mechanism of balanced forestry land use in comparison with the European experience; synthesis and logical generalization of conceptual bases of necessity and preconditions for improving tools; monographic – to identify factors for improving tools; graphical, correlation-regression analysis; abstract-logical theoretical generalizations and formulation of conclusions; method of analogies – the transfer of influences that have been found in other territories with similar objects and properties, to the territory under consideration. It was substantiated that adaptation of foreign experience, introduction of international standards to ensure balanced use of forestry land are impossible without the use of such scientifically grounded and environmentally balanced components of the financial and economic mechanism as environmental, economic, financial and organizational tools. Based on foreign experience, a basis has been prepared for improving the taxation of forestry land use in Ukraine. It was proposed to adopt foreign experience regarding the functioning of the economic and organizational instruments of the financial and economic mechanism for the balanced use of forest lands by creating and registering a commodity right to carbon in forests, trading it and monitoring it.

THE ROLE OF FORESTRY ENTERPRISES IN PROVIDING A BALANCE OF LAND USE SMALL POLISHES OF UKRAINE

This paper presents general characteristics of territorial features of state and municipal forestry enterprises of the Small Polissya of Ukraine. The author also presents analysis of the scientific bases on the economic and environmental impact of forest holders on achieving a balanced use of forestry land of the Lesser Polissya of Ukraine. Since the basis of the economy of balanced land use is taking into account the peculiarities of the natural and spatial location of land resources, we have been proved that the formation of fundamental scientific bases for the study of patterns of forestry land use in the territory of the Lesser Polissya region of Ukraine will allow to apply the method of analogies for others regions in a reasonable manner. This results of the study will help to improve the financial and economic mechanism of balanced forest land use in Ukraine.

NATURAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE DISTRIBUTION OF MALE POLISSYA OF UKRAINE IN THE CONTEXT OF ECONOMICS OF BALANCED LAND USE

The analysis of the scientific basis for the zoning of the territory of Male Polissya of Ukraine is carried out according to different approaches: geobotanical, natural-agricultural, physical-geographic, soil geographical and agroecological. An important task of the results of the ecological and economic study of the zoning of the territory of Male Polissya of Ukraine is the establishment of such zoning features as agroclimatic, hydroecological, edafic (soil), environmental risks, biosafety, and environmental protection. It is determined that zoning by agroecological approach enables to take into account the territorial features of the main environmental problems of Male Polissya of Ukraine and the ways of their solution. It is substantiated that balanced harmonization of forestry land use with natural conditions is possible on the basis of agroecological zoning taking into account the ecological indicators of individual landscapes, specific natural-territorial complexes. In general, the formation of the fundamental scientific principles of the study of ecosystem conservation laws and the level of use of forestry lands in the area of Male Polissya of Ukraine, formed on the basis of the agroecological principle, will provide an opportunity to use the analogy method in a rationale to transform the research results into other regions, which will facilitate the transition of Ukraine to the model of economics of balanced land use.

Climate Changes and Sustainable Management of Natural Resources: Challenges for Agriculture

During the last few decades, the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has increased. Estimates are showing that the agriculture, forestry and other land use emits less than a quarter of the total anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases globally and in this way endangers resources. Observing from the point of the European Union, agriculture emits 436.7 million tons of CO2 equivalents, corresponding to 9.8% of total greenhouse gas emissions. On the other hand, agricultural production is accompanied by the creation of residues, whose amount often exceeds the weight of the main product, which can be used as a source of renewable energy. About 25% of the harvest residues can be used for energy purposes, without compromising the population food safety, nor adversely affecting the fertility of the land. The aim of this article is to point out on the consequences of the harmful effects of modern agriculture on the environment, but also on the fact that agriculture can offer solutions to the challenges of climate change.

GHG mitigation in Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU) sector in Thailand

BackgroundThe Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU) sector is responsible for almost a quarter of the global Greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions. The emissions associated with AFOLU activities are projected to increase in the future. The agriculture sector in Thailand accounted for 21.9% of the country’s net GHG emissions in 2013. This study aims to estimate the GHG emissions in the AFOLU sector and mitigation potential at various carbon prices during 2015–2050. This study uses an AFOLU bottom-up (AFOLUB) model to estimate GHG emissions in a business-as-usual (BAU) scenario, and then identifies no-regret options, i.e. countermeasures that are cost-effective without any additional costs. In addition, the study also identifies countermeasure options and mitigation potential at various carbon prices.ResultsResults show that emissions from the agriculture sector in the BAU will increase from 45.3 MtCO2eq in 2015 to 63.6 MtCO2eq in 2050, whereas net emission from the AFOLU will be 8.3 MtCO2eq in 2015 and 24.6 MtCO2eq in 2050. No-regret options would reduce emissions by 6.1 and 6.8 MtCO2eq in 2030 and 2050, respectively. The carbon price above $10 per tCO2eq will not be effective to achieve significant additional mitigation/sequestration.ConclusionsIn 2050, no-regret options could reduce total AFOLU emissions by 27.5%. Increasing carbon price above $10/tCO2eq does not increase the mitigation potential significantly. Net sequestration (i.e., higher carbon sequestration than GHG emissions) in AFOLU sector would be possible with the carbon price. In 2050, net sequestration would be 1.2 MtCO2eq at carbon price of $5 per tCO2eq, 21.4 at $10 per tCO2eq and 26.8MtCO2eq at $500 per tCO2eq.

Modelling spatial patterns of correlations between concentrations of heavy metals in mosses and atmospheric deposition in 2010 across Europe

BackgroundThis paper aims to investigate the correlations between the concentrations of nine heavy metals in moss and atmospheric deposition within ecological land classes covering Europe. Additionally, it is examined to what extent the statistical relations are affected by the land use around the moss sampling sites. Based on moss data collected in 2010/2011 throughout Europe and data on total atmospheric deposition modelled by two chemical transport models (EMEP MSC-E, LOTOS-EUROS), correlation coefficients between concentrations of heavy metals in moss and in modelled atmospheric deposition were specified for spatial subsamples defined by ecological land classes of Europe (ELCE) as a spatial reference system. Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and logistic regression (LR) were then used to separate moss sampling sites regarding their contribution to the strength of correlation considering the areal percentage of urban, agricultural and forestry land use around the sampling location. After verification LDA models by LR, LDA models were used to transform spatial information on the land use to maps of potential correlation levels, applicable for future network planning in the European Moss Survey.ResultsCorrelations between concentrations of heavy metals in moss and in modelled atmospheric deposition were found to be specific for elements and ELCE units. Land use around the sampling sites mainly influences the correlation level. Small radiuses around the sampling sites examined (5 km) are more relevant for Cd, Cu, Ni, and Zn, while the areal percentage of urban and agricultural land use within large radiuses (75–100 km) is more relevant for As, Cr, Hg, Pb, and V. Most valid LDA models pattern with error rates of < 40% were found for As, Cr, Cu, Hg, Pb, and V. Land use-dependent predictions of spatial patterns split up Europe into investigation areas revealing potentially high (= above-average) or low (= below-average) correlation coefficients.ConclusionsLDA is an eligible method identifying and ranking boundary conditions of correlations between atmospheric deposition and respective concentrations of heavy metals in moss and related mapping considering the influence of the land use around moss sampling sites.

Benefits of Agro Forestry Land Use in Nsukka Local Government Area, Enugu State, Nigeria

The natural environment of the Nsukka, is characterized by a combination of trees and grasses in different proportions. This readily provides conducive conditions for the combined cultivation of annual crops and perennial crops, or trees. But, some factors might have stalled the espousal and practice of agro forestry in Nsukka; this is because Nsukka until recently was generally inaccessible and lacked basic infrastructure. These have contributed negatively to result in wastage of farm products especially during harvest periods, and consequent loss of income to the farmers. The broad aim of the study was to analyze agro forestry land use practices of Nsukka farmers, assess the benefits, and draw up lessons and recommendations for sustainable agro forestry development in community-based forestry projects by describing the socioeconomic characteristics of farmers, determining the type of agro forestry practiced in the area, identifying the reasons for farmers’ participation in agro forestry practices, identifying the constraints to sustainable agro forestry in the area and the measures for tackling the constraints and determining the benefits of agro forestry to participating farmers and their communities at large. The results of the study showed that most farmers sale greater part of their produce as the only source of income and most farmers spend less because they use animal dropping as a source of fertilizer. The land tenure system of the entire study area is largely by inheritance, and land use is determined by the male head and, on whom the right of usage is vested. Similarly, the ownership, sponsorship and management of agro forestry farms are largely by the families.&#x0D; &#x0D;

Benefits of Agro Forestry Land Use in Nsukka Local Government Area, Enugu State, Nigeria

The natural environment of the Nsukka, is characterized by a combination of trees and grasses in different proportions. This readily provides conducive conditions for the combined cultivation of annual crops and perennial crops, or trees. But, some factors might have stalled the espousal and practice of agro forestry in Nsukka; this is because Nsukka until recently was generally inaccessible and lacked basic infrastructure. These have contributed negatively to result in wastage of farm products especially during harvest periods, and consequent loss of income to the farmers. The broad aim of the study was to analyze agro forestry land use practices of Nsukka farmers, assess the benefits, and draw up lessons and recommendations for sustainable agro forestry development in community-based forestry projects by describing the socioeconomic characteristics of farmers, determining the type of agro forestry practiced in the area, identifying the reasons for farmers’ participation in agro forestry practices, identifying the constraints to sustainable agro forestry in the area and the measures for tackling the constraints and determining the benefits of agro forestry to participating farmers and their communities at large. The results of the study showed that most farmers sale greater part of their produce as the only source of income and most farmers spend less because they use animal dropping as a source of fertilizer. The land tenure system of the entire study area is largely by inheritance, and land use is determined by the male head and, on whom the right of usage is vested. Similarly, the ownership, sponsorship and management of agro forestry farms are largely by the families.

Dynamics of carbon and CO2 removals by Brazilian forest plantations during 1990\u20132016

BackgroundWe analyzed the dynamics of carbon (C) stocks and CO2 removals by Brazilian forest plantations over the period 1990–2016. Data on the extent of forests compiled from various sources were used in the calculations. Productivities were simulated using species-specific growth and yield simulators for the main trees species planted in the country. Biomass expansion factors, root-to-shoot ratios, wood densities, and carbon fractions compiled from literature were applied. C stocks in necromass (deadwood and litter) and harvested wood products (HWP) were also included in the calculations.ResultsPlantation forests stocked 231 Mt C in 1990 increasing to 612 Mt C in 2016 due to an increase in plantation area and higher productivity of the stands during the 26-year period. Eucalyptus contributed 58% of the C stock in 1990 and 71% in 2016 due to a remarkable increase in plantation area and productivity. Pinus reduced its proportion of the carbon storage due to its low growth in area, while the other species shared less than 6% of the C stocks during the period of study. Aboveground biomass, belowground biomass and necromass shared 71, 12, and 5% of the total C stocked in plantations in 2016, respectively. HWP stocked 76 Mt C in the period, which represents 12% of the total C stocked. Carbon dioxide removals by Brazilian forest plantations during the 26-year period totaled 1669 Gt CO2-e.ConclusionsThe carbon dioxide removed by Brazilian forest plantations over the 26 years represent almost the totality of the country´s emissions from the waste sector within the same period, or from the agriculture, forestry and other land use sector in 2016. We concluded that forest plantations play an important role in mitigating GHG (greenhouse gases) emissions in Brazil. This study is helpful to improve national reporting on plantation forests and their GHG sequestration potential, and to achieve Brazil’s Nationally Determined Contribution and the Paris Agreement.

Quantitative evaluation of the risk induced by dominant geomorphological processes on different land uses, based on GIS spatial analysis models

Maramures Land is mostly characterized by agricultural and forestry land use due to its specific configuration of topography and its specific pedoclimatic conditions. Taking into consideration the trend of the last century from the perspective of land management, a decrease in the surface of agricultural lands to the advantage of built-up and grass lands, as well as an accelerated decrease in the forest cover due to uncontrolled and irrational forest exploitation, has become obvious. The field analysis performed on the territory of Maramures Land has highlighted a high frequency of two geomorphologic processes — landslides and soil erosion — which have a major negative impact on land use due to their rate of occurrence. The main aim of the present study is the GIS modeling of the two geomorphologic processes, determining a state of vulnerability (the USLE model for soil erosion and a quantitative model based on the morphometric characteristics of the territory, derived from the HG. 447/2003) and their integration in a complex model of cumulated vulnerability identification. The modeling of the risk exposure was performed using a quantitative approach based on models and equations of spatial analysis, which were developed with modeled raster data structures and primary vector data, through a matrix highlighting the correspondence between vulnerability and land use classes. The quantitative analysis of the risk was performed by taking into consideration the exposure classes as modeled databases and the land price as a primary alphanumeric database using spatial analysis techniques for each class by means of the attribute table. The spatial results highlight the territories with a high risk to present geomorphologic processes that have a high degree of occurrence and represent a useful tool in the process of spatial planning.

Integrated science informs forest and water allocation policies in the South East of Australia

Groundwater-dependent ecosystems are particularly vulnerable to groundwater decline. The South East of South Australia has experienced considerable hydrological change due to drainage, clearance of native vegetation, irrigated agriculture, and forestry. Recent hardwood plantings in the Limestone Coast Prescribed Wells Area (PWA) have increased considerably since 2000, coincident with groundwater decline; however, the introduction of hardwood plantations coincided with a period of lower than average rainfall. Given the economic implications of modifying water allocation policy based on apparent anthropogenic causes, establishing the contributions to the observed declines in groundwater level was necessary. The water balance shows a net gain in water across the entire Lower Limestone Coast Prescribed Wells Area, yet sites with forestry land use show the water table has been declining at a rate up to 0.7 m yr−1 since 2004, whereas no long-term change has occurred in the water table depth at adjacent pasture sites. Forested areas have 4050 wetlands at risk with groundwater decline >0.3 m yr−1, covering a total wetland area of of 212 km2. A series of 15 policy scenarios were simulated using a groundwater flow model to examine how climate, land use, and particularly forestry would impact groundwater, with an imperative to enact policy to protect remaining wetlands. Water allocation policy accounted for groundwater extraction for irrigated agriculture, but other activities, such as forestry, were not considered in water allocation even though they were found to be a major water user. Following this study, the South Australian Government amended its Natural Resources Management act to stipulate that forestry must have a water licence and a water allocation to account for water used by the forest.