Optimal Land Use Allocation Research Articles

Spatial Optimization of Land Use Allocation Based on the Trade-off of Carbon Mitigation and Economic Benefits: A Study in Tianshan North Slope Urban Agglomeration

Spatial Optimization of Land Use Allocation Based on the Trade-off of Carbon Mitigation and Economic Benefits: A Study in Tianshan North Slope Urban Agglomeration

The Use of an Optimized Grey Multi-Objective Programming-PLUS Model for Multi-Scenario Simulation of Land Use in the Weigan–Kuche River Oasis, China

The oasis serves as the primary supply of cultivable land, along with the hub for human production and habitation in Xinjiang. Accordingly, predicting the land use of these areas based on various goals is an effective instrument for encouraging the sensible distribution of resource space. The study investigated the creation of a land use-allocation optimization model based on the various objectives of ecological protection, food security, and urban growth using the Weigan–Kuche River oasis as an example. The GMOP-PLUS model’s restriction conversion area was adjusted to include the findings of the land suitability evaluation. Additionally, it optimized and simulated the spatial arrangement and quantitative structure of land usage in the Weigan–Kuche River oasis in 2035. The results indicate the following: (1) the model’s overall accuracy is 89.36%, and its Kappa coefficient is 0.872, more than 0.8. Thus, the model can be considered for adoption in the future when predicting changes in land use in the districts and counties of the Weigan–Kuche River oasis; (2) based on the results of the land suitability evaluation, the percentage of areas that are most suited for agricultural development, urban development, and ecological protection is 39.32%, 24.21%, and 14.06%, respectively; and (3) the three scenarios satisfy the various demands for growth within the oasis, and the land use structure of the oasis varies considerably in response to the various development objectives, with the construction and cultivated land undergoing the most substantial modifications. The multi-scenario simulation of land usage in the oasis can provide essential support and a range of perspectives for future land spatial planning and socioeconomic development decision-making in the Weigan–Kuche River oasis. This is essential for both the efficient use of land resources and sustainable development.

Economic development and optimal allocation of land use in ecological emigration area in China

Due to factors such as climate, environment, and resource scarcity, a large number of ecological immigration activities have been carried out in many regions of the world, and a large amount of land has been abandoned in emigration areas, which makes it difficult to reflect the economic value of the land in the process of land ecological restoration. Many scholars mainly focus on the socio-economic development of the immigration area, while the ecological economic value of the land in the emigration area is neglected. The Chinese government has organised and implemented six large-scale resettlement projects in Ningxia to alleviate poverty and bring prosperity to areas where the soil and water are not well nourished and people are struggling. Thus, this study observed Guyuan City, Haiyuan County, and Tongxin County in central and southern Ningxia and conducted a systematic and comprehensive analysis of land resources, natural resources, the ecological environment, and social economy in the emigration area. Based on the accurate identification of the land scale of the emigration area, evaluating industrial suitability in the ecological emigration area, this study intended to strike a balance between ecological and economic development. The results showed that the emigration area is 8.0794 million mus, and the main types of land use are grassland, arable land, and forest land; the industrial development directions include large-scale livestock farming, drought-tolerant fruit farming, cold-resistant vegetable farming, modern forestry, specialised understory and photovoltaic and wind power production. The results provide policy inspiration for sustainable land use in ecological emigration areas, and propose practical ways for social capital and financial institutions to participate in the land development and promote ecological and economic value balance of emigration areas in the world.

Land-Use Optimization Based on Ecological Security Pattern—A Case Study of Baicheng, Northeast China

In the current context of global urbanization and climate change, balancing ecological protection and economic development is a particular challenge in the optimal allocation of regional land use. Here, we propose a research framework for the optimal allocation of land use that considers the regional ecological security pattern (ESP) and allocates space for land-use activities to areas with low ecological risk. Taking Baicheng, China as our study area, ecological sources were first identified by integrating their ecological importance and landscape connectivity, and ecological corridors and functional zones were extracted using the minimum cumulative resistance difference and circuit theory. The ecological source areas were then taken as limiting factors, and four future scenarios were established for 2030 using the parcel-level land-use simulator (PLUS) model. The ecological corridors and functional zones served as areas having restricted ecological conditions, and the four future scenarios were coupled into the corresponding functional zones to optimize the land-use structure in 2030. The results indicate that under the coupled ESP–PLUS scenario, the spatial distribution and structure of land use in Baicheng balance the needs of ecological source area protection and economic development, resulting in greater sustainability. By 2030, the cultivated land area will steadily increase, but attention will also be given to the protection of ecological land (e.g., woodland and marshland), aligning with current policy planning demands. An analysis of the landscape indices for each future scenario found all scenarios to be effective in reducing negative changes in landscape patterns. These findings provide a novel perspective for the rational allocation of future land resources and the optimization of land-use structures.

Energy analysis in Water-Energy-Food-Carbon Nexus

This study evaluated the comprehensive Water-Energy-Food-Carbon Nexus (WEFC) by focusing on energy assessment in northwest Iran. The energy evaluation indices for different products were calculated by estimating the total input and output energies. Multi-objective optimization based on five individual objectives and WEFC Nexus policies was used to identify the optimal land-use allocation of wheat, barley, rapeseed, and sugar beet, silage corn, and potato while minimizing water and energy consumption and CO2 emissions, and maximizing food production and profit. The results indicate that the suggested framework provides a practical methodology for determining the optimal land-use allocation considering quantitative WEFC Nexus. To increase economic efficiency and reduce energy consumption, agricultural practices and policy recommendations should be adopted, including promoting renewable energy sources, implementing energy-saving technologies, improving fertilizer management, improving crop rotation practices, conservation tillage, and improving water management and adoption of sustainable farming practices. The results allow policymakers to optimize multiple resources and recommend the best resource allocation under recommendation policy, technology, and constraints to achieve sustainable development in agriculture.

Land use allocation based on multi-goal linear programming model: a case study of Central Luzon State University

Allocating and reallocating land resources is critical to a long-term land use planning and is a key component to achieve a balanced land use system. This provides appropriate space for varied land uses while preserving the environment for future generations. It is found to be an excellent measure for development and sustainability of an area. Using multiple goal linear programming as a decision support system, this study highlighted the optimization of land use allocation at Central Luzon State University to meet the needs for sustainable development. All the seven (7) general land use classifications determined in the University: agricultural, institutional, residential, commercial, fisheries (pond/fish tanks), roads and open areas were assessed in crafting the Land Use Development and Infrastructure Plan (LUDIP) for 2021 to 2031. The findings demonstrated that the priority goals set by the CLSU constituents: (1) minimizing disaster risk, (2) maximizing land suitability, (3) maximizing research capability, maximizing social development, and maximizing economic value were achieved with the aid of Gurobi. Agricultural and commercial growth, residential, social, and infrastructure development for all constituents, research development, climate change adaptation, and cultural heritage preservation were all aided by the land use optimization in the LUDIP.

Optimal Modeling of Sustainable Land Use Planning under Uncertain at a Watershed Level: Interval Stochastic Fuzzy Linear Programming with Chance Constraints

In this paper, an uncertain interval stochastic fuzzy chance constraint land use optimal allocation method is proposed and applied to solve the problem of land use planning in river basins. The UISFCL-LUP method is an aggregation of interval parametric programming, fuzzy linear programming and chance constraint programming which can cope with uncertain problems such as interval value, fuzzy set and probability. In this paper, the uncertain mathematical method is explored and studied in the optimal allocation of land use in the next two planning periods of Nansihu Lake Basin in China. Moreover, it was proved that ISFCL-LUP can deal with the uncertainty of interval, membership function and probability representation and can also be used to solve the land use planning and land use strategy analysis under uncertain conditions. On the basis of model calculations, we obtained the optimal allocation results for six types of land use in four regions over two planning periods based on different environmental constraints. The results show that the optimized λ value (that is, the degree of satisfaction with all the model conditions) is in the range of [0.54, 0.79] and the corresponding system benefits are between [18.4, 20.4] × 1012 RMB and [96.7, 109.3] × 1012 RMB. The results indicate that land managers can make judgments based on the different socio-economic development needs of different regions and determine strategic land use allocation plans under uncertain conditions. At the same time, the model obtained interval solutions under different system satisfaction and constraint violation probabilities, which helps land managers to analyze the importance of land system optimization and sustainable development more deeply.

Influencing Factors Analysis and Optimization of Land Use Allocation: Combining MAS with MOPSO Procedure

The rural land use preferences of multiple agents are crucial for optimizing land-use allocation. Taking Guanlin Town, Yixing City, China as an example, this study analyzed the factors by agents effecting rural land use conversion probability, identified the objectives and the constraints within the optimization of rural land-use allocation, and simulated the optimal land-use allocation for 2030 by combining MAS with an MOPSO procedure. The results showed that the preferences and decisions of main actors effected the optimal land-use allocation. The Government determined the conversion between land-use types. The preferences of the entrepreneurs resulted in the distribution of industrial land. Town residents made a high contribution to the configuration of the town residential land by considering some factors. Rural families influenced land-use allocation by considering the quality of cultivated soils, and the optimal spatial location of aquaculture systems. Four optimization objectives were identified. The most relevant constraints were the upper and lower limits of each land-use type. The land-use types in Guanlin town in 2015 had a low intensification and an unreasonable structure. The modeling results indicated a tendency for concentrated spatial distributions of rural land. The results of the present study can provide useful support for decision-making within land planning and consequent management.

Divergent hydrological responses to intensive production under different rainfall regimes: Evidence from long-term field observations

The progress in intensive production over recent decades have greatly altered land-use patterns, often resulting in simplified landscapes. Intensive production is particularly necessary in mountainous areas where arable land resources are scarce, but it is a pervasive concern that landscape simplification will increase pressure for mountain flood disaster control. In this study, rainfall, runoff and sediment process data from 1995 to 2015 were observed for a typical intensively developed mountainous watershed. Data were used to investigate the effects of intensive production on the hydrological response characteristics discharge, suspended sediment concentration, runoff depth, and sediment load under three different rainfall regimes, namely rainfall regimes I (long duration, light rainfall intensity), II (short duration, high rainfall intensity), and III (long duration, high amount). Orchard area in the watershed increased from 4.43 % to 37.44 % under intensive production from 1995 to 2015. Intensive production led to high-intensity land use as well as homogenization and simplification of the landscape, which inevitably caused changes in hydrological processes in the mountainous watershed. Intensive production resulted in a significant downward trend in runoff coefficients (p = 0.001) and sediment loads (p = 0.006) under the three different rainfall regimes. Average sediment concentration decreased significantly and continuously (2394 to 12.53 kg m−3) during the 20 years of the study, and average runoff fluctuated but decreased from 0.218 m3/s in 2000 to 0.093 m3/s in 2015. According to hysteresis analysis, the proportion of counterclockwise loop events decreased after intensive production but remained the dominant circulation mode (40 %). The proportion of events in eight-figure loops increased from 0.06 % before intensification to 25 %. The increase in complex circulation implied that development of intensive production increased the sources of sediment in the watershed. The study increases understanding of hydrological responses to intensive production in complex mountainous watersheds and provides practical references for sustainable watershed management and optimization of land use allocation.

Layout optimization and multi-scenarios for land use: An empirical study of production-living-ecological space in the Lanzhou-Xining City Cluster, China

Analysis of the dynamics of regional production-life-ecological space (PLES) can help to mitigate conflicts between economic development and the natural environment and can also promote sustainable and healthy regional development. However, the delineation and optimal integration of PLES at large scales, and predictions about its future, still lack sufficient scientific basis and reliable quantitative analysis. To fill this gap, this paper therefore chooses the city cluster as a research scale and the Lanzhou-Xining City Cluster (LXCC), an area typical of the “human-nature” conflict in northern China, as a case study. A collaborative optimal allocation of land-use (COAL) model was established to explore the future development of PLES in city clusters. In COAL, a morphological spatial pattern analysis (MSPA) and a minimum cumulative resistance model are used to determine the spatial functional areas of the country in 2020. Then, combined with the future land use simulation model, the PLES of LXCC is predicted in a multi-scenario perspective and differential control strategies are implemented for different land use functions. The results show that: (1) The identification and prioritization of source sites with important functions were the basis for enhancing the multiple functions of the land in the region. The ecological “source” of expansion accounts for 42% of the total area of LXCC, mainly in the mountains, forests, and ecological reserves, while the living “source” of expansion accounts for 58% of the total area of the city, mostly scattered on flat terrain. Based on this, five functional zones have been defined. The ecological protection zone was the largest, mainly in the western part of LXCC, and the agricultural buffer zone was the smallest. (2) The integration of different functional areas into the optimal allocation of land use is the premise of PLES delineation under the COAL framework. After a comparative analysis of multiple scenarios, the result of land use optimization under coordinated the city cluster scenario increased the area of productive land to 177,780.68 km2 and the area of living land to 13,947.33 km2. Based on this, the proportion of LXCC ecological, production, and living space were 77.20%, 18.23%, and 4.57% respectively. The optimized results have been proven to serve to meet the future spatial needs for food security and ecological conservation. The results of this study demonstrate that the COAL framework can help the government to determine the future development of PLES and promote balanced regional development in city clusters.

Study on Spatial Optimal Allocation of Land Use in Fenhe River Basin

Land is the basis for the survival and development of human society, and it is also an important factor that restricts the development of social economy. It has become an urgent problem to make scientific and efficient use of limited land resources, formulate a scientific land use optimization scheme and promote the efficient and sustainable development of land resources. In this paper, taking Fenhe River Basin as the research area, combining the current land use data, remote sensing data and social and economic data, ArcGIS is used to evaluate the land suitability, and based on the planning constraint index and land use allocation theory, the land use space is optimally allocated. The main conclusions of the optimization are as follows: (1) Through the analysis of the present situation of land use and the comparative analysis of the quantitative constraint indicators of various regions, the total area of cultivated land has decreased compared with the original situation of land use, but it has actually increased and decreased, mainly in rural residential areas with convenient irrigation conditions and low and flat terrain, which are distributed on both sides of Fenhe River and its tributaries in Fenhe Valley, mainly in areas with serious soil and water loss in Luliang Mountains. It is required to return farmland to forest and grassland, and to restore it to forestry land and grassland, so as to keep good land in Taiyuan Basin and Linfen Basin. (2) The total area of urban and rural construction land has increased compared with the original land use status, mainly in the general suitable areas of agricultural land affected by human beings around the existing towns. Qingxu County has a good development foundation, which can give play to the urban-rural linkage mechanism and establish a satellite city of Taiyuan. (3) The overall layout of ecological land has not changed much, mainly increasing the water source protection in ningwu county, the dam along the river in the scenic spot, and the construction of green belt along the river of Fenhe River and its tributaries.

Spatio-temporal variations of ecosystem service values in response to land use/cover change in Luoyang city

Land-use/cover change (LUCC) caused by human activities is an important factor in changes in global ecosystems; however, the impact of LUCC on ecosystem service value (ESV) has never been previously assessed in Luoyang City, China. This paper explores spatial and temporal evolution patterns of land use pattern change, ESV change and response to LUCC in Luoyang City from 2010 to 2019 through GIS and remote sensing techniques, and employing transfer matrix, ESV spatial autocorrelation analysis and elastic coefficient change. During the study period: 1) Between 2010 and 2019, land-use changes in Luoyang City showed a trend of “two increases and four decreases,” specifically, built-up land and forest areas increased, while the extent of cropland, grassland, water, and unused land areas decreased. 2) The recorded land-use conversion in Luoyang City is complex, with forest and cropland land uses increasing and decreasing fastest, respectively, with the proportion of forest increasing by 10.19% and cropland decreasing by 3.37% — the reason for this change is the transition from cropland and grassland to forest and occupation of cropland by built-up land. 3) The ESV change in Luoyang City was U-shaped, with the total ESV increasing 1.96% from ¥44.78 billion to ¥45.66 billion; additionally, the ESV provided by forest areas increased by 23.83%. 4) From 2010 to 2019, Luoyang’s hydrological regulation, climate regulation and soil and water conservation contributed the most to Luoyang’s ESV, accounting for 63.89% of the total ESV in 2019. 5) The overall ESVs of the townships in Luoyang City have obvious clustering and are not completely randomly spatially distributed. With the optimization of land-use allocation, the ESV high–high clusters have expanded. 6) The overall elasticity coefficient is high in Luoyang City and ESV responds intensely to LUCC, with the most significant response shown by the forests of Luolong District. The findings of this survey are practical for helping Luoyang City to optimize land resource usage scientifically.

Land-Use Optimization Based on Ecosystem Service Value: A Case Study of Urban Agglomeration around Poyang Lake, China

The optimal allocation of land use is a promising approach to achieving the sustainable use of land resources, to weigh ecological protection and economic development. The urban agglomeration around Poyang Lake is a crucial plate for implementing the spatial planning policy of the national urban agglomeration and supporting the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt. Based on the ecosystem service value (ESV), we utilize the minimum cumulative resistance (MCR), the gray multi-objective planning (GMOP) and the future land-use simulation (FLUS) model to optimize the quantitative structure and spatial pattern of the land use in 2030. The present study designs four scenarios of baseline development (BD), ecological conservation (EC), economic priority (EP) and coordinated development (CD) to discuss how to optimize land-use allocation while considering ecological security and economic development. The result suggests that the land-use structure and spatial layout in the CD_scenario are relatively reasonable, and the overall eco-economic benefits and landscape pattern levels are better than those of the other three scenarios. Additionally, the ecological security and landscape pattern indices are optimized, landscape fragmentation decreases and aggregation degree increases. This study is instructive to promote the sustainable development of urban agglomeration and land spatial planning.

OPTIMALISASI PENGGUNAAN LAHAN DI KABUPATEN LUMAJANG

Land use in Lumajang Regency is dominated by agricultural land. However, over time there was a conversion of agricultural land into residential land as a result of an increase in population. The purpose of this study was to determine the pattern and area of optimal land-use allocation increase economic value in Lumajang Regency. The method used in this study was linear programming with the simplex method. The maximum farming income obtained from optimizing land use is Rp710,306,800,000.00. The optimal land-use area for paddy fields is 42,686.71 ha, the protected forest is 12,652 ha, and residential land is 18,284 ha. The optimal proportion of land use is 58% rice fields, 17% protected forests, and 25% settlements. The optimal paddy field area has decreased by 6,003.26 ha from the land area in 2018 because there are paddy fields that do not match their characteristics. The largest area of rice field reduction in Candipuro District is 2,138.51 ha. Meanwhile, the direction for the allocation of residential land has increased settlement land from 2018 with an area of 1,114.1 ha. The development of residential land is allocated to land that has been planned for settlement in the Spatial Planning (RTRW), potential land that has a slope value of 0 - 25%, and areas with low population density. The largest additional area of residential land in Pronojiwo District is 300 ha.

Towards low-carbon cities: Patch-based multi-objective optimization of land use allocation using an improved non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm-II

The rational land use allocation is of great significance to the construction of low-carbon cities. The optimization model of land use allocation is an important tool that helps urban planners to quantitatively trade-off among the multi-objectives and achieve optimal land use schemes. For multi-objective optimization of low-carbon land use allocation, the models conducted by existing studies generally tend to be based on gridded data, lack of comprehensive consideration of quantitative and spatial objectives, and efficient algorithms to execute the optimization process. Therefore, this paper proposed a patch-based low carbon multi-objective land use allocation (LC-MLUA) optimization model involving both quantitative and spatial optimization targets. The LC-MLUA optimization model was solved with an improved non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm-II (NSGA-II), and the weighted-sum method was used to make the final selection under different preferences. The LC-MLUA optimization model was then applied to a case study of Changxing, a county-level city in east China, and there were three key results. (1) The LC-MLUA optimization model had a remarkable outperform of the land use allocation than the original land use plan, and the optimized values of economic benefit, emission reduction, and accessibility increased by 27.0%, 6.2% and 8.3%, respectively. (2) The LC-MLUA optimization model generated a series of optimal schemes to support suggestion-making for the low-carbon adjustment of the land use structure and spatial layout. (3) The LC-MLUA optimization model based on vector land patch data was proved more efficient as the unit number was reduced by 5 times than gridded data and better reflected the land use planning practice. (4) Compared with other algorithms, the improved NSGA-II had better performance in the number of solutions, target optimization rate, and comprehensive performance. Based on these results, it suggests that the patch-based LC-MLUA optimization model method can provide good technical support for low-carbon land use planning, and can be flexibly applied to other cities.

Land Use Optimization in a Resource-Exhausted City Based on Simulation of the F-E-W Nexus

Limited land resources are used to meet the growing economic, social, and ecological needs of people in China. Food, energy, and water (F-E-W) are the basic resources for supporting human survival and the transformation of different land uses. This paper tries to construct a theoretical framework of land use and the F-E-W nexus and uses system dynamics to simulate the optimal allocation of land use in Shizuishan City, China, by comparing different scenarios that have different parameters related to F-E-W. The final results follow: (1) according to the relationship between land use and the F-E-W nexus, a three-layer nested theoretical framework is constructed. (2) Future land use under different scenarios differs. Under the scenarios of a less dependence on coal energy, a higher utilization efficiency of energy and agricultural water resources, and a lower grain self-sufficiency rate, there are less crop and urban lands but more ecological land. However, generally speaking, crop and rural construction lands tend to decrease, while urban and ecological lands tend to increase. (3) Combined with different objectives, the rapid transformation scenario is considered a better option in which to achieve a balance among the economy, society, and ecology. This paper also discusses the application of land use optimization in the delineation of three control lines in territory-space planning in China.

Land use optimization through bridging multiobjective optimization and multicriteria decision‐making models (case study: Tilabad Watershed, Golestan Province, Iran)

AbstractThis study aims to present an efficient methodology for land use optimization based on minimization of runoff and sediment and maximization of economic benefits, occupational opportunities, and land use suitability in the Tilabad watershed in northeast of Iran. The land use map of the area was prepared using the Landsat satellite images and field surveys. The amounts of runoff and sediment were estimated via SWAT model. The TOPSIS multicriteria decision‐making (MCDM) approach was applied on the results of the multiobjective optimization (MOO) based on non‐dominated sorting genetic algorithm II (NSGA II) to choose the final optimal solution among the Pareto solutions front generated by MOO. The results indicated that the area of agriculture and rangelands should decrease, and the area of forests should increase to achieve the defined objectives. Overall, results indicated that integration of MOO and MCDM provides an efficient procedure for land use optimization in a complex watershed.Recommendations for Resource Managers The optimization of land use allocation across a complex watershed requires the combined application of several models and techniques to achieve a sustainable decision‐making process. By optimization of land use patterns according to the final solution, the surface runoff and sediment load of the watershed will decline, while the economic profit and land use suitability will improve. Despite using a maximization objective function, the land‐based job opportunities might decrease across a watershed by optimization of land use allocation, but this can be considered as an opportunity for provision of manpower to other socioeconomic sectors.

Spatial suitability evaluation of coastal zone, and zoning optimisation in ningbo, China

Coastal zones are affected by ocean–land interaction and furthermore, are areas of intense human activity. Exploitation and utilisation of coastal zones directly affect the sustainable development of coastal cities; therefore, it is necessary to conduct space suitability evaluation of such areas to facilitate the rational allocation and sustainable development of coastal resources. In this study, we selected the following factors for a relevant evaluation index, namely land and ocean natural conditions, resource and environmental bearing capacity, exploitation intensity, economic foundation, and social structure. We constructed a guidance and constraint model to evaluate the land and marine spaces of the coastal zone and, subsequently, established criteria for land–sea coordination and integration to facilitate optimum utilisation of coastal zones. Finally, we established an optimal land-use allocation model and relative deviation index to evaluate the scientificity and feasibility of our results. Taking the coastal zone of Ningbo in Zhejiang province, China, as an example, our results showed that (1) The ecological space comprises 5984 km2, accounting for 49.58% of the coastal zone in Ningbo, urban and construction space comprises 997.76 km2, accounting for 8.27%, and agriculture and fishery space comprises 5088.15 km2, accounting for 42.16%, with the ratio of the three types of space being 5:4:1. (2) Generally, the development intensity of the coastal zone in Ningbo is strong in the north and weak in the south, and the overall spatial pattern is urban exploitation in the north, industrial and port traffic areas in the east, and ecological, agricultural, and fishery areas in the south. (3) The relative deviation index of urban and construction space is 1.21, the planned land use exceeds the reasonable demand, the relative deviation indices of ecological space and agricultural and fishery spaces are 0.13 and −0.08, respectively, with the land area showing a decreasing trend. Clearly, development in the coastal zone in Ningbo is too intense. Consequently, it is necessary to strengthen the management and control of land use in this coastal zone to protect its ecological, agricultural, and fishery resources.

Optimal land-use allocation using MCDM and SWAT for the Hablehroud Watershed, Iran

The watershed, a dynamic and integrated social, economic, and biological system, plays an important role in the growth and development of the economy. Watersheds as a basis to support natural life and human activities have been heavily damaged over the past few centuries. One of the major causes of which is the inappropriate land-use allocation. Studies on land-use allocation mostly investigate optimization methods apart from each other but combining different approaches and comparing outcomes of different methods seems to be more helpful, especially for the decision-makers in a watershed. Hablehroud watershed as an important agricultural production region in Iran has been facing different ecological and economic problems during recent decades. Therefore, the current study aimed to determine the optimal land-use allocation according to the economic, social, and environmental criteria in the Hablehroud watershed using multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method. The optimal land-use solutions were obtained using the weighted goal programming (WGP), lexicographic goal programming (LGP), and compromise programming (CP) methods. The results indicated that after the optimization, in all the scenarios (economic, neutral and environmental), the average values of the environmental criteria decreased 66 % in WGP, 65 % in LGP and 66.6 % in CP and the social criterion increased 62 % in WGP, 82 % in LGP, and 46.3 % in CP. The values of the economic criteria (profit) increased 2% in WGP, 21 % in LGP and 6% (on average) in CP, only in the economic scenario. However, the economic scenarios showed a better results in all of the methods, based on which the recommendations were made to improve watershed management policies based on the optimal land-use patterns.

Trade-offs between multifunctionality and profit in tropical smallholder landscapes

Land-use transitions can enhance the livelihoods of smallholder farmers but potential economic-ecological trade-offs remain poorly understood. Here, we present an interdisciplinary study of the environmental, social and economic consequences of land-use transitions in a tropical smallholder landscape on Sumatra, Indonesia. We find widespread biodiversity-profit trade-offs resulting from land-use transitions from forest and agroforestry systems to rubber and oil palm monocultures, for 26,894 aboveground and belowground species and whole-ecosystem multidiversity. Despite variation between ecosystem functions, profit gains come at the expense of ecosystem multifunctionality, indicating far-reaching ecosystem deterioration. We identify landscape compositions that can mitigate trade-offs under optimal land-use allocation but also show that intensive monocultures always lead to higher profits. These findings suggest that, to reduce losses in biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, changes in economic incentive structures through well-designed policies are urgently needed.