scholarly journals Ecosystem Services Provisioning, Urban Growth and the Rural–Urban Interface: A Case Study from China

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 337
Author(s):  
Haiying Feng ◽  
Victor R. Squires ◽  
Jingji Wu
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Rapid Assessment ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Urban Regions ◽  
Rural And Urban Areas ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Rural And Urban

The rural-urban (peri-urban) interface zones are important places that generate demands for ecosystem goods and services (EG & S). Urban regions face transitions in land use that affect ecosystem services (EG & S) and thus human wellbeing. Especially in urban areas with high population densities (as in most of China) and high demand for EG & S, the future availability of such services must be considered in order to promote effective and sustainable decision making and prevent further ecosystem degradation. The challenge for local government planners and land managers is to find tools that allow relevant data to be collected and analyzed. Ideally, such tools should be able to give a rapid assessment, and not involve large teams of highly trained personnel or incur high costs. The paper reports on the development and trial of such a tool. The paper has three main parts. First, we present a brief overview of the current and developing situation in China, in relation to urbanization, population shifts and the creation of peri-urban areas (PUAs). Next, we build on insights from the literature and from discussions with village heads and county- and prefecture-level officials to develop an understanding of their needs for tools to help planning and land management within the constraints of the national policy. Lastly, a “template” was derived from our multi-method approach that provided a new technical tool for the rapid assessment of the value of EG & S in each of five land use categories. The tool embodies a way to address trade-offs between environmental, social and economic values in the transition zone between rural and urban areas. The tool was trialed in QinBei District in Guangxi Autonomous Region in south China and judged to be useful and adaptable to other rural–urban regions.

scholarly journals Reframing the policy discourse: A comparative analysis of teacher preparation for rural and remote education in Australia, South Africa and Mexico

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 82
Author(s):  
Susan Ledger ◽  
Alfred Masinire ◽  
Miguel Angel Díaz Delgado ◽  
Madeline Burgess
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Teacher Education ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Selection Process ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Policy Discourse ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Rural And Urban Areas ◽  
Rural And Urban ◽  
Policy Texts

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has highlighted a ‘vicious cycle of decline’ in rural, regional and remote (RRR) regions, with significant inequalities in educational outcomes between rural and urban areas. However, interventions have not resulted in transformative or lasting improvements to education in rural contexts. This paper presents a cross-comparative country analysis of current global policy on RRR education. We used a policy analysis framework to interrogate national policy texts concerning teacher education for RRR contexts in three countries - Australia, South Africa and Mexico. A rigorous selection process of the literature yielded 17 key policy texts, which were examined for the influences, practices, language and outcomes relating to teacher education preparation for RRR locales. Findings highlighted a legacy of historical influences and a metrocentric bias in policy texts, with limited examples of assets-based education. We argue that these factors may be perpetuating the significant and persistent disadvantage in RRR education. We recommend an alternative policy discourse that recognises the productivities and potentialities of an assets-based approach within the local context, where school leaders and teachers are positioned as central change agents in RRR education.

scholarly journals How Ecosystem Services Can Strengthen the Regeneration Policies for Monumental Olive Groves Destroyed by Xylella fastidiosa Bacterium in a Peri-Urban Area

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 8778
Author(s):  
Teodoro Semeraro ◽  
Elisa Gatto ◽  
Riccardo Buccolieri ◽  
Valentina Catanzaro ◽  
Luigi De Bellis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Urban Area ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Xylella Fastidiosa ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Olive Groves ◽  
Olive Trees

The Apulian Region (Italy) is a socio-ecological system shaped by the millennial co-evolution between human actions and ecological processes. It is characterized by monumental olive groves protected from Regional Law 14/2007 for the cultural value of the landscape, currently threatened by the spread of a devastating phytopathogen, the bacteria Xylella fastidiosa. The aim of this paper is to apply landscape resilience analysis focusing on ecosystem services to understand the potential effects and trade-offs of regeneration policies in a peri-urban area characterized by monumental olive groves land cover. The study involved land-cover and land-use analysis, supported by a survey on the inhabitants and an ecosystem services analysis. The results showed a mismatch between the agroecosystem and the social and economic use linked to leisure or hospitality. The study area was defined as a peri-urban landscape characterized by tourist use. From the interviews of the users, the cultural heritage of olive groves seems linked to the presence of olive trees like a status quo of the landscape and olive oil productions. The culture aspect could thus be preserved by changing the type of olive trees. In addition, the analysis showed that the microclimate could be preserved and enhanced in terms of air temperature and thermal comfort, by replacing the olive trees with varieties resistant to Xylella, such as cv. Leccino. Therefore, regeneration policies that promote replacing dead olive groves with new olive trees could be efficient to stimulate social components of the landscape and improve the resilience of ecosystem services in peri-urban areas in the interest of the cultural heritage of the users and benefits that they provide. An ecosystem services analysis at a local scale could be a strategy for an integrated regenerate approach between land-use and land-cover with social, ecological, and economic evolutions vision orientated to a sustainable and desirable future.

Urban green. Integrating ecosystem extent and condition data in urban ecosystem accounts. Examples from the Oslo region

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Per Arild Garnåsjordet ◽  
Margrete Steinnes ◽  
Zofie Cimburova ◽  
Megan Nowell ◽  
David N. Barton ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Satellite Data ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Urban Ecosystem ◽  
Land Use Land Cover ◽  
Urban Green ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
United Nations System

The article enhances the knowledge base for the assessment of urban ecosystem services, within the United Nations System of Environmental-Economic Accounting Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA EA), recently adopted as an international statistical standard. The SEEA EA is based on spatial extent accounts (area of ecosystems) and biophysical condition accounts (ecological state of ecosystems). Case studies from the Oslo region are explored, combining land use/land cover maps from Statistics Norway with satellite data. The results illustrate that a combination of land use/land cover data for ecosystem extent and detailed satellite data of land cover provides a much higher quality for the interpretation of extent and condition variables. This is not only a result of applying spatial analysis, but a result of applying knowledge about the information categories from satellite data of land cover, to official statistics for built-up land in urban areas that until now have not been identified. Moreover, the choice of spatial units should reflect that modelling of different ecosystem services, as a basis for trade-offs in urban planning, requires a combination of different spatial approaches to capture urban green elements.

scholarly journals Analysing the Synergies and Trade-Offs between Ecosystem Services to Reorient Land Use Planning in Metropolitan Bilbao (Northern Spain)

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 4376 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorena Peña ◽  
Miren Onaindia ◽  
Beatriz Fernández de Manuel ◽  
Ibone Ametzaga-Arregi ◽  
Izaskun Casado-Arzuaga
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Land Use Planning ◽  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Basque Country ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Natural Ecosystems ◽  
Northern Spain ◽  
Trade Offs

In the last decades, some European cities have undergone important changes in search of a more sustainable development. This is the case for the city of Bilbao (Bizkaia, Basque Country), where a Greenbelt has been maintained surrounding the urban areas allowing the periurban areas to deliver ecosystem services (ES) to society. However, the role of the different ecosystems in the provision of ES is not the same, which can lead to conflicts among them. The aim of this study is to analyze the synergies and trade-offs among the eight most important ES in the Bilbao Metropolitan Greenbelt (BMG) to orient their management strategies towards more multifunctional landscapes. We mapped the ES and overlapped them looking for the most relevant areas for the provision of multiple ES and areas that are mostly lacking ES provision. We identify also existing ES trade-offs and synergies between ES using correlations so that managers can prioritize preservation efforts of land use types in the rest of the area. The results show that provisioning ES had trade-offs with regulating and cultural ES and the latter showed synergies between them. The former are mainly delivered by semi-natural ecosystems, while regulating and cultural ES are delivered mainly by natural ecosystems. Moreover, the most relevant areas for the provision of multiple ES were proposed as potential components of a Green Infrastructure (GI). Their identification and ES bundles could help decision-makers to orient their management strategies towards sustainability in metropolitan areas.

scholarly journals PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND MEDIA ENVIRONMENT AS ANTECEDENTS OF CHILDHOOD OBESITY IN MALAYSIA

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 287
Author(s):  
Amuthaganesh Mathialagan ◽  
Narkeeran Nallasamy ◽  
Syaza Nurfarida Razali
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Childhood Obesity ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
English Language ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Peninsular Malaysia ◽  
Chi Square ◽  
Rural And Urban Areas ◽  
Validated Questionnaire ◽  
Rural And Urban

Objective: The aim of this study was to explore the influence of physical activity and media viewing on the occurrence of childhood obesity in Malaysia.Methods: A 42-item validated questionnaire in the Malay and English language, containing Likert scale close-ended questions was used to explore the degree of physical activity practiced by families as well as trends on media viewing restrictions among parents in 5 selected states of Peninsular Malaysia. A total of 1200 self-administered questionnaires were sent out to schools in rural and urban areas of the respective 5 states and body mass index (BMI) for children was measured using the WHO 2007 reference standards. A total of 802 completed and usable questionnaires were obtained yielding a response rate of 66.6%. Chi-square and descriptive statistics were used to analyze the results.Results: The findings revealed that while children may have agreed limits on media viewing (television/computer/video games), as the child’s BMI increased the rate of agreed limits decreased. However, the enforcement of these limits was not consistent. Interestingly, 70% of the parents who did not enforce restrictions on media viewing were also obese themselves. In terms of physical activity, this was far lower among obese and severe obese children and family activities involving physical activity was scarce with a rate of 25%.Conclusion: The study affirms the fact that Malaysia needs to promote engagement in physical activity as a national policy and shows that the importance of enforcing media viewing restrictions should be highlighted to the community at large.

scholarly journals Land Use Drivers of Population Dynamics in Tasks of Security Management and Risk Assessment

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan Kopachevsky ◽  
Yuriy V. Kostyuchenko ◽  
Otto Stoyka
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Population Distribution ◽  
Population Data ◽  
Rural And Urban Areas ◽  
Rural And Urban ◽  
Data Disaggregation ◽  
Population Vulnerability ◽  
Use Factors

Approach to population data disaggregation in tasks of risk assessment is presented in this paper. The approach is based on analysis of land cover distribution separately in rural and urban areas. Model to analyze a population distribution on regular grid in a study area is proposed. Formal algorithms to estimate disaster losses distributions depending on population distribution, agroecological, socio-economic, and socio-ecological parameters are proposed. Concluding on population vulnerability and losses distribution in depending of land-use factors are proposed.

scholarly journals Rural versus Urban Areas and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 538-557
Author(s):  
Senal A. Weerasooriya ◽  
Jeffrey J. Reimer
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program ◽  
Economic Sectors ◽  
Supplemental Nutrition ◽  
Assistance Program ◽  
Rural And Urban Areas ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Rural And Urban ◽  
Nutrition Assistance

AbstractThis study quantifies how spending changes induced by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) affects production and employment in rural and urban areas. A general equilibrium simulation model with an estimated demand system is first used to project how SNAP affects spending on different goods and services. These impacts are then linked to the expansion and contraction of different economic sectors that differ in importance across rural and urban Oregon. In urban areas, a number of service sectors linked to higher-income households shrink slightly in response to SNAP, while food-related sectors expand; the net effect on jobs is slightly negative. Production changes in rural areas are generally smaller, while having a slightly positive net effect on jobs. Overall, SNAP makes a positive difference for low- or no-income households without strong effects elsewhere in the economy.

scholarly journals Depressive symptoms in adults in rural and urban regions of Canada: a cross-sectional analysis of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging

BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. e048090
Author(s):  
Philip D St John ◽  
Verena Menec ◽  
Robert Tate ◽  
Nancy E Newall ◽  
Denise Cloutier ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Urban Regions ◽  
Rural And Urban Areas ◽  
Cross Sectional Analysis ◽  
Rural And Urban ◽  
Sectional Analysis

ObjectivesPrevious studies on depression in rural areas have yielded conflicting results. Features of rural areas may be conducive or detrimental to mental health. Our objective for this study was to determine if there are rural–urban disparities in depressive symptoms between those living in rural and urban areas of Canada.DesignWe conducted a cross-sectional analysis of a prospective cohort study, which is as representative as possible of the Canadian population—the Tracking Cohort of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging. For this cohort, data were collected from 2010 to 2014. Data were analysed and results were obtained in 2020.Participants21 241 adults aged 45–85.MeasuresRurality was grouped as urban (n=11 772); peri-urban (n=2637); mixed (n=2125; postal codes with both rural and urban areas); and rural (n=4707). Depressive symptoms were measured using the 10-item Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression. We considered age, sex, education, marital status and disease states as potential confounding factors.ResultsThe adjusted beta coefficient was −0.24 (95% CI −0.42 to −0.07; p=0.01) for rural participants, −0.17 (95% CI −0.40 to 0.05; p=0.14) for peri-urban participants and −0.30 (95% CI −0.54 to −0.05; p=0.02) for participants in mixed regions, relative to urban regions. Risk factors associated with depressive symptoms were similar in rural and urban regions.ConclusionsThe small differences in depressive symptoms among those living in rural and urban regions are unlikely to be relevant at a clinical or population level. The findings do suggest some possible approaches to reducing depressive symptoms in both rural and urban populations. Future research is needed in other settings and on change in depressive symptoms over time.

scholarly journals Inclusion of the Public in the Natural Capital, Ecosystem Services and Green Infrastructure Assessments (Results of Structured Interviews with Stakeholders of Commune Liptovská Teplička)

2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milena Moyzeová
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Environmental Quality ◽  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Natural Capital ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
The Public ◽  
Rural And Urban Areas ◽  
Rural And Urban

AbstractNowadays, topics like natural capital assessment, ecosystem services and green infrastructure have become frequent subjects of a number of national and international projects accomplished on local, regional, national and cross-frontier levels. These projects respond to the deterioration of biotopes due to their fragmentation and degradation as a result of constructions and tourism/recreation. This situation requires an economic assessment of ecosystems from the view point of their capacities to satisfy human necessities with simultaneous conservation of the environmental quality, and the optimal status of landscape diversity both in rural and urban areas. The aim of the Green Infrastructure initiative is to stop the loss of land as an irreplaceable natural resource and to contribute to the inclusion of ecological and sustainability aspects into the spatial planning and regional development in rural and urban areas. Green Infrastructure is the tool that may reduce the loss of ecosystem services connected with future occupation of land and improve functions of land. It may support ecological measures aimed at conservation of agricultural landscape and adoption of measures in the sphere of forest and water economies. Important role in the assessment of ecosystems is played not only by the scientists but also by experts and the public at large. This is the reason why ever more stakeholders possessing knowledge of local territory and personal life experience participate in these projects. Their judgments and views, often bearing information important for the above-mentioned assessment, are applied to proposed measures aimed at the improvement of environmental quality and quality of life in terms of sustainability. This article brings the possible example of how to include a selected sample of stakeholders into the assessment of natural capital and ecosystem services on local level in the frame of Green Infrastructure. The aim of this paper is to analyse attitudes of the involved for the evaluation of natural capital and ecosystem services at a local level by means of structured interviews. Obtained views will be applied for the assessment of ecosystem services and proposals aimed at protection and conservation of natural capital and building of green infrastructure. The research was carried out in the model territory of the rural commune Liptovská Teplička.

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