scholarly journals Assessing and analysing the impact of land take pressures on agricultural land

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ece Aksoy ◽  
Mirko Gregor ◽  
Christoph Schröder ◽  
Manuel Löhnertz ◽  
Geertrui Louwagie

Abstract. Land, and here in particular soil, is a finite and essentially non-renewable resource. EU-wide, land take, i.e. the increase of settlement area over time, consumes more than 1000 km2 annually of which half is actually sealed and, hence, lost under impermeable surfaces. Land take and in particular soil sealing has already been identified as one of the major soil threats in the 2006 EC Communication ''Towards a Thematic Strategy on Soil Protection'' and the Soil Thematic Strategy, and has been confirmed as such in the report on the implementation of this strategy. The aim of this study is to relate the potential of land for a particular use in a given region with the actual land use. This allows evaluating whether land (especially the soil dimension) is used according to its (theoretical) potential. To this aim, the impact of several land cover flows related to urban development on soils with a good, average and poor production potential were assessed and mapped. Thus, the amount and quality (potential for agricultural production) of agricultural land lost between the years 2000 and 2006 was identified. In addition, areas with high productivity potential around urban areas, indicating areas of potential future land use conflicts for Europe, were identified.

Solid Earth ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 683-695 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ece Aksoy ◽  
Mirko Gregor ◽  
Christoph Schröder ◽  
Manuel Löhnertz ◽  
Geertrui Louwagie

Abstract. Land, and in particular soil, is a finite and essentially non-renewable resource. Across the European Union, land take, i.e. the increase of settlement area over time, annually consumes more than 1000 km2 of which half is actually sealed and hence lost under impermeable surfaces. Land take, and in particular soil sealing, has already been identified as one of the major soil threats in the 2006 European Commission Communication Towards a Thematic Strategy on Soil Protection and the Soil Thematic Strategy and has been confirmed as such in the report on the implementation of this strategy. The aim of this study is to relate the potential of land for a particular use in a given region with the actual land use. This allows evaluating whether land (especially the soil dimension) is used according to its (theoretical) potential. To this aim, the impact of several land cover flows related to urban development on soils with good, average, and poor production potentials were assessed and mapped. Thus, the amount and quality (potential for agricultural production) of arable land lost between the years 2000 and 2006 was identified. In addition, areas with high productivity potential around urban areas, indicating areas of potential future land use conflicts for Europe, were identified.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Inês Amorim Leitão ◽  
Carla Sofia Santos Ferreira ◽  
António José Dinis Ferreira

<p>Land-use changes affect the properties of ecosystems, and are typically associated with decreasing ability to supply services, which in turn causes a decrease in the social well-being. Urbanization is identified as one of the main causes of ecosystem degradation, once it is considered an artificial space that replaces natural areas.This study investigates the impact of land-use changes during 20 years (1995-2015) on the potential supply of ecosystem services in Coimbra municipality, central Portugal. The assessment was based on the evaluation performed by 31 experts familiar with the study area, through questionnaires. The experts ranked the potential supply of 31 ecosystem services, grouped in regulation, provisioning and cultural services, for the several land-uses existent. Experts performed a qualitative evaluation, considering ‘strong adverse potential’, ‘weak adverse potential’, ‘not relevant’, ‘low positive potential’ and ‘strong positive potential’. The qualitative evaluation was converted into a quantitative classification (-2, -1, 0, 1, 2). Quantitative values were then used to develop an ecosystem services quantification matrix and to map the information in the study area, using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). An urban expansion from 14% to 18% was recorded over the last 20 years. Agricultural land decreased 8% due to conversion into forest (4% increase) and urban areas (4% increase). This has led to a decrease in the supply of provision (e.g. food) and regulation services (e.g. flood regulation). In fact, over the last years, recurrent floods have been increasingly noticed in Coimbra city. On the other hand, the growth of forest areas has led to an increase in general ESs supply. The adverse impacts of urbanization were partially compensated by enlarging the benefits provided by forest areas, which is the land-use with greatest ESs potential supply. In order to support urban planning and develop sustainable cities, it is essential to quantify the potential supply of ecosystem services considering local scale and characteristics.</p>


Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 996
Author(s):  
Bonoua Faye ◽  
Guoming Du

The study aims to reveal the transition features of agricultural land use in the Groundnut Basin of Senegal from 2009 to 2018, especially the impact of urbanization on agricultural land and the viewpoint of farmland spatiotemporal evolution. Integrated data of time series MCD12Q1 land-use images of 2009, 2012, 2015, and 2018 were used to provide a land transition in agricultural and urban areas through the synergistic methodology. Socio-economic data was also used to serve as a basis for the argument. The results highlight that: (1) Agricultural land increased by 14.53%, with a dynamic index of 1.45 from 2009–2018. (2) Over the same period, urbanization increased by 2.80%, with a dynamic index of 0.28. (3) In different regions, the transition of agricultural land in Kaffrine is most intense (expansion rate: 22.80%). The same situation of urbanization happened in Thiès Region with a value of 7.94%. Except for Thiès, agricultural land in other regions has not yet been subject to major pressure due to urbanization. Overall, the farming system in Groundnut Basin is an extensive model, the recommendations from the point of view of land-use planning and land law are necessary to ensure efficient agricultural land management in the area.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Terwase Shabu ◽  
Sussan Fate ◽  
Mfanyo Keziah Ukula

This study assessed the Impact of Urbanization on Agricultural Land in Makurdi Local Government Area of Benue State. The data collected were population figures and land use for three Epoch (1997, 2007 and 2017). The satellite images were sourced from the National Center for Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System, Jos. In the analysis, cross change detection analysis and overlay analysis using ArcGIS 9.0 was performed to detect where land-use change has occurred and which type of land use agricultural land has transformed too. The GIS analysis revealed that there is an increase in settlement and a decrease in Agricultural land from 1997 – 2017. It also revealed that 99.51ha of agricultural land use has been converted to settlement between 1997 and 2017. The results reveal that urbanization has significant effects on Agricultural Land in the study area and these effects include; decreasing agricultural land, decreasing agricultural activities and decrease in farm size. If the growth in the population of Makurdi LGA continues unchecked, agricultural land will be significantly depleted in the future. The study recommended that there should be effective law and policy to control population growth sustainably to minimize the negative impact of urbanization in the study area. Also, urban agriculture should be encouraged to sustain the food supply in urban areas.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaroslava Janku ◽  
Josef Kozák ◽  
Kristina Macounová ◽  
Karel Jacko ◽  
Adéla Marie Marhoul ◽  
...  

<p>Currently, we can see a rapid decline of agricultural land, especially for construction purposes. This negative trend is evident across Europe, the Czech Republic is the country with the fastest loss of land in the EU. One reason for the significant loss of agricultural land is building industrial zones is their utilisation of greenfield areas, and their occupying new areas of agricultural land, often the most the most fertile. The analysis deals with the occupied area (the area of a particular industrial zone), the percentage utilization of that industrial zone, the number of employees in the industrial zone, and the land quality expressed by means of the agricultural land protection class. The results of the analysis show the low usability of industrial zones, the large occupation of agricultural land, and the low benefits to the Czech state and Czech citizens. The results also show poor land use policy in relation to soil protection. This work is followed by the project Sustainable management of natural resources with emphasis on non-production and production ability of soil, the results of which will be included in legislation and binding for spatial planning.</p><p><strong>Keywords:</strong> soil sealing, land take, land use changes, agricultural land management, land agriculture protection, brownfield</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Cassan Kimani

Purpose: The better management of land resources is essential for sustainability and for improving the quality of life of people living in the city and the peri urban areas who are mostly farmers With major changes being agricultural land use giving way to residential land use in the peri urban area, access to agricultural land is drastically reduced causing food insecurity problems in the region. The general objective of the study was to establish the access the impact of human population on land degradation. Methodology: The paper used a desk study review methodology where relevant empirical literature was reviewed to identify main themes and to extract knowledge gaps. Findings: The study found out that increase in human population has resulted to more land-use and land cover changes are likely to take place as more land is converted over time, forest to agricultural land, and agricultural land to built-up land, which threatens the existence of agricultural land and water sources in the future. Recommendations: The study recommends that there is the need for stakeholder participation and institutionalize stakeholders’ participations in land use planning process and urban planning. It is only when the public and land owners are well informed about land management issues that a positive change of attitude, adherence to laws on land use among others can be achieved. The county government and the national governments should come up with policies to outlaw arbitrary sale of land especially in areas where the main form of land use is agriculture to enhance the effectiveness of zoning regulations. It is important that the management of land be made the first priority in the study area and the nation as a whole. The various land sector agencies and institutions responsible for land management should enforce the existing laws on land management


Geosciences ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 312
Author(s):  
Barbara Wiatkowska ◽  
Janusz Słodczyk ◽  
Aleksandra Stokowska

Urban expansion is a dynamic and complex phenomenon, often involving adverse changes in land use and land cover (LULC). This paper uses satellite imagery from Landsat-5 TM, Landsat-8 OLI, Sentinel-2 MSI, and GIS technology to analyse LULC changes in 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020. The research was carried out in Opole, the capital of the Opole Agglomeration (south-western Poland). Maps produced from supervised spectral classification of remote sensing data revealed that in 20 years, built-up areas have increased about 40%, mainly at the expense of agricultural land. Detection of changes in the spatial pattern of LULC showed that the highest average rate of increase in built-up areas occurred in the zone 3–6 km (11.7%) and above 6 km (10.4%) from the centre of Opole. The analysis of the increase of built-up land in relation to the decreasing population (SDG 11.3.1) has confirmed the ongoing process of demographic suburbanisation. The paper shows that satellite imagery and GIS can be a valuable tool for local authorities and planners to monitor the scale of urbanisation processes for the purpose of adapting space management procedures to the changing environment.


Author(s):  
Allison Neil

Soil properties are strongly influenced by the composition of the surrounding vegetation. We investigated soil properties of three ecosystems; a coniferous forest, a deciduous forest and an agricultural grassland, to determine the impact of land use change on soil properties. Disturbances such as deforestation followed by cultivation can severely alter soil properties, including losses of soil carbon. We collected nine 40 cm cores from three ecosystem types on the Roebuck Farm, north of Perth Village, Ontario, Canada. Dominant species in each ecosystem included hemlock and white pine in the coniferous forest; sugar maple, birch and beech in the deciduous forest; grasses, legumes and herbs in the grassland. Soil pH varied little between the three ecosystems and over depth. Soils under grassland vegetation had the highest bulk density, especially near the surface. The forest sites showed higher cation exchange capacity and soil moisture than the grassland; these differences largely resulted from higher organic matter levels in the surface forest soils. Vertical distribution of organic matter varied greatly amongst the three ecosystems. In the forest, more of the organic matter was located near the surface, while in the grassland organic matter concentrations varied little with depth. The results suggest that changes in land cover and land use alters litter inputs and nutrient cycling rates, modifying soil physical and chemical properties. Our results further suggest that conversion of forest into agricultural land in this area can lead to a decline in soil carbon storage.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 3556 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gang Liu ◽  
Lu Shi ◽  
Kevin Li

This paper develops a lexicographic optimization model to allocate agricultural and non-agricultural water footprints by using the land area as the influencing factor. An index known as the water-footprint-land density (WFLD) index is then put forward to assess the impact and equity of the resulting allocation scheme. Subsequently, the proposed model is applied to a case study allocating water resources for the 11 provinces and municipalities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB). The objective is to achieve equitable spatial allocation of water resources from a water footprint perspective. Based on the statistical data in 2013, this approach starts with a proper accounting for water footprints in the 11 YREB provinces. We then determined an optimal allocation of water footprints by using the proposed lexicographic optimization approach from a land area angle. Lastly, we analyzed how different types of land uses contribute to allocation equity and we discuss policy changes to implement the optimal allocation schemes in the YREB. Analytical results show that: (1) the optimized agricultural and non-agricultural water footprints decrease from the current levels for each province across the YREB, but this decrease shows a heterogeneous pattern; (2) the WFLD of 11 YREB provinces all decline after optimization with the largest decline in Shanghai and the smallest decline in Sichuan; and (3) the impact of agricultural land on the allocation of agricultural water footprints is mainly reflected in the land use structure of three land types including arable land, forest land, and grassland. The different land use structures in the upstream, midstream, and downstream regions lead to the spatial heterogeneity of the optimized agricultural water footprints in the three YREB segments; (4) In addition to the non-agricultural land area, different regional industrial structures are the main reason for the spatial heterogeneity of the optimized non-agricultural water footprints. Our water-footprint-based optimal water resources allocation scheme helps alleviate the water resources shortage pressure and achieve coordinated and balanced development in the YREB.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document