Digital 3D cadastres are often envisaged as the visualisation of 3D property rights (legal objects) and to some extent, their physical counterparts (physical objects) such as buildings and utility networks on, above and under the surface. They facilitate registration and management of 3D properties and reduction of boundary disputes. They also enable a wide variety of applications that in turn identify detailed and integrated 3D legal and physical objects for property management and city space management (3D land use management).

Landslides are the most common hazard in mountainous regions of northeast Algeria. In this study, landslide hazard zonation of Souk Ahras province was carried out using a Raster-based GIS and statistical processing. Landslide locations were defined from interpretation of aerial photographs and field surveys. Rotational, planar and complex landslides were identified.

Around 11.5∗10⁶m³ of rock detached from the eastern slope of the Santa Cruz valley (San Juan province, Argentina) in the first fortnight of January 2005. The rockslide–debris avalanche blocked the course, resulting in the development of a lake with maximum length of around 3.5km. The increase in the inflow rate from 47,000–74,000m³/d between April and October to 304,000m³/d between late October and the first fortnight of November, accelerated the growing rate of the lake. On 12 November 2005 the dam failed, releasing 24.6∗10⁶m³ of water.

Traditional nationwide agri-environmental policy measures are not always efficient to ensure the provision of environmental services that would match peoples’ preferences. This study suggests a landscape value trade (LVT) scheme to be locally implemented so as to ensure the supply of agricultural landscape attributes demanded by local citizens. The feasibility of LVT, a ‘user-financed’ payment for environmental services (PES) scheme, is analysed in a local case from the southern part of Finland. We examine the disposition of both landowners (sellers) as well as residents (buyers).

This paper mapped and valued key inter-related drylands ecosystem services of importance to pastoralists, crop farmers, the tourism industry, conservationists, and policy planners in the Ewaso Ng’iro basin, the largest of the five major basins in Kenya. We used an ecosystem services approach where only final benefits are valued to avoid double counting. The final benefits are ecosystem services or commodities which have an economic value.

Watering is known to convert deserts into oases. However, information on how irrigation brings changes in physical and chemical properties of soils in a desert biome is not yet known, though pertinent to land use planning. This study reports influence of irrigation and cropping sequence on physico-chemical properties of soils in the Thar Desert, Rajasthan, India.

The hyper-arid conditions, low inherent soil fertility, water scarcity, and marginal water quality collectively constrain the local agriculture production in Abu Dhabi, UAE. To achieve this, an integrated suitability assessment was conducted considering soil resources, relief/slope, and water resources and forms the focus of the present study. The soils were classified using Soil Taxonomy (ST).

Mountainous rural communities have traditionally managed their land extensively, resulting in land uses that provide important ecosystem services for both rural and urban areas. Over recent decades, these communities have undergone drastic changes in economic structure, population size and land use. Our understanding of the exact mechanisms that drive these changes is limited, and there is also a lack of integrative approaches to enable decision makers to steer rural development towards a more sustainable path.

Reservoir management faces a wide range of new challenges resulting from the impact of climate change. One set of challenges arises from the non-stationary nature of hydrological conditions. Another crucial issue is watershed sedimentation, which can significantly influence the sustainability and safety of reservoirs. To address these concerns, this study developed a framework for the management of reservoir risk. An analytical conceptual model coupling physical governing relationships and economic tools was proposed, which was then applied to the Shihmen Reservoir in Taiwan.

Regarding increasing pressures by global societal and climate change, the assessment of the impact of land use and land management practices on land degradation and the related decrease in sustainable provision of ecosystem services gains increasing interest. Existing approaches to assess agricultural practices focus on the assessment of single crops or statistical data because spatially explicit information on practically applied crop rotations is mostly not available.

The project commissioned by the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) aimed to examine the degree to which UK, mainly English local planning authorities, incorporate health in their land use plans and development decisions. The project involved systematic reviews of evidence together with case studies. The range of performance in relation to health identified in the project shows that best practice in England depends not so much on the planning system per se, as on the leadership, commitment and knowledge of politicians and practitioners involved.

The intent of this paper is to place the concepts of exposure, vulnerability, resilience and risk in the context of the consequences of global change for the sustainable development of small island developing states (SIDS). Many such states face a number of global climate change risks, such as an increase in the proportion of more intense storms, along with other global change threats that include energy security and costs.