Hainan, the largest tropical island in China, belongs to the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot. The Changhua watershed is a center of endemism for plants and birds and the cradle of Hainan’s main rivers. However, this area has experienced recent and ongoing deforestation and habitat fragmentation. To quantify habitat loss and fragmentation of natural forests, as well as the land-cover changes in the Changhua watershed, we analyzed Landsat images obtained in 1988, 1995, and 2005.

Amazon ecosystem degradation profoundly impacts life supporting processes of global importance such as climate regulation, as well as local conditions for livelihoods. In Peru's highland jungle, an expanding deforestation front of forest conversion to agriculture has vastly transformed the landscape. Small–scale farming, the main driver of forest degradation, and consequently household natural resource management affect ecosystem functionality. To investigate farmers' attitudes and priorities to services provided by the ecosystems (ES) we interviewed 51 farmers, both local and colonists.

Mato Grosso has emerged as the Brazilian state with the highest deforestation rate, and with the most dynamic changes in vegetation and land cover. In this article, we focus on the following two main objectives: (i) to quantitatively assess the extent of vegetation change over the past two decades for more accurate eco-climatic impact analysis; and (ii) to clarify the causes to the changes in this state, with special focus to agro-pastoral activities and roads networks.

Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) and Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) are considered effective market-based conservation approaches. Surprisingly, limited evidence is conceptualized from a gendered perspective despite widespread knowledge of men's and women's roles as resource users. This study unravels this puzzle by exploring the extent to which three schemes in Kenya integrate gender in design and implementation.

This study compiles and analyses national-level data on land use change (LUC) and its causes in Indonesia and Malaysia over the past 30 years. The study also explores the role that palm oil has played in past LUC and that projected growth in palm oil production may play in LUC until 2020 and suggests strategies to minimize negative effects. Data collection for the study revealed that the quality and quantity of data on LUC on a national scale over time are low.

Large-scale land conversion for agriculture in Brazilian Amazonia is occurring at persistently high rates. Basin-wide net land use and land cover changes imply substantially different situations between distinct regions and states due to different agricultural policies. This research used eight landscape metrics to quantify and investigate the spatial patterns of cattle pasture and cropland throughout the states of Pará, Mato Grosso, Rondônia, and Amazonas.

Accurately quantifying changes in soil carbon (C) stocks with land-use change is important for estimating the anthropogenic fluxes of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere and for implementing policies such as REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) that provide financial incentives to reduce carbon dioxide fluxes from deforestation and land degradation. Despite hundreds of field studies and at least a dozen literature reviews, there is still considerable disagreement on the direction and magnitude of changes in soil C stocks with land-use change.

Geospatial information of small mangrove islands in the Philippines is usually lacking. Such information is vital to monitor mangrove cover change and craft plans for their sustainable management. This study was conducted to provide some land use information about Banacon Island in Bohol province. The island is renowned for its vast mangrove plantations, community-initiated reforestation, and double reef system. To determine the different forest land uses therein, the study employed a maximum likelihood classification method using two Landsat images of different periods.

Geographic information systems and remote sensing technologies have become an important tool for visualizing conservation management and developing solutions to problems associated with conservation. When multiple organizations separately develop spatial data representations of protected areas, implicit error arises due to variation between data sets.

It is urgent in science and society to address climate change and other sustainability challenges such as biodiversity loss, deforestation, depletion of marine fish stocks, global ill-health, land degradation, land use change and water scarcity. Sustainability science (SS) is an attempt to bridge the natural and social sciences for seeking creative solutions to these complex challenges. In this article, we propose a research agenda that advances the methodological and theoretical understanding of what SS can be, how it can be pursued and what it can contribute.

Land use and land cover change (LUCC) models frequently employ different accessibility measures as a proxy for human influence on land change processes. Here, we simulate deforestation in Peruvian Amazonia and evaluate different accessibility measures as LUCC model inputs. We demonstrate how the selection, and different combinations, of accessibility measures impact simulation results. Out of the individual measures, time distance to market center catches the essential aspects of accessibility in our study area.

This paper analyses some key findings emerged in the study of the Mayan community of S. Jos Sinach, located in the Guatemalan Highlands. The research highlights how colonial and post-colonial legislation influences the actual land tenure and hampers the development of the community. Little land ownership together with high demographic growth lead to insufficient crop production. As a consequence, human pressure on S. Jos forest and seasonal migration to sugar cane plantations of the Pacific Coast is carried out by householders in order to ensure subsistence to their families.