Phragmites australis populations in native areas have been gradually declining since the mid-20th century. We developed a logical approach based on remote sensing to monitor the conservation status of P. australis beds in response to environmental gradients and orient future management actions in Lake Garda (northern Italy). During the 2010 growing season we collected data on: (i) the structural and functional status of seven P.

In the Andean region of South America, understanding communities’ water perceptions is particularly important for water management as many rural communities must decide by themselves if and how they will protect their micro-watersheds and distribute their water. In this study we examine how Water User Associations in the Eastern Andes of Colombia perceive water scarcity and the relationship between this perception and observed climate, land use, and demographic changes. Results demonstrate a complex relationship between perceptions and observed changes.

Land-use change has a significant impact on the world's ecosystems. Changes in the extent and composition of forests, grasslands, wetlands and other ecosystems have large impacts on the provision of ecosystem services, biodiversity conservation and returns to landowners. While the change in private returns to landowners due to land-use change can often be measured, changes in the supply and value of ecosystem services and the provision of biodiversity conservation have been harder to quantify.

Flood spreading is one of the suitable strategies to control and benefit from floods which in turn improve the groundwater recharge, makes soil more fertile, and increases nutrients in soil. It is also a method for reusing sediment, which is usually wasted. Thus, selection of suitable areas for flood spreading and directing the flood water into permeable formations are amongst the most effective strategies in flood spreading projects.

Property rights, the agricultural price index, forest area, population, income and timber price are important factors in the deforestation process. The aim of this study was to test the impact of these factors on deforestation in Iran using an environmental Kuznets curve (EKC). The autoregressive distributed lag approach was also used to estimate the deforestation function. The existence of an inverted U-shaped EKC for deforestation in Iran was confirmed.

Tropical mangrove forests can play an important role in the functioning of adjacent marine ecosystems, by protecting them from an excess in land‐derived sediment and nutrients. The strength of this interaction may however depend on the nutrient status of the mangrove forest. This study related the nutrient status of eight mangrove forests in Phang Nga Bay (Thailand) to the land‐cover distributions in the upstream catchment areas.

The effects of land use policy and socioeconomic changes on urban landscape dynamics have been increasingly investigated around the world, but our knowledge of the underlying processes of these effects is still inadequate for sustainably managing urban ecosystems.

A key activity in Phase 1 of REDD+—the UN’s Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) forestry mitigation mechanism—is the development of policies and measures (PAMs) to define where and how emissions reductions and carbon stock enhancements and conservation will be achieved. This paper provides contextual data and information for the development of PAMs specifically for the buffer zones of protected areas in the Peruvian Amazon, sites where REDD+ has the potential to generate considerable social and ecological co-benefits.

Information about changes in, and causes of, land use/land cover (LULC) is crucial for land use resource planning. We investigated the processes involved in LULC change (LUCC) in the Dongjiang Watershed, in Southern China, over a 15-year period to gain a better understanding of the causes of the main types of LUCC. Using a depth transition matrix and redundancy analysis (RDA), the major types and causes of LUCC for each LULC type over the past 15 years were identified. LUCC exhibited obvious net change, relatively low persistence, and high swap change.

Obtaining information about soil properties under different agricultural uses to plan soil management is very important with a view to sustainability in the different agricultural systems. The aim of this study was to evaluate changes in certain indicators of the physical quality of a dystrophic Red Latosol (Oxisol) under different agricultural uses. The study was conducted in an agricultural area located in northern Paraná State.

Quantifying the amount of forest and change in the amount of forest are key to ensure that appropriate management practices and policies are in place to maintain the array of ecosystem services provided by forests. There are a range of analytical techniques and data available to estimate these forest parameters, however, not all ‘forest’ is the same and various components of change have been presented. Forest as defined by use and forest as defined by cover are different, although it is common for scientists and policy makers to infer one from the other.

Soil loss is a major concern for land managers due to its influence on biomass production, surface water quality and landscape beauty. In Somalia, the risk of soil loss is accelerated by the removal of vegetation, bad land use practices and negative impacts of urbanization. The political upheavals and consequent insecurity in the country are major limitations for detailed database and research in soil loss.