A geomorphologic analysis applied to the knowledge of the regional Quaternary geology was carried out in an arid region of Central Western Argentina. The study area lies between Eastern Precordillera and Western Pampean ranges System. The need for a better knowledge of the territorial units is required for a sustainable development of the new agricultural farms in the southern part of the central valley of the San Juan river. The geomorphologic study combine field works with processing and interpretation of air stereo photographs and satellite images.

Land use change is the most pervasive force driving the degradation of watershed ecosystems. This article combines an econometric model of land use choice with models of watershed health indicators to examine the effects of land use policies on watershed ecosystems through their effect on land use. Our results suggest that incentive-based land use policies and property acquisition programs can have relatively large positive impacts on watershed health, while policies that change the returns to land use are less effective.

A negotiation support system (NSS) was developed to solve groundwater conflicts that arose during land-use management. It was set up in cooperation with the stakeholders involved to provide information on the impact of land use, e.g., agriculture, nature (forested areas), recreation, and urban areas, on the quality of both infiltrating and abstracted groundwater. This NSS combined simulation programs that calculate (1) the concentrations of nitrate in shallow groundwater for each land-use area and (2) the transport of nitrate in the groundwater-saturated zone.

That was to perform a determination of land suitability classes for agricultural land uses in Ankara Imrahor valley and vicinity with this study. First of all detailed survey and mapping of research area was performed with aid of satellite data and topographic maps then four different soil serials and their fourteen different mapping units were described. For this units, 38 different land uses were describe as their soil and meterological properties and calculated their suitability for this region and determined and mapping their land suitability classes for agricultural purposes.

Voting methods were used by Metsähallitus in a real strategic participatory planning case in a regional working group context. The general aim of the study was to find out whether learning and collaborative decision making could be adequately supported by using the voting methods in the regional stakeholder group.