Invasive alien plants have a negative impact on ecosystem goods and services derived from ecosystems. Consequently, the aggressive spread of invasive alien plants (IAPs) in the river catchments of South Africa is a major threat to, inter alia, water security. The Olifants River catchment is one such a catchment that is under pressure because of the high demand for water from mainly industrial sources and unsustainable land-use, which includes IAPs. This study considered the cost-effectiveness of clearing IAPs and compared these with the cost of a recently constructed dam.

In the appraisal of the market value of the properties are applied two important surface indexes: the market surface ratio of the secondary surfaces and the ratio of the site value to total value (allocation method).

To discriminate between the contributions of ecosystems and the human subsidies to agricultural systems,
we propose using an additional terminology to bring clarification into the controversial discussion about i)
ecosystems versus agrosystems and ii) ecosystem services versus agrosystem services. A literature review
revealed that with the exception of some very recent publications, this has not yet been sufficiently
reflected, neither within the scientific nor in the policy discussion. The question remains whether to spoil

Inadequacies in the indication of cultural ecosystem services (CES) are a hindrance in assessing their
comprehensive impacts on human wellbeing. Similarly, uncertainties about the quantity and quality of
CES, in real time and space, have hampered the ability of resource managers to precisely take responsive
management actions. The aim of the study is to demonstrate, how CES indicators can be identified and
qualified in order to link CES to human wellbeing, and to integrate them into the ‘ecosystem services cascade’

This paper presents an overview of progress in the area of nature conservation in the last decade in Kosovo.
Two very important laws were promulgated in 2012 about two national parks: Bjeshket e Nemuna and
Sharri National park. With this expansion, the protected area network that in 2003 was about 4.36 % of
the territory was increased to 10.9%, reaching a satisfactory degree of protected areas and increasing the
number of protected areas in a total of 116. While in terms of conservation of protected areas a significant

The purpose of the article is to review current paradigms in ecosystem services valuation, existing gaps and current trends in addressing those gaps. Natural capital, often defined as the stock of natural ecosystems that yields a flow of valuable ecosystem goods or services into the future, is often undervalued or not valued at all by governments, business and society, which leads to environmental degradation and loss of biodiversity.

Housing prices in the Lyon Urban Area are simulated with the land use framework UrbanSim interacting with transportation model. We focus on the Real Estate Price Model of the UrbanSim framework. This OLS regression model of housing prices is calibrated using a nine-year back-casting period. The calibrated model, applied in simulation, provides price dynamics similar to actual one in the centre of Lyon. Sensitivity analysis demonstrates the model’s ability to capture changes in employment accessibility on price dynamics.

The present chaotic transformation from the industrial to the global information society is accelerating the ecological,
social and economic unsustainability. The rapidly growing unsustainable, fossil energy powered urbanindustrial
technosphere and their detrimental impacts on nature and human well-being are threatening the solar
energy powered natural and seminatural biosphere landscapes and their vital ecosystem services. A sustainability
revolution is therefore urgently needed, requiring a shift from the „fossil age“ to the „solar age“ of a new world

The effects of landscape context on habitat quality are receiving increased attention in conservation biology. The objective of this research is to demonstrate a landscape-level approach to mapping and evaluating the anthropogenic risks of grassland and forest habitat degradation by examining habitat context as defined by intensive anthropogenic land uses at multiple spatial scales.

The authors develop a concept paper on the economic valuation of land. They detail the basic principles corroborated with the direct factors that modify the mathematical parameters and also the impact of construction on the land. Starting from the principles of Darin Drabkin, the authors develop, within the concept of a market economy, an urban land sale procedure by optimizing the control of land instruments. This study asks about the expected consequences of increasing the tax rate on the land component of real estate while reducing the rate at which the improvement is taxed.

Land consumption is currently one of the major problems affecting green spaces, natural or agricultural. This issue is very important both for agricultural system functionality and, consequently, for its permanence. This paper proposes an analyzing tool of land use changes to support planning policies, in order to highlight the major determinants of land use that affect the permanence of agricultural activity. The case studies are Lodi, Milan and Monza Brianza Provinces, in Lombardy Region.

Like land before the industrial revolution, in the present global economy much knowledge is being enclosed in private hands. In this paper we argue that these enclosures have become a major factor in specialization among firms and among countries: both are forced to specialize in the fields that are not restricted by the enclosures of the others. We use data on 26 OECD countries over the 1978-2006 period.