Common approaches to mapping green infrastructure in urbanised landscapes invariably focus on measures of land use or land cover and associated functional or physical traits. However, such one-dimensional perspectives do not accurately capture the character and complexity of the landscapes in which urban inhabitants live. The new approach presented in this paper demonstrates how open-source, high spatial and temporal resolution data with global coverage can be used to measure and represent the landscape qualities of urban environments.

This study uses a combination of remote sensing data, field interviews and observations, and landscape indices to examine the dynamics of land use and land cover (LULC), identify their driving forces, and analyze their effects on the landscape of Abaya-Chamo Basin (ACB) between 1985, 1995, and 2010. The results reveal that the landscape of ACB has changed considerably during the past 25 years between 1985 and 2010. The main changes observed imply a rapid reduction in shrubland (28.82%) and natural grassland (33.13%), and an increase in arable land (59.15%).

Accounting for one quarter of China’s land area, the endorheic Shiyang River basin is a vast semi-arid to arid region in China’s northwest. Exploring the impact of changes in land use on this arid area’s carbon budget under global warming is a key component to global climate change research. Variation in the region’s soil carbon storage due to land use changes occurring between 1973 and 2012 was estimated. The results show that land use change has a significant impact on the soil carbon budget, with soil carbon storage having decreased by 3.89 Tg between 1973 and 2012.

This article aims to explore the causes of informal settlements in Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM). The article strongly challenges the view that the cause of informal settlements in EMM and other parts of South Africa is predominantly the apartheid government and agrees with literature which provides evidence that to a larger extent, the present government, not the apartheid government, is one of the dominant causes of informal settlements.

A representative of the Auditor-General South Africa (AGSA) briefed the Committee on the audit outcomes and expenditure patters in the rural development portfolio for the 2014/2015 financial year. The quality of submitted financial statements for the Agricultural Land Holding Account (ALHA) was good but needed improvement. The quality of submitted performance reports for Ingonyama Trust Board (ITB) was good but required intervention from the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (DRDLR or the Department).

The Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (DLDLR) provided a progress report on its interventions to address the challenges arising from the actions of the Rama Communal Property Association (CPA). The CPA had initiated some income generating activities on its land, which included a quarry business, and had started a museum and an entertainment centre that featured a cinema. In partnership with the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality and private investors the CPA was in the process of developing houses on its land.

The Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) has nine regional offices and three satellite offices. It explained that there were business processes in place to guide the application and consultation process. It emphasised that the primary duty to consult rested with an applicant for a mining permit and a prospecting, exploration, production or mining right. Applications for rights and permits were lodged online using the South African Mineral Resources Administration System (SAMRAD).

The preservation, development and sustainable use of agricultural land are of vital importance to ensure long-term food security. On a global level, food security is closely linked to Goal 1 of the Millennium Development Goals, namely to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger by, amongst others, halving, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.

The Select Committee on Land and Mineral Resources having conducted oversight at the Council of Geosciences (CGS), the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) and Onderstepoort Biological Products (OBP), from 21 – 22 October 2014 reports as follows:

1. Background and Introduction

Agri SA supported orderly land reform – equitable land distribution is a prerequisite for rural stability and inclusive rural development. Agri-SA believed that expropriation should only be used as a last resort where negotiations fail. There needed to be a clear purpose for expropriation. Compensation should never be dependent on the state’s ability to pay. The land owner should always be afforded recourse to the courts to contest both the merits of the expropriation and the compensation amount.

The Commission for Gender Equality presented on its proposed campaign called One Woman, One Hectare of Land’. The campaign aims to mainstream gender equality, for it was proposed that the State should allocate one hectare of land, for the growing of food, to the poorest rural female-run households. It was believed that this would help alleviate poverty and empower rural women. It was pointed out that where women had land, their families generally were better nourished, better educated and able to move on.

In South Africa, policies of separate development and restrictions placed on capital expenditure imposed on the lands occupied by the indigenous people during the colonial era prevented the state from implementing the cadastre in the communal areas of the country. The status quo persists to this day, which has resulted in a dual system that promoted investment in areas where private property rights were permitted, but relegated the traditional communities into poverty and disinvestment