We present an analysis of the impacts of weather change and large-scale vegetation conservation programs on the vegetation dynamics in China’s Loess Plateau from 2000 through 2009. We employed a multiple lines of evidence approach in which multi-scale data were used. We employed Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data, acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) at 500 m to identify significant vegetation increases in the Loess Plateau since 2000. We found increases in NDVI for 48% of the Loess Plateau between 2000 and 2009.

This research examines the integration and potential uses of linkages between climate dynamics, savanna vegetation and landscape level processes within a highly vulnerable region, both in terms of climate variability and social systems. We explore the combined applications of two time-series methodologies: (1) climate signals detected in tree ring growth, from published literature, chronologies from the International Tree-Ring Data Bank, and minimal preliminary field data; and (2) new primary production (NPP) data of vegetation cover over time derived from remotely sensed analyses.

The increase in population and the expansion of built-up areas into natural and agricultural areas results in more than just loss of open spaces surrounding cities. Reduced accessibility to nature, visual intrusion of buildings into natural viewsheds, and changes in runoff requires us to assess these impacts on open spaces. Our aim in this paper was to examine and demonstrate how topography can be incorporated into modeling and analyzing environmental impacts of cities.

Using the database of eight Central and Eastern European transition economies compiled from the World Bank collection of World Development Indicators, the authors examine the relationship between high contract-intensive money as an indicator of contractual and property rights (or a general measure of the quality of governance and institutions) and performance of several macroeconomic indicators (GDP growth, FDI to GDP ratio, employment rate etc.) over the period from 1990 to 2011. The Pearson's correlation coefficients were used to determine the strength of the relationships.

The paper gives an overview of the directions and results of research carried out in geodesy and land management at the Latvia University of Agriculture from the year 1939, when the Surveying Department (later the Department of Geodesy) was established, up to the present day. Since the beginnings of the Department, researches in geodesy have been associated with problems of precise levelling: vertical movements of the earth crust, deformation of buildings and structures, as well as accuracy evaluation of geodetic instruments.

The aim of the research is to analyse the landscape structure changes from the end of the Soviet times in 1974–1986 until 2005 when market economy existed in Lithuania. The changes of landscape structure were observed in 100 sample areas (squares) each of them having 2.5 km2 area and distributed in different landscape types. The changes in sample areas (squares) with determination of land cover structure transformations were observed using topographic photos and ortophoto images at a scale 1:10 000.

As a result of the Land Reform, property forming and land market, farm areas were often built up from a number of land plots (up to 20), sometimes with unfavourable order. With the rural development and stabilization of farm production, the role and tasks of rational territory organization are expected to increase significantly in the area. It can be forecasted that, as a result of land rent and further purchase and sell, and other transactions, many new farmland properties are expected to appear that will not correspond to the requirements of rational territorial organization.

The focus of this research is to check if urban crime is related to the social spatial urban structure and to identify the most unsafe territories in the city of Klaipeda from the point of view of crime and urban structure. Space syntax theory and method, as well as correlation analysis have been used for this purpose. The research results have revealed that all types of crimes depend on global integration and global depth: the more integrated and shallow the open public spaces are the more crime incidents in these spaces happen.

The aim of this study was to compare the agricultural land market in Poland and in the selected countries of the European Union. The present paper compares the price changes of agricultural land in Poland and the EU. This research contains the information on institutions involved in agricultural land management in the selected EU countries. The paper presents the current state of the Polish market and its prospects for the land. Therefore, the development of the agricultural real estate market in Poland covers the years from 2004 to 2012.

Forest is an important natural resource to the Latvian economy. It is useful to examine the historical context to estimate objectively the events that created the structure of forest property rights today. While 50.3% of all Latvian forests are state-owned and the remaining 49.7% are under different ownership, historically this structure has changed with the political situation and the authorities.

To justify the importance of the indicators affecting the cadastral value, surveys were carried out, by help of which opinions of different respondent groups were summarized. The interviewed respondent groups were real property specialists of municipalities and experts. The thematic blocks of the questions included in the questionnaires are designed with the aim to clarify the quality of the indicators of cadastral assessment models, as well as their significance.

This paper presents the issues of land resources on dairy farms of various scale of production. Using a dynamic scope, it analyses the shaping of parameters such as the area of own and rented land, share of rented land in the whole area of land, share of arable land, and the technical development of land factor in accordance with the number of dairy cows. Distinct dependencies between the shaping of parameters and the scale of production have been observed in the research. Data from the Polish FADN for the years 2004-2009 were used in the paper.