The increasing scarcity of water in California and the rising cost of compliance with environmental regulations are motivating some farmers in the San Joaquin Valley to sell their land and water, and discontinue production of irrigated crops. In the summer of 2004, all landowners in the 3,700-ha Broadview Water District decided to sell their land to Westlands Water District. The land sales have been completed and Westlands has acquired Broadview's water supply contract. Farmland in Broadview will no longer be irrigated.

We studied the ecological characteristics of 45-50-yr-old subtropical dry forest stands in Puerto Rico that were growing on sites that had been deforested and used intensively for up to 128 yr. The study took place in the Guánica Commonwealth Forest. Our objective was to assess the long-term effects of previous land use on this forest--i.e., its species composition, structure, and functioning. Previous land-use types included houses, farmlands, and charcoal pits. Stands with these land uses were compared with a nearby mature forest stand.

Recent observations show that human-induced climate change (CC) and land transformation (LT) are threatening wildlife globally. Thus, there is a need to assess the sensitivity of wildlife on large spatial scales and evaluate whether national parks (NPs), a key conservation tools used to protect species, will meet their mandate under future CC and LT conditions. Here, we assess the sensitivity of 277 mammals at African scale to CC at 10[prime] resolution, using static LT assumptions in a 'first-cut' estimate, in the absence of credible future LT trends.

If the United States chooses to implement a greenhouse gas reduction program, it would be necessary to decide whether to include carbon sequestration policies---such as those that promote forestation and discourage deforestation---as part of the domestic portfolio of compliance activities. We investigate the cost of forest-based carbon sequestration by analyzing econometrically micro-data on revealed landowner preferences, modeling six major private land uses in a comprehensive analysis of the contiguous United States.

The Dadia forest complex, in the Evros prefecture, in north eastern Greece was designated as a nature reserve in 1980 in order to protect the black vulture (Aegypius monachus) and other raptors. In this paper, the impacts of the protection on the forest growth were assessed using geographic information system (GIS) technologies. The major requirement for almost all research needed for sustainable forest management is extensive and intensive monitoring. GIS is a convenient tool for integrating remotely sensed data and various other kinds geo-referenced data.

Pooled water beetle species lists from 1826 British national grid 10-km squares were analysed using multivariate ordination and classification methods. The relationships of pool groups to the climate, altitude and land cover variables were assessed using constrained and partial ordinations. Ordination of the species pool data indicated a major trend between squares in the north-west of Scotland and those in southern England, illustrating differences in acid and basic water standing water. Secondary variation was from acid standing water to fast-flowing streams and rivers.

This paper investigates the effects of wheat genetic diversity and land degradation on risk and agricultural productivity in less favored production environments of a developing agricultural economy. Drawing production data from household survey conducted in the highlands of Ethiopia, we estimate a stochastic production function to evaluate the effects of variety richness, land degradation, and their interaction on the mean and the variance of wheat yield. Ethiopia is a centre of diversity for durum wheat and farmers manage complex variety mixtures on multiple plots.

This paper presents a range of future, spatially explicit, land use change scenarios for the EU15, Norway and Switzerland based on an interpretation of the global storylines of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that are presented in the special report on emissions scenarios (SRES). The methodology is based on a qualitative interpretation of the SRES storylines for the European region, an estimation of the aggregate totals of land use change using various land use change models and the allocation of these aggregate quantities in space using spatially explicit rules.

Changes in rural areas, such as depopulation and land abandonment, but also intensification and loss of biodiversity, usually proceed very slowly yet are often irreversible. A scenario study (called EURURALIS) was carried out by Wageningen University and Research Centre in combination with the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (MNP) to stimulate the strategic discussion among both national policy makers and policy makers at the European Union level on the future of Europe's rural areas and the role of policy instruments.

NAFTA's investment treaty has led to several expropriation compensation claims from investors hurt by new environmental regulations. Expropriation clauses in international treaties solve post-investment moral hazard problems such as hold-ups. However, these clauses can interact with National Treatment clauses in a manner that hinders investment. A police powers carve-out from the definition of expropriation can be Pareto-improvingand can increase the level of foreign investment.