This in-depth study quantifies the spatio-temporal long-term land use/land cover change (LUCC) in the Mula Pravara river basin, and uncovers major drivers of these changes. The river basin is located in a semi-arid region of Maharashtra state, India. The study demonstrates the advantages of using satellite remote-sensing techniques to monitor LUCC, which is useful for predicting future land use development and for providing evidence to underpin adaptation strategies.

In Indonesia, land cover change for agriculture and mining is threatening tropical forests, biodiversity and ecosystem services. However, land cover change is highly dynamic and complex and varies over time and space. In this study, we combined Landsat-based land cover (change) mapping, pixel-to-pixel cross tabulations and expert knowledge to analyze land cover change and forest loss in the West Kutai and Mahakam Ulu districts in East Kalimantan from 1990-2009.

Cropland expansion threatens biodiversity by driving habitat loss and impacts carbon storage through loss of biomass and soil carbon (C). There is a growing concern land use change (LUC) to cropland will result in a loss of ecosystem function and various ecosystem services essential for human health and wellbeing. This paper examines projections of future cropland expansion from an integrated assessment model IMAGE 3.0 under a 'business as usual' scenario and the direct impact on both biodiversity and C storage.

The transition from fossil to renewable energy needs changes in land use. The development of renewable energy sources introduce extra and sometimes new externalities, such as shadows and noise on landscape. There are governments who are experiencing difficulties when developing renewable energy sources especially when existing land owners (and others) start anticipating on those externalities. Therewith, land use conflicts have become a major issue for governments in meeting renewable energy policy objectives.

Urbanization and climate changes have direct impacts on ecosystems and the services they provide to society, thus influencing human well-being and health. Urban sprawl may conflict with ecosystem services, e.g. enhancing water-related stresses and risks of, e.g., droughts and floods, with significant economic, environmental and societal impacts. Such hydro-climatic extremes and their societal impacts are evident around the world. East Africa is a region with highly vulnerable populations to frequent floods and droughts.

Land abandonment is widespread in the Mediterranean mountains. The impact of agricultural abandonment results in a shift in ecosystem evolution due to changes in soil erosion, but little is known about long-term soil and water losses. This paper uses 11 years of measurements in two paired plots (abandoned vs control) with four subplots to determine how soil and water losses evolved after abandonment within an agricultural parcel. For two years (2004–2005) both plots were under tillage, and after 2006 one plot was abandoned.

Explorations of future land use change are important to understand potential conflicts between competing land uses, trade-offs associated with particular land change trajectories, and the effectiveness of policies to steer land systems into desirable states. Most model-based explorations and scenario studies focused on conversions in broad land use classes, but disregarded changes in land management or focused on individual sectors only.

With the growing recognition that effective action on climate change will require a combination of emissions reductions and carbon sequestration, protecting, enhancing and restoring natural carbon sinks have become political priorities. Mangrove forests are considered some of the most carbon-dense ecosystems in the world with most of the carbon stored in the soil. In order for mangrove forests to be included in climate mitigation efforts, knowledge of the spatial distribution of mangrove soil carbon stocks are critical.

The continuous rise in the global demand for palm oil has resulted in large-scale expansion of industrial oil palm plantations - largely at the expense of primary and secondary forests. The potentially negative environmental impacts of these conversions have given rise to closer scrutiny. However, empirical data on the effects of conversion of forests to industrial oil palm plantations on soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks is scarce and patchy.

Causal explanations of land change are fundamental in land system science, yet existing findings are difficult to synthesize due to the imprecise terminology and the various analytical frameworks they have applied. This paper compares three existing conceptual frameworks, in terms of underlying driving forces and proximate causes, actors, and environmental cognitions, by aligning the relevant elements into a causal chain. We find that the elicitation of environmental cognitions helps in providing a detailed description of this causal chain.

The paper provides the analysis of improving the land reform in the Republic of Kazakhstan. The authors examine the main development stages of land ownership relations, during which the work has been performed to transform agricultural enterprises, privatize land and change the land use. The main legal acts, intended to regulate the issues of land ownership and territorial organization and creating conditions for the development of the land market, are shown.

By law, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Ethiopia are severely restricted in their activities towards policy development. In this study we explore to what extent these restrictions have affected NGOs in Natural Resource Management in the Oromia regional state of Ethiopia.