In an attempt to curb urban land growth and protect environmentally sensitive areas during the urbanization period, urban containment policies in different forms have been implemented over the last three decades at the national and local levels. In this study, we measure the extent of environmentally sensitive area loss in the rural–urban fringe of Wuhan City, where massive urban development has taken place, using 34 years of land use data.

Agricultural land use planning is based on the capacity of the soil to support different types of crops and is a prerequisite for better use of cultivated land. Land Suitability Analysis (LSA) is used to measure the level of suitability of growing a specific crop in the area and can also be used to evaluate future scenarios as a means for sustainable agriculture.

Access to land is crucial for food systems to address the challenges caused by habitat and biodiversity loss, land and water degradation, and greenhouse gas emissions. Sustainable food production requires land security upstream for agricultural production. Land security emanates from the land law implemented in-country by government policy. In the span of a decade (2007–2017), three different land reforms have been adopted in Benin.