Despite growing attention around the climate security-migration nexus, the linkages between climate change, migration, and conflict and security risks have remained a matter of debate for research, policy, and practice. Attempts at gathering empirical evidence on this nexus, as well as global level policy instruments, have mainly focused on international contexts. At national and sub-national scales, interest and awareness around this nexus has yet to be reflected in the policy arena.

2021 was WLE’s final year – the culmination of a decade of science and impact. Throughout the year we saw the real-world difference made by our flagship projects and watched solutions unfold at landscape and basin scales. We also saw our research flow into larger processes in a year of international action that included the UN Food Systems Summit and high-stakes meetings of the UN Conventions on Climate Change and Biological Diversity.

The Climate Risk Planning and Managing Tool for Development Programmes in the Agriculture and Food Sector (CRISP) project, funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)/ Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ), aims to address the shortfall in climate risk screening tools. The project is a collaboration between Eurac Research (Italy) and the Alliance of Bioversity and the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT).

The paper aims to understand what land rights women have under formal and customary legal systems in pastoral areas in Ethiopia;how these are implemented and what their impact is;and to make recommendations for their convergence. It focuses on two pastoral regions: Afar and Oromia national regional states. The research revealed that there is a high disparity between what the law says and what is being practiced on the ground as far as women’s land rights in pastoral areas are concerned.

This one-pager provides details on the LAND-at-scale project in Chad. This project is implemented by Kadaster International and Oxfam Novib, and financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs via the Netherlands Enterprise & Development Agency. 

This one-pager provides details on the LAND-at-scale project in Rwanda. This project is implemented by Kadaster International and IDLO, and financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs via the Netherlands Enterprise & Development Agency. 

The spatial distribution of potentially toxic elements in land near a heavily loaded highway in the West Attica region (Greece) is discussed. This study aimed to investigate the extent of soil contamination with trace elements on land in the margin of highways. The concentration of thirty-five elements in topsoil, car ash, and road sediment bulk samples was determined. Statistical and spatial analysis was applied for evaluating the geochemical dispersion of the examined elements. Geo-accumulation index was estimated.

Greece represents a very peculiar case of industrial development due to a series of historical evolutions. Hence, the present paper aims to discuss the shift from the unregulated and unplanned spatial development paradigm of productive activities to the one of modern “Business parks” (hereinafter BPs), expected to adapt to international standards the location and function of industrial activity, in the Greek territory.

Rural settlements account for 45% of the world’s population and are targeted places for poverty eradication. However, compared to urban footprints, the distribution of rural settlements is not well characterized in most existing land use and land cover maps because of their patchy and scattered organization and relative stability over time. In this study, we proposed a pixel- and object-based method to map rural settlements by employing spectral-texture-temporal information from Landsat and Sentinel time series.

This paper presents test results of comprehensive laboratory and field-testing program efforts for the development of bioengineering solutions such as growing vegetation for protection of slopes from erosion and landslides in a tropical environmental setting. Saturated shear strength of soil was determined using direct shear tests and unsaturated soil properties, such as soil water retention curve (SWRC), were obtained using a computer-controlled hydraulic property analyzer (HYROP) system as well as a WP4C instrument.

The holm oak woodlands as ecotonic phytocoenoses occur under different ecological conditions, and frequently representing the climax of edaphoxerophilous series of crests and siliceous rocky areas. In this paper we study the floristic, ecological, and biogeographical differences of the edaphoxerophilous holm oak woodlands of the southwestern Iberian Peninsula, included in the Querco rotundifoliae-Oleenion sylvestris suballiance.

Vegetation natural heritage can be valued in itself, but also as a habitat for many wildlife species. This study presents a methodological essay concerning the evaluation of plant heritage, applied in Central Alentejo, in the south of Portugal. This evaluation was based on the following criteria: horizontal and vertical structure of vegetation, tree cover density, rare plant species richness, phytocenotic maturity, importance as ecological corridor, historical record, scientific and educational potential and recreational potential.