Research

18 pages, 2637 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Governing Resilience Planning: Organizational Structures, Institutional Rules, and Fiscal Incentives in Guangzhou

by Meng Meng, Marcin Dąbrowski and Dominic Stead

Land 2023, 12(2), 417; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/land12020417 - 04 Feb 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1629

Researchers and policymakers have long called for a collaborative governance process for climate adaptation and flood resilience. However, this is usually challenging when urban planning is supposed to be integrated with water management. Using the Chinese city of Guangzhou as a case study, [...] Read more.

Researchers and policymakers have long called for a collaborative governance process for climate adaptation and flood resilience. However, this is usually challenging when urban planning is supposed to be integrated with water management. Using the Chinese city of Guangzhou as a case study, this study explores the long-term disadvantaged conditions of urban planning in flood governance and how this situation is shaped. The findings show that, in comparison to the increasingly dominant position of water management in flood affairs, the urban planning system has had weak powers, limited legitimate opportunities, and insufficient fiscal incentives from the 2000s to the late 2010s. Those conditions have been shaped by organizational structures, institutional rules, and financial allocation in urban governance, whose changes did not bring benefits to urban planning. The emergence of the Sponge City Program in China in 2017 and its implementation at the municipal level is deemed to be a new start for urban planning, considering the encouragement of nature-based solutions and regulatory tools in land use for flood resilience. Even so, the future of this program is still full of challenges and more efforts are needed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Land Development and Management Strategies for Climate Change Adaptation)

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18 pages, 3707 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Impact of Transhumant Livestock Grazing Abandonment on Pseudo-Alpine Grasslands in Greece in the Context of Climatic Change

by Anna Sidiropoulou, Dimitrios Chouvardas, Konstantinos Mantzanas, Stefanos Stefanidis and Maria Karatassiou

Land 2022, 11(12), 2126; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/land11122126 - 25 Nov 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1776

Abstract

Pseudo-alpine grassland ecosystems have started to decline during the past few decades. According to many studies, climate change and abandonment of traditional anthropogenic activities are directly linked to this phenomenon. However, the interaction of these two factors with pseudo-alpine grasslands has not been [...] Read more.

Pseudo-alpine grassland ecosystems have started to decline during the past few decades. According to many studies, climate change and abandonment of traditional anthropogenic activities are directly linked to this phenomenon. However, the interaction of these two factors with pseudo-alpine grasslands has not been studied in Greece. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of climatic change and abandonment of transhumant livestock grazing on pseudo-alpine grassland ecosystems structure and stability in Mt Vermio and Mt Zireia. Geographic Information System data on land use/land cover from 1945 and 2020, as well as climatological and livestock data, have been examined and presented. Landscape metrics were also used to quantify landscape structure changes. Although both mountains’ pseudo-alpine grasslands have reduced in size, Mt Zireia has experienced an upward treeline shift, which seems to be the result of climate change, while in Mt Vermio, the more severe transhumance abandonment caused horizontal tree expansion. There are strong indications that a rise in temperature is the main driver for the upward increase in treeline. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Land Development and Management Strategies for Climate Change Adaptation)

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16 pages, 9573 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Exploring the Ecological Climate Effects of Different Land Use Changes in the Yangtze River Basin from 2000 to 2020

by Xiao Zhao, Mengyao Zhu, Dandan Liu, Siqi Xu, Siyu Ye, Shuang Wang, Yaoping Cui and Shenghui Zhou

Land 2022, 11(10), 1636; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/land11101636 - 23 Sep 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1961

Abstract

Land use/cover change (LUCC) can change the energy balance of the earth’s surface by altering its biophysical properties (surface albedo), and it also has an important impact on the ecological climate. In this paper, using surface energy balance algorithms, the differences in energy [...] Read more.

Land use/cover change (LUCC) can change the energy balance of the earth’s surface by altering its biophysical properties (surface albedo), and it also has an important impact on the ecological climate. In this paper, using surface energy balance algorithms, the differences in energy balance and the resulting ecoclimatic effects under different land use changes in the Yangtze River basin from 2000 to 2020 were analyzed. The results showed that: (1) from 2000 to 2020, the energy uptake of surface net radiation (

R_{s}

) in the Yangtze River basin showed a downward trend with increasing intensity of impact from human activities. This indicated that human activities could weaken the positive trend of

R_{s}

uptake and increase the warming effect; (2)

R_{s}

and latent heat flux (LHF) showed an upward trend, which was more obvious in natural and semi-natural regions and mixed pixel regions; (3)

LHF - R_{s}

energy uptake showed a decreasing trend, indicating that the effect of

R_{s}

on surface absorbed energy was greater than that of LHF, which was more significant in old urban areas and urban expansion areas. This research highlights the variation in the surface energy budgets of the five land use types with different levels of human activities. This will provide a theoretical reference for future land planning and management. It will also provide a theoretical basis for judging climate change trends and urban heat island effects in the Yangtze River basin from the perspective of bio-geophysics. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Land Development and Management Strategies for Climate Change Adaptation)

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14 pages, 4126 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Off-Season Agriculture Encroachment in the Uplands of Northern Pakistan: Need for Sustainable Land Management

by Muhammad Khurshid, Mohammad Nafees, Abdullah Khan, He Yin, Wahid Ullah, Wajid Rashid, Heesup Han and Akhtar Hussain Lashari

Land 2022, 11(4), 520; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/land11040520 - 03 Apr 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2385

Abstract

Agriculture encroachment over alpine pastoral land is posing serious threats to the sustainable use of natural resources and agro-pastoral systems in the upland environment. This study aimed to understand the scenario of agriculture encroachment within a sustainable land management context in Northern Pakistan’s [...] Read more.

Agriculture encroachment over alpine pastoral land is posing serious threats to the sustainable use of natural resources and agro-pastoral systems in the upland environment. This study aimed to understand the scenario of agriculture encroachment within a sustainable land management context in Northern Pakistan’s uplands (Buhrawai). Both quantitative and qualitative methodological approaches were used for the primary data collection on the pattern of cropland expansion, cropland productivity, agrochemical inputs, and perceived socio-ecological system. The results showed that off-season agriculture has emerged as a cash-earning livelihood activity, largely adopted by decade-old and influential tenant communities in the study areas. During the last few decades, this off-season agriculture regularly expanded from lower- to higher-elevation (2980–3800 m) areas, and extensively encroached on accessible pastoral areas in the bottomlands. Cultivation of the two major vegetable crops, i.e., peas and potatoes, occurred on a total of 417.4 ha of pastoral land, where pea cultivation predominantly occurred on 367.2 ha and potato cultivation on 50.2 ha of pastoral land. We found that repeated cultivation of the same crops, without crop rotation and land management practices, significantly reduced land productivity with time; the crop productivity was recorded to be the highest in the virgin cultivated land (pea: 1.8 tons/ha and potato: 14.8 tons/ha) and the lowest in the old-cultivated land (pea: 0.6 tons/ha and potato: 8.2 tons/ha). As a result of this trend, farmers are abandoning unproductive agricultural land and subsequently starting cultivation in other marginal areas, even cultivating crops on steeper slopes beyond the permissible level (16°). These findings revealed that farmers have extensively used key pastoral areas for cultivation, and they have deprived landless pastoralists of their traditional grazing land in the uplands. Furthermore, this agriculture encroachment imposed serious pressure on the pastoralists’ livelihoods and the upland ecosystem on which they rely. Therefore, policies and regulations that promote sustainable land management are much needed to ensure socio-economic equity and ecological integrity in the uplands of Northern Pakistan. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Land Development and Management Strategies for Climate Change Adaptation)

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23 pages, 8808 KiB

Open AccessArticle

On-Site Analyses as a Decision Support Tool for Dredging and Sustainable Sediment Management

by Bruno Lemière, Valérie Laperche, Arjan Wijdeveld, Marco Wensveen, Richard Lord, Alasdair Hamilton, Laurence Haouche, Mathieu Henry, Joe Harrington, Branislav Batel and Pascal Lehette

Land 2022, 11(2), 274; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/land11020274 - 11 Feb 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1785

Abstract

Beneficial use of dredged sediments, either in harbours or waterways, is based on their potential as alternative resources. Such sediments can be considered as bulk materials for industrial needs, which is predicated on their current waste status or meeting end-of-waste constraints. They also [...] Read more.

Beneficial use of dredged sediments, either in harbours or waterways, is based on their potential as alternative resources. Such sediments can be considered as bulk materials for industrial needs, which is predicated on their current waste status or meeting end-of-waste constraints. They also can be an integral part of beneficial use projects using sediments as a bulk component, including civil engineering and landscaping. This is particularly important for beneficial use projects focusing on climate change effects mitigation, such as flood protection works, coastline defence or littoral urban areas redevelopment. When dredged sediment is used as a bulk material, its acceptability is based on an assumed homogeneity of its properties. On-site analyses allow pre-dredging detailed mapping at a denser scale than laboratory ones; monitoring dredgings during operations and during processing; and continuous control of their properties at the implementation site. This is currently possible only for a selection of inorganic analytes. When dredgings are part of a larger beneficial use project, on-site analyses facilitate first the baseline survey and the sediment source characterisation. Continuous monitoring of the sediment load allows a fast detection of contamination hot spots and their adequate management. Site survey via on-site instruments allow end users and communities to check themselves the contamination level, hence acceptability is better. On-site dredged sediment analyses monitor both building properties and environmental compliance; soil and sediment analyses at receiving sites; surface and groundwater, either for impact assessment or for monitoring works. On-site instruments provide immediate results and allow dynamic or adaptive sampling strategies, as well as allowing operational decisions in real time. Confirmation by laboratory analyses is required for validation, but on-site sample screening for laboratory analyses improves their efficiency. The present paper was developed on the basis of an earlier presentation, which it developed and updated extensively. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Land Development and Management Strategies for Climate Change Adaptation)

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18 pages, 11696 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Exploring the Ecological Climate Effects Based on Five Land Use Types: A Case Study of the Huang-Huai-Hai River Basin in China

by Mengyao Zhu, Dandan Liu, Weichao Tang, Qian Chi, Xiao Zhao, Siqi Xu, Siyu Ye, Yaobin Wang, Yaoping Cui and Shenghui Zhou

Land 2022, 11(2), 265; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/land11020265 - 10 Feb 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1617

Abstract

As one of the main driving forces for the change in surface energy balance, land use and cover change affects the ecological climate through different levels of biogeochemical and physical processes. However, many studies on the surface energy balance are conducted from the [...] Read more.

As one of the main driving forces for the change in surface energy balance, land use and cover change affects the ecological climate through different levels of biogeochemical and physical processes. However, many studies on the surface energy balance are conducted from the perspective of biogeochemistry, ignoring biogeochemical processes. By using core methods such as the surface energy balance algorithm and Mann-Kendall trend test, we analyzed the surface energy balance mechanism and ecological climate effects of five land use types in the Huang-Huai-Hai Basin in China. The results showed that: (1) the net radiation and latent heat flux in the five land use types increased significantly, and their highest values were located in cropland areas and urban expansion areas, respectively. (2) The influence of net radiation on surface energy absorption was greater than latent heat flux. This relationship was more obvious in land use types that were greatly influenced by human activities. (3) The net surface energy intake in the Huang-Huai-Hai River Basin showed a decreasing trend and decreased with the increase in human influence intensity, indicating that human activities weakened the positive trend in net surface energy intake and increased the warming effect. This study reveals the difference in energy budgets of different land use types under the influence of human activities. It is helpful for understanding how to formulate sustainable land management strategies, and it also provides a theoretical basis for judging the climate change trends and urban heat island effects in the Huang-Huai-Hai River Basin from a biogeophysical perspective. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Land Development and Management Strategies for Climate Change Adaptation)

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27 pages, 5523 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Developing a Climate Change Vulnerability Index for Coastal City Sustainability, Mitigation, and Adaptation: A Case Study of Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia

by Milad Bagheri, Zelina Zaiton Ibrahim, Mohd Fadzil Akhir, Wan Izatul Asma Wan Talaat, Bahareh Oryani, Shahabaldin Rezania, Isabelle D. Wolf and Amin Beiranvand Pour

Land 2021, 10(11), 1271; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/land10111271 - 19 Nov 2021

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3281

Abstract

Coastal hazards are an urgent issue of global concern considering the increasing population pressure in coastal regions, retreating coastlines, and rising seawater levels. Here we demonstrate the process of assessing the vulnerability of a coastal urban environment using the case of Kuala Terengganu, [...] Read more.

Coastal hazards are an urgent issue of global concern considering the increasing population pressure in coastal regions, retreating coastlines, and rising seawater levels. Here we demonstrate the process of assessing the vulnerability of a coastal urban environment using the case of Kuala Terengganu, a coastal town in Malaysia, and evaluating the potential social, environmental, and economic impacts. Uncertainties in the human dimensions of global change deeply affect the assessment and responses to environmental, climatic, and non-climate impacts on coastal city population growth and communities. We address these uncertainties by combining a Delphi-Analytical Hierarchy Process (Delphi-AHP) model and Geographic Information System (GIS)tools to determine mitigation and adaptation probabilities as part of a Coastal City Vulnerability Assessment. We conclude by presenting calculations of the short- and long-term suitability for land use and recommending hazard mitigation measures to equip city planners and decision-makers in evaluating hazards and potential impacts on coastal city areas. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Land Development and Management Strategies for Climate Change Adaptation)

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15 pages, 279 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Understanding the Impact of Land Resource Misallocation on Carbon Emissions in China

by Aihui Ma, Yaya He and Peng Tang

Land 2021, 10(11), 1188; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/land10111188 - 05 Nov 2021

Cited by 18 | Viewed by 1992

Abstract

In order to achieve growth in fiscal revenue and the regional economy under the Chinese decentralization system, the land resources misallocation (LRM) among different industries was promoted through the differentiated land supply strategy, which has a vital role in carbon emissions. This study [...] Read more.

In order to achieve growth in fiscal revenue and the regional economy under the Chinese decentralization system, the land resources misallocation (LRM) among different industries was promoted through the differentiated land supply strategy, which has a vital role in carbon emissions. This study theoretically analyzes the overall effect and the effect of the intermediate LRM mechanism on carbon emissions and empirically tests the impact of LRM on carbon emissions based on panel data collected from 30 provinces in China from 2005 to 2017 using the environmental Kuznets curve theory. The results show that (1) the local governments have monopolized the primary land market across the nation, leading to resource misallocation among industrial, commercial, and residential land. This inefficient and unsustainable allocation aggravated the release of carbon emissions. (2) The impact of LRM on carbon emissions has varied among different regions. LRM in the eastern and central regions significantly exacerbated carbon emissions. A greater impact on carbon emissions occurred in the eastern region, while the impact was insignificant in the western region. (3) There are two mechanisms through which LRM affects carbon emissions. One is the restraint of upgrading industrial structure, and the other is the restriction of technological innovations. In conclusion, speeding up the reform of the tax sharing system is suggested to reduce the excessive dependence of local governments on land resources. Meanwhile, in order to reduce carbon emissions, the land acquisition and transfer system should be reformed to gradually achieve the market-oriented allocation of land resources, and the benefits coordination mechanism of different land transfer modes should be established. Finally, we propose different carbon emission reduction policies for the heterogeneity of regional economic development. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Land Development and Management Strategies for Climate Change Adaptation)

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