This study presents a modeling tool to assess emission of greenhouse gases (GHG) from the agricultural sector as affected by land-use and residue utilization options. The overall purpose of this tool is twofold: (i) a spreadsheet model for comprehensive compilation of the direct and indirect emissions from land management, residue-burning and fossil fuel consumption through on-farm and off-farm operations and (ii) a decision support tool to explore economically viable mitigation options through detailed cost-benefit analysis of different technological options.

New tools for land use analysis including detailed cost-benefit assessments are needed to integrate resource management for enhancing farmers' income and mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The paper comprises an assessment of GHG emissions and economic returns under different mitigation technologies in three rice growing regions in Asia, i.e., Ilocos Norte province (Philippines), Zhejiang province (China) and Haryana state (India).

CONTEXT: We studied the influence of human activities and climate change on water quantity and quality. Human activities included methods of agricultural policy, i.e. land use and management practices. OBJECTIVES: Finland started to follow EU’s agricultural policy in 1995. In this study our main objective was to find out whether the original targets of the Finnish Agri-Environmental Programme (FAEP) were achieved. METHODS: We analyzed trends in discharge, water quality and climate parameters in 37 years long time-series in two catchments.

The land use changes of İzmir Çeşme Coasts are determined by using remote sensing techniques in the period of 38 years. Temporal and spatial changes of land use are analyzed based on 3 land use maps which show 8 land use categories using the topographical maps and aerial photos in 1957-1976-1995. The dominancy of land use categories are calculated depending on grid map (1km x 1km). Each period of grid maps and land use maps are analyzed by spatial intersection method in GIS.

The intent of this paper is to place the concepts of exposure, vulnerability, resilience and risk in the context of the consequences of global change for the sustainable development of small island developing states (SIDS). Many such states face a number of global climate change risks, such as an increase in the proportion of more intense storms, along with other global change threats that include energy security and costs.

Motor vehicle traffic is an important source of particulate pollution in cities of the developing world, where rapid growth, coupled with a lack of effective transport and land use planning, may result in harmful levels of fine particles (PM₂.₅) in the air. However, a lack of air monitoring data hinders health impact assessments and the development of transportation and land use policies that could reduce health burdens due to outdoor air pollution.

Nutrient mass balances have been used to assess a variety of land resource scenarios, at various scales. They are widely used as a simple basis for policy, planning, and regulatory decisions but it is not clear how accurately they reflect reality. This study provides a critique of broad-scale nutrient mass balances, with particular application to the fertiliser use of beef lot-feeding manure in Queensland.

Soil organic carbon (SOC) is a major attribute of soil quality that responds to land management activities which is also important in the regulation of global carbon (C) cycling. This study evaluated bulk soil C and nitrogen (N) contents and C and N dynamics in three soil organic matter (SOM) fractions separated by density. The study was based on three tillage systems on farmer managed experiments (conventional tillage (CT), ripping (RP), direct seeding (DS)) and adjacent natural forest (NF) in Haplic Arenosols (sandy) and Rhodic Ferralsols (clayey) of Zimbabwe.

Although China still holds land in collective and state ownership, land use rights have been largely privatized. While transactions for forestland use rights have taken place for more than two decades, few detailed investigations of the transactions have been conducted. This study investigates 222 households in eight villages of Linan and Anji counties located within Zhejiang Province, and reports details of the transactions, their scope and motivation, and the characteristics of households participating in the market for forestland use rights.

There is increasing interest in Zimbabwe in developing a biofuels industry based on the production of biodiesel using Jatropha as the main feedstock. This has led to the introduction of Jatropha as a commercial energy crop in the country. There are plans to grow 1220 km2 of Jatropha which will supply about 365,000 t of seed. This will provide about 110 dam3 of biodiesel required to achieve a blending level of 10% with petro-diesel.