Spatial planning potential for reducing natural risks including wildfires is widely recognized. This research is focused on Portugal, a wildfire-prone country in southern Europe, where the competencies for spatial planning lie on four geographical levels: (i) the national and regional levels, with a strategic nature, set the general goals or the agenda of principles for spatial planning and (ii) the inter-municipal and municipal levels use regulative land-use planning instruments. There is a trend to bring together spatial planning and wildfire management policies.

In this paper, we present a conceptual framework of human–elephant conflict (HEC) management embodying community aspects gleaned from the importance–performance analysis (IPA) for a National Park in Vietnam. Nine approaches were proposed to prevent and mitigate HEC (HEC indicators), of which six fell into different quadrants based on the respective estimations of farmer and non-farmer respondents. Both the levels of importance and performance (I-P) of the HEC indicators are evaluated between (I-P) among farmers and non-farmers.

Advanced Hardwood Biofuels Northwest (AHB), a USDA NIFA-funded consortium of university and industry partners, identified southwestern Washington as a potential location for a regional bioproducts industry using poplar trees (Populus spp.) as the feedstock. In this qualitative case study, we present the results of an exploratory feasibility investigation based on conversations with agricultural and natural resources stakeholders. This research complements a techno-economic modelling of a hypothetical biorefinery near Centralia, WA, USA.

Recreation activity preferences in forest settings were explored in a scene preference study. The importance of type of human intervention and the level of biodiversity for preference and intention to engage in recreation activities were examined in a sample of forestry and social science students in Sweden. Results showed that forestry students displayed an almost equally strong preference for natural-looking scenes as for scenes with traces of recreation (e.g., paths), whereas social science students preferred recreational scenes the most.

Modern agricultural landscapes produce multiple ecosystem services. Ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes have social, economic, and environmental value—providing a wide array of benefits to society. Absence of scientifically based and practically tested methodologies of identification, mapping, and evaluation of ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes hamper integration of its values in the current system of land use planning.

Land-use change results from the decisions of diverse actors in response to economic and political contexts. Identification of underlying decision-making processes is key to understanding land-use patterns, anticipating trends, and designing effective environmental governance mechanisms. Here, we use a scenario-based decision game to examine hypothetical land-use decisions among four groups of rural producers in the municipalities of Sinop, Guarantã do Norte and Novo Progresso in the Brazilian Amazon.

The Grain for Green Project (GGP) has influenced Shaanxi Province’s land-use pattern, resulting in a shift in ecosystem service value (ESV). Exploring the spatial and temporal evolution of the pattern of land use and ESV in Shaanxi Province, before and after the project’s implementation, can give a theoretical foundation for regional land-use planning.

In recent decades, Serbia has been undergoing a period of post-socialist transition that has significantly altered the value system underlying spatial development due to alteration of ownership frameworks and land use rights. In consequence, issues have arisen of how to strike a balance between the various interests involved in the distribution of spatial resources and how to control the outcomes of public policies. Land use planning has been identified as an efficient instrument for implementing the public policy value framework.

Regardless of their biogeographic origins or degree of artificialization, the world’s forests are a source of a wide range of ecosystem services (ES). However, the quality and quantity of these services depend on the type of forest studied and its phytogeographic context. Our objective is to transpose the concept of ES, in particular, the assessment of forest ES, to the specific Mediterranean context of the North African mountains, where this issue is still in its infancy and where access to the data needed for assessment remains difficult.

Research Highlights: The informed decisions on land use require assessment of the impacts of these decisions on the supply of different ecosystem services. Background and Objectives: Scenario modeling can be used to provide harmonized and quantitative information on the impacts of various zoning decisions on the provision of various ecosystem services. In this study, we explored the effects of land-use zoning decisions on the provision of roundwood and energy wood, carbon stock of living tree components, berry yields, scenic beauty and recreation.

Land use change reflects fundamental transformations in society. To better understand factors contributing to current land use changes in Alabama, we expand on existing land use studies by employing a generalized least-square method nested in a system of equations for the analysis. We correct for endogeneity issues in our paper by incorporating a control function technique. Using repeated land use data from 1990–2018, we focus on analyzing factors affecting land use changes among timberland, agricultural, urban, and conservation land use types.

Relatively little attention has been paid to examining the spatial expansion features of cities at various tiers at the regional level in China, especially those located in central and western regions of the country. Based on Landsat satellite imagery from four years—1980, 1990, 2000, and 2010, this paper investigates the spatio-temporal pattern of urban land expansion and its influencing factors in the Wuhan Urban Agglomeration (WUA) in central China.