Understanding farmer decisions on land use conversions (LUC) in rural areas has significant importance to understand and predict the patterns of land use changes in China. Many methods have been developed to search for the influencing factors on land use changes at farm household level. However, these methods have difficulty in evaluating the intertwined influences between factors and achieving farmer decision rules on LUC.

Rapid land use/land cover changes have taken place in many cities of Turkey. Land use and land cover changes are essential for wide range of applications. In this study, Landsat TM satellite imageries date from 1987, 1993, 2000 and 2010 were used to analyse temporal and spatial changes in the Western Black Sea Region of Turkey. Zonguldak and Eregli two largest and economic important cities which have been active coal mining and iron fabric areas.

Land improvements with long pay-back periods are often delayed on leased agricultural land,resulting in social costs through land degradation, decreased land productivity and environmentalproblems. An important question is thus how landowners would respond to regulations andmandates concerning land improvements. Based on a landowner survey, we analyse landownerchoices under certain land improvement regulations, using the currently dominant choice ofleasing land for agricultural use as the benchmark.

Good urban riverfronts have both ecological and social benefits in urban planning and development. With rapid increase of urban stream rehabilitation projects in developing countries, the concept of Public Accessibility of Riverfront (PAR) has become a highlight in evaluating river ecosystem improvement. In this study the Comprehensive Index of Public Accessibility of Riverfront (CIPAR) that consists of 4 sub-indexes and 12 indicators is designed for assessing the conditions of PAR. The index system is novel for its combined consideration of riverfront accessibilities and benefits.

The robustness of the physically-based, semi-distributed hydrological model ECOMAG with respect to changing (climatic or land-use) conditions was evaluated for two basins, considered within the modelling workshop held in the frame of the 2013 IAHS conference in Göteborg, Sweden. The first basin, the Garonne River basin, France, is characterized mostly by changes in climatic conditions, while the second, Obyån Creek, Sweden, was exposed to drastic land cover change due to deforestation.

In Europe, and particularly in the Mediterranean Basin, the abandonment of traditional land-use practices has been reported as one of the main causes of decline for open-habitat species. Data from large-scale bird and butterfly monitoring schemes in the north-east Iberian Peninsula were used to evaluate the impact that land abandonment has had on local biodiversity.

Forestry variables are usually calculated at a forest management unit scale. However, a region's forestry sector is affected by various other factors that interact over space and time, many of which are not directly associated to silvicultural activities but nonetheless play an important part in its development from a socio-economic or environmental point of view.

Examination of the diurnal variations in surface urban heat islands (UHIs) has been hindered by incompatible spatial and temporal resolutions of satellite data. In this study, a diurnal temperature cycle genetic algorithm (DTC-GA) approach was used to generate the hourly 1 km land-surface temperature (LST) by integrating multi-source satellite data. Diurnal variations of the UHI in ‘ideal’ weather conditions in the city of Beijing were examined. Results show that the DTC-GA approach was applicable for generating the hourly 1 km LSTs.

Shifting cultivation systems have been blamed as the primary cause of tropical deforestation and are being transformed through various forms of conservation and development policies and through the emergence of new markets for cash crops. Here, we analyze the outcomes of different policies on land use/land cover change (LUCC) in a traditional, shifting cultivation landscape in the Atlantic Forest (Brazil), one of the world’s top biodiversity hotspots.

Modeling human–environment systems presents many challenges, including incorporating structure and agency and addressing uncertainty in system components and relationships. Exploring perceptions not only gives us insight into decision-making (agency) but also reveals structural constraints influencing those decisions (including perceived constraints). This study focuses on the human–nature dynamics of Fanjingshan National Nature Reserve (FNNR) in China, a biodiversity hotspot and the only habitat for the Guizhou golden monkey (Rhinopithecus brelichi).

We use a multinominal logit model to examine the determinants of plot abandonment (unintentional fallows) and long fallows (intentional fallows) in order to propose policy interventions that lead to optimal and sustainable management of land use systems in Kigezi highlands. Household factors such as age, and post primary education positively influenced farmers' decision to abandon plots. Therefore, more fallows and abandoned terraces were common with older farmers compared to younger ones. However, farm size and household type had no significant influence on abandonment of plots.

The majority of landscapes around the world have been modified or transformed by human activities to meet the needs of human societies. The loss of native vegetation for agricultural development affects the sustainability of growing proportion of the world's ecosystems. Factors such as land tenure, roads and agricultural intensification, together with biophysical properties, have been cited as drivers of deforestation.