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Library Regional impact assessment of land use scenarios in developing countries using the FoPIA approach: Findings from five case studies

Regional impact assessment of land use scenarios in developing countries using the FoPIA approach: Findings from five case studies

Regional impact assessment of land use scenarios in developing countries using the FoPIA approach: Findings from five case studies

Resource information

Date of publication
December 2013
Resource Language
ISBN / Resource ID
AGRIS:US201500015707

The impact of land use changes on sustainable development is of increasing interest in many regions of the world. This study aimed to test the transferability of the Framework for Participatory Impact Assessment (FoPIA), which was originally developed in the European context, to developing countries, in which lack of data often prevents the use of data-driven impact assessment methods. The core aspect of FoPIA is the stakeholder-based assessment of alternative land use scenarios. Scenario impacts on regional sustainability are assessed by using a set of nine regional land use functions (LUFs), which equally cover the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainability. The cases analysed in this study include (1) the alternative spatial planning policies around the Merapi volcano and surrounding areas of Yogyakarta City, Indonesia; (2) the large-scale afforestation of agricultural areas to reduce soil erosion in Guyuan, China; (3) the expansion of soil and water conservation measures in the Oum Zessar watershed, Tunisia; (4) the agricultural intensification and the potential for organic agriculture in Bijapur, India; and (5) the land degradation and land conflicts resulting from land division and privatisation in Narok, Kenya. All five regions are characterised by population growth, partially combined with considerable economic development, environmental degradation problems and social conflicts. Implications of the regional scenario impacts as well as methodological aspects are discussed. Overall, FoPIA proved to be a useful tool for diagnosing regional human–environment interactions and for supporting the communication and social learning process among different stakeholder groups.

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Authors and Publishers

Author(s), editor(s), contributor(s)

König, Hannes Jochen
Uthes, Sandra
Schuler, Johannes
Zhen, Lin
Purushothaman, Seema
Suarma, Utia
Sghaier, Mongi
Makokha, Stella
Helming, Katharina
Sieber, Stefan
Chen, Le
Brouwer, Floor
Morris, Jake
Wiggering, Hubert

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Data Provider
Geographical focus