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Policy, Land Use and Management of Natural Resources

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Resources and Sustainable Utilization".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2022) | Viewed by 17585

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Manuel Marey-Pérez

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Guest Editor

Research Group—PROePLA, Department of Crop Production and Project Management of Campus Terra in Lugo, University Santiago de Compostela, 27002 Lugo, Spain
Interests: forest management; project management; wildfire
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Verónica Rodríguez-Vicente

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Guest Editor

Research group—PROePLA (http://proepla.com/), Department of Crop Production and Project Management of Campus Terra in Lugo, University Santiago de Compostela, 27002 Lugo, Spain
Interests: forest management; forest governance; forest property

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue aims to provide a scientific forum for the exchange and compilation of the latest information and research concerning different disciplines and interest groups (biodiversity, ecology, environment, landscape, rural development, socioeconomy, technology, etc.) linked to policy, land use and management of natural resources. In other words, the objective is to examine the scope and polyhedric character of natural resource management worldwide, scrutinizing its numerous component issues: agronomy, forestry, ecosystem services, conservation and protection; socioeconomic and environmental impacts; mitigation and adaption to climate change; and other subjects related to this broad topic. Therefore, technical and research guidance in different fields of expertise is presented in this Special Issue as a tool for policy makers and planners, researchers and analysts, among others, in understanding, modelling and decision-making support. Papers selected for this Special Issue are subject to a rigorous peer-review procedure in order to guarantee the journal’s standards of publication and the wide dissemination of research results and conclusions, developments and applications.

Prof. Dr. Manuel Marey-Pérez
Dr. Verónica Rodríguez-Vicente
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

policy in natural resources
land use and natural resources
forest management and natural resources
governance and natural resources
sustainability in natural resources
quality of natural resources
resilience and managment of natural resources
bioeconomy
circular economy

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

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12 pages, 959 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Soil Organic Carbon Stocks under Different Land Utilization Types in Western Kenya

by Esphorn Kibet, Collins Muimi Musafiri, Milka Ngonyo Kiboi, Joseph Macharia, Onesmus K Ng’etich, David K Kosgei, Betty Mulianga, Michael Okoti, Abdirahman Zeila and Felix Kipchirchir Ngetich

Sustainability 2022, 14(14), 8267; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14148267 - 06 Jul 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2529

Abstract

The up-surging population in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has led to the conversion of more land for agricultural purposes. Resilient land utilization types that input carbon to the soil are key in enhancing climate change mitigation. However, there are limited data on different land utilization types’ contribution to climate mitigation through carbon input to soils. The study aims to quantify carbon stock across different land utilization types (LUT) practiced in Western Kenya. The following land utilization types were studied: agroforestry M (agroforestry with Markhamia lutea), sole sorghum, agroforestry L (agroforestry with Leucaena leucocephalaI), sole maize, and grazing land replicated thrice. To determine soil bulk density, SOC concentration, and soil carbon stock, soil samples were collected at depths of 0–5, 5–10, 10–20, and 20–30 cm from different LUTs. A PROC ANOVA was used to determine the difference in soil bulk density, SOC, and SOC stock between different LUTs and depths. The four variables differed across the LUTs and depths. A high soil bulk density was observed at 0–5 cm under grazing land (1.6 g cm⁻³) and the lowest under agroforestry M (1.30 g cm⁻³). Conversely, the soil bulk density was low at 20–30 cm under grazing land. The 0–5 cm depth accounted for a high share of SOC and SOC stock under Agroforestry M, while the 10–20 and 20–30 cm depth accounted for the high share of SOC stock under agroforestry L. The study showed differences in SOC across the different depths and LUTs. The findings highlight that agroforestry L and agroforestry M are promising interventions toward climate mitigation through carbon induction to soils. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Policy, Land Use and Management of Natural Resources)

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17 pages, 3051 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Land-Use Optimization Based on Ecosystem Service Value: A Case Study of Urban Agglomeration around Poyang Lake, China

by Moli Gu, Changsheng Ye, Xin Li and Haiping Hu

Sustainability 2022, 14(12), 7131; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14127131 - 10 Jun 2022

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1742

Abstract

The optimal allocation of land use is a promising approach to achieving the sustainable use of land resources, to weigh ecological protection and economic development. The urban agglomeration around Poyang Lake is a crucial plate for implementing the spatial planning policy of the national urban agglomeration and supporting the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt. Based on the ecosystem service value (ESV), we utilize the minimum cumulative resistance (MCR), the gray multi-objective planning (GMOP) and the future land-use simulation (FLUS) model to optimize the quantitative structure and spatial pattern of the land use in 2030. The present study designs four scenarios of baseline development (BD), ecological conservation (EC), economic priority (EP) and coordinated development (CD) to discuss how to optimize land-use allocation while considering ecological security and economic development. The result suggests that the land-use structure and spatial layout in the CD_scenario are relatively reasonable, and the overall eco-economic benefits and landscape pattern levels are better than those of the other three scenarios. Additionally, the ecological security and landscape pattern indices are optimized, landscape fragmentation decreases and aggregation degree increases. This study is instructive to promote the sustainable development of urban agglomeration and land spatial planning. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Policy, Land Use and Management of Natural Resources)

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17 pages, 2206 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Land Use/Cover Change and Its Relationship with Regional Development in Xixian New Area, China

by Siliang Zhang, Zilong Guan, Yan Liu and Feimin Zheng

Sustainability 2022, 14(11), 6889; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14116889 - 05 Jun 2022

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 1896

Abstract

There is a close relationship between land use/cover change and regional development in new urban areas. In this paper, based on the land-use data before (2010, 2013) and after (2015, 2018) the establishment of Xixian New Area and the economic development data of the corresponding period, with the help of indexes such as the land use transfer matrix, relative change rate/net change rate and the composite index of land use degree, the temporal and spatial differences of land-use change and land use degree in the ten years before and after the establishment of Xixian New Area were analyzed, and the driving factors of land-use change and their relationship with the level of social and economic development were discussed. The results indicate that cultivated land and construction land are the main land-use types in Xixian New Area in the whole studying period. From 2010 to 2018, the area of cultivated land and forest land in the region decreased over time, but the construction land area continuously increased dramatically (increased by 36.5% from 2010 to 2018) and the land-use change corresponds basically to the construction and development process of the New Area. In the spatial transfer of land use, the transformation of cultivated land to construction land was the most evident, and the urbanization construction in the New Area occupied the most cultivated land. The composite index of land use degree in the New Area was generally high and increased with time. Geographical location and policy guidance are the main reasons for the spatial difference of land use degree. The land use benefits in the New Area increased significantly, and the land use degree was positively correlated with the level of regional, social and economic development. The main driving factor of land-use change was human activities guided by policy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Policy, Land Use and Management of Natural Resources)

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19 pages, 3333 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Spatio-Temporal Characteristics and Obstacle Factors of Cultivated Land Resources Security

by Liejia Huang, Yue Feng, Boqing Zhang and Weiyan Hu

Sustainability 2021, 13(15), 8498; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13158498 - 29 Jul 2021

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 1847

Abstract

The security of cultivated land resources is closely related to a country’s food security, economic security and social security, and as such is always the top priority of those responsible for the governance and administration of state affairs. The study area is 13 prefecture-level cities in Hubei Province. An entropy weight method, comprehensive index method, spatial analysis and obstacle degree model are employed to explore the spatio-temporal characteristics and obstacle factors of cultivated land resources in quantity, quality and ecological security. The study shows that (1) the security level of cultivated land resources in Hubei Province showed an upward trend between 2010 and 2019. The land resources’ quality and ecological security showed an upward trend, while quantity security showed a downward trend. (2) The security of cultivated land resources presents obvious spatial differences, generally showing a decreasing trend from west to east. Among them, quantity security presents a spatial pattern of being high in the central, low in the east and lower in the west of Hubei Province. Quality security presents a spatial pattern of being high in the central region and low in the east and west. Ecological security presents a spatial pattern of being high in the west and low in the east. (3) The main obstacles to its security in quantity, in quality and in ecology are obviously different. Finally, some countermeasures are put forward to ensure the security of cultivated land resources from the perspectives of quantity, quality and ecological security, and to assist with the implementation of different protection policies in the western, central and eastern areas of Hubei. This study expands the content and perspective of cultivated land resources security and has a certain novelty in the selection of the index of water resources per unit of land area, and the application of the obstacle degree model expands the research on the influencing factors of cultivated land resource security. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Policy, Land Use and Management of Natural Resources)

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14 pages, 3779 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Monitoring Land Use/Cover Change Using Remotely Sensed Data in Guangzhou of China

by Liang Guo, Xiaohuan Xi, Weijun Yang and Lei Liang

Sustainability 2021, 13(5), 2944; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13052944 - 08 Mar 2021

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 2499

Abstract

Land use/cover change (LUCC) has a crucial influence on ecosystem function, environmental change and decision support. Rapid and precise monitoring of land use/cover change information is essential for utilization and management of land resources. The objectives of this study were to monitor land use/cover change of Guangzhou of China from 1986 to 2018 using remotely sensed data, and analyze the correlation between artificial surface expansion and the gross domestic product (GDP) growth. Supervised classification was performed using Random Forest classifier, and the overall accuracy (OA) ranged from 86.42% to 96.58% and kappa coefficient (K) ranged from 0.8079 to 0.9499. The results show that the built-up area of Guangzhou of China from 1986 to 2018 continued to increase. However, the vegetation area continued to decrease during 32 years. The built-up area increased by 1315.56 km² (increased by 439.34%) with an average growth of 41.11 km²/year. The vegetation area reduced by 1290.78 km² (reduced by 19.99%) with an average reduction of 40.34 km²/year. Research has shown that the reduced vegetation area was mainly converted into built-up area. The area of water bodies and bare lands was relatively stable and had a little change. The results indicate that the GDP had a strong positive correlation with built-up area (R² = 0.98). However, there is a strong negative correlation between the GDP and vegetation area (R² = 0.97) in Guangzhou City, China. As a consequence, the increase of built-up area was at the cost of the reduction of vegetation area. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Policy, Land Use and Management of Natural Resources)

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18 pages, 2988 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Integrating Environmental Impact and Ecosystem Services in the Process of Land Resource Capitalization—A Case Study of Land Transfer in Fuping, Hebei

by Weiguo Fan, Nan Chen, Wei Yao, Mengmeng Meng and Xuechao Wang

Sustainability 2021, 13(5), 2837; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13052837 - 05 Mar 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1836

Abstract

The contradiction between human and land has always been a problem in the process of development and utilization of land resources. Under such circumstances, relevant government agencies put forward the management concept of land resource capitalization. As an effective policy to implement the conception of land resource capitalization, land transfer is of great significance to reforming rural land systems and liberating productivity in poor areas of Tai-hang Mountain in Hebei. However, how to integrate environmental impact and value evaluation of ecosystem services of land transfer in the process of resource capitalization deserves our attention. This paper takes the land transfer of Fuping, Hebei in Tai-hang Mountain as an example, combined with life cycle assessment (LCA), life cycle cost assessment (LCC), and the methods of value evaluation of ecosystem services to quantify the changes of environmental loads, economic costs, and ecosystem services in the whole process and different stages of land resource capitalization. Moreover, through the sensitivity analysis of key environmental indicators, the possibility of restricting environmental costs is explored. This paper studies land transfer from the direction of the cross-discipline and provides a new idea for land resource management. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Policy, Land Use and Management of Natural Resources)

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Review

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20 pages, 1172 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceReview

Sustainable Management of Animal Genetic Resources to Improve Low-Input Livestock Production: Insights into Local Beninese Cattle Populations

by Sèyi Fridaïus Ulrich Vanvanhossou, Luc Hippolyte Dossa and Sven König

Sustainability 2021, 13(17), 9874; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13179874 - 02 Sep 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3904

Abstract

Persistent food insecurity, along with climate change pressures, urges on the definition of suitable strategies to support the transformation of low-input livestock farming in developing countries. Advances in genomics and information technologies are valuable opportunities for achieving the required improvement, but their implementation implies access to technical and financial resources with appropriate adjustment in the local context. Addressing extensive cattle production in Benin, we focus on animal genetic resources (AnGR) and corresponding approaches aiming for a durable breeding improvement based on sustainable management strategies. Specifically, smallholder breeding goals are revised, and novel strategies for proper organization, sound data collection, and scientific investigations are explored. Further emphasis addresses the enhancement of farmer management practices, including valuable traditional knowledge; and breeding strategies to improve animal performances considering robustness and further traits favored by the farmers. Against such a background, it is imperative that political, institutional, and scientific collaborations reinforce research capacities and technical and financial resources. In the given context, the current review article provides policymakers and national and international researchers with practical guidance based on scientific criteria for a smallholder livestock amelioration in Benin, scalable to other countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Policy, Land Use and Management of Natural Resources)

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