Search Results (228)

Zimbabwe’s Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP) fundamentally reconfigured the country’s political economy, yet its implications for sustainable peace remain insufficiently theorised. This article interrogates how the economic fragmentation resulting from the FTLRP has shaped peacebuilding trajectories in Zimbabwe. The study draws on an integrative secondary data synthesis of existing datasets. Sources include Afrobarometer surveys, World Bank governance indicators, Uppsala Conflict Data Program and Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project conflict event data, as well as national economic and environmental statistics. The analysis adopts a critical peacebuilding framework grounded in Johan Galtung’s distinction between positive and negative peace and Mushtaq Khan’s political settlements theory. The evidence suggests that the post-FTLRP economy is organised into three interrelated spheres: a politically dependent agrarian sector, a politically contested extractive sector, and a dominant informal economy comprising over 76% of enterprises. This configuration is associated with a form of negative peace. It is characterised by the absence of overt conflict but appears to be maintained through a coercive stability arrangement that selectively distributes land and economic rents to politically aligned elites and segments of the rural middle class while marginalising broader populations. The study concludes that achieving positive and sustainable peace requires a renegotiated political settlement centred on land tenure security, economic formalisation, and restorative justice. Full article

Recurrent flooding along the Wabi Shabelle River has repeatedly displaced communities in Beledweyne, Somalia, prompting a 2020 government-led relocation policy intended to reduce long-term flood risk exposure. Whether such resettlement constitutes a durable change-detection method disaster risk reduction strategy in semi-arid East Africa remains empirically untested. We integrate ten years of Sentinel-1 SAR (259 scenes, 2015–2025), three global DEMs (Copernicus GLO-30, FABDEM, SRTM), CHIRPS precipitation, and BFAST changepoint analysis to map flood frequency at 10 m resolution. The Z-score showed the strongest coupling with 12-day cumulative precipitation (Pearson r = +0.338; block-bootstrap 95% CI [+0.13, +0.49], excluding zero) and strong agreement with the log-ratio method (r = +0.676), whereas the conventional fixed −17 dB threshold produced a physically implausible negative correlation (r = −0.248). These conclusions were stable across alternative thresholds. HAND from all three DEMs was positively associated with flood frequency (Spearman ρ ≈ +0.30); GLO-30 and FABDEM were near-equivalent in this low-relief setting (median pairwise difference, 0.13 m). BFAST detected 476,955 changepoints (49.9% post-2020 vs. 35.6% pre-2020), concentrated in high-flood-frequency pixels (Kolmogorov–Smirnov D = 0.854, p < 0.001). The mean flooded area fraction rose from 4.68% to 5.61%, a relative increase of +19.8% (95% CI 9.1–32.0); this remained significant after controlling for precipitation (+0.96 pp, p < 0.001) and excluding the extreme 2023 events (+0.81 pp). Because standard optical and multi-year surface water products are unsuitable for pixel-level validation in this turbid seasonal river, we demonstrate that SAR flood frequency is significantly higher within independently mapped JRC water corridors (median, 0.070 vs. 0.042; p < 0.001). These convergent lines of evidence are consistent with re-encroachment into hazardous floodplains, suggesting that structural relocation alone is unlikely to deliver durable flood risk reduction without parallel investment in tenure security, livelihoods, and inclusive governance (SDGs 11.5, 13.1). The reproducible, open-source SAR framework provides a transferable monitoring template for data-sparse Horn of Africa floodplains. Full article

Population aging has made aging in place (AIP) a central goal of sustainable welfare and urban governance, yet older adults’ perceived feasibility of remaining in their current home under conditions of vulnerability remains unevenly distributed. This study conceptualizes AIP intention under anticipated mobility limitation as a stratified condition of social sustainability, asking who expects to remain in the community as a supported and recognized member when mobility declines. Using the 2023 National Survey of Older Koreans (N = 9951), it examines older adults’ stated intention to remain in their current residence under mobility limitation through weighted logistic regression. The results show that this intention is structured most strongly by housing inequality: non-owner tenure reduces the likelihood of intending to remain in place, whereas housing satisfaction increases it. Co-residence with adult children is positively associated with this intention, while activities of daily living limitations are negatively associated with it. Beyond material and health conditions, social participation intention and digital adaptability increase the likelihood of intending to remain in place, whereas age discrimination in public institutions reduces it. Government trust is negatively associated with the intention to remain in place. Because the survey does not directly measure older adults’ awareness, availability, evaluation, or use of alternative residential or care facilities, this association is treated only as a discussion point rather than as an empirically tested mechanism: higher institutional trust may be linked to greater openness to publicly supported alternatives. The findings demonstrate that the perceived feasibility of AIP is not merely an individual preference, but an unevenly distributed possibility shaped by housing security, institutional inclusion, and civic capacity. Sustainable aging policy should integrate housing support, anti-discrimination measures, digital inclusion, and community participation. Full article

Against the backdrop of the growing alignment between green agricultural transformation and rural land system reform, how stable land tenure promotes farmers’ adoption of green production technologies has become an important issue in achieving high-quality agricultural development. Using 2024 survey data from 1117 farm households in Inner Mongolia under China’s second-round land contract extension policy, this study applies Poisson regression and mediation models to examine how land tenure stability affects farmers’ adoption of green production technologies. The results show that legal, factual, and perceived tenure stability, measured by second-round contract extension signing, no land disputes since the second round, and expectations of no future land adjustment, all significantly promote adoption. Tenure stability promotes adoption through higher income, better credit access, stronger benefit expectations, and greater risk-coping capacity, reflecting both economic and psychological effects. Its positive effect is stronger among small-scale farmers and those with lower-quality cultivated land. Policy efforts should not only prudently advance the second-round land contract extension, but also strengthen tenure security in practice and coordinate support for green production, rural finance, and risk protection. From a multidimensional land tenure stability perspective, this study provides new empirical evidence on how rural land reform translates into green behavioral responses. Full article

In Brazil, approximately 16.4 million people (8.1% of the population) live in informal settlements (favelas), with Rio de Janeiro among the most heavily affected. This situation results from rapid rural–urban migration and unplanned urbanization, leading to persistent land tenure conflicts, exemplified by the decades-long struggle in the Santa Luzia favela. This study demonstrates how participatory geospatial methodologies can support land regularization while preventing displacement. Unlike conventional participatory mapping studies that often prioritize community empowerment over technical precision or, conversely, state-led cadastres that prioritize accuracy over local participation, this study integrates two complementary frameworks: counter-cartographies (to redress power asymmetries) and fit-for-purpose land administration (to ensure minimal technical standards for tenure security). Through a university–community collaboration, a low-cost cadastral survey of Santa Luzia was conducted using remotely piloted aircraft photogrammetry to generate high-resolution orthoimagery (2 cm ground sample distance), GIS vectorization integrated with resident interviews and local knowledge, and spatial analysis compliant with local technical standards. The findings demonstrate three specific innovations: (1) methodological: volunteer students and community residents co-produced cartography achieving 2 cm precision, meeting legal requirements for land regularization without expensive professional surveys; (2) participatory: unlike purely community-led mapping that may lack legal enforceability or top-down systems that exclude local knowledge, this model embeds participatory data collection within Brazil’s Social Interest Regularization (REURB-S) framework, ensuring both grassroots legitimacy and state recognition; and (3) policy-making: the project operationalizes counter-cartographies not as symbolic resistance but as a legally compliant pathway to tenure security, offering a transferable model for democratizing land administration in informal settlements while challenging exclusionary urban planning. Full article

Satellite-derived vegetation indices and climate data from 2018 to 2024 were analysed to quantify smallholder agricultural responses to climate variability in two rural villages in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Using Google Earth Engine, R programming 4.4.0, and ArcGIS Pro 3.6, the study assessed spatiotemporal trends in vegetation condition in relation to bioclimatic variables and plot-scale land ownership. The results showed an overall accuracy of 96%, with producer and user accuracies at 79% and 85%, respectively, and a kappa coefficient of 0.95. Time-series analysis revealed a trend of decreasing rainfall and increasing temperatures across the study area, accompanied by elevated Plant Senescence Reflectance Index (PSRI > 0.294) values indicative of advanced vegetation stress. Spatial analysis showed that valley areas exhibited higher moisture accumulation potential and aligned with drainage networks, reflecting enhanced soil moisture retention relative to surrounding terrain. These findings demonstrate the strong influence of topography-mediated water availability on vegetation health in rain-fed smallholder systems. In accordance with the Sustainable Development Goals, the study stresses the importance of gender equity in combating climate change and achieving food security, highlighting the value of integrating multi-scale remote sensing and climate data to identify localised agricultural vulnerability, and underscores the importance of gender-responsive, climate-aware land management strategies to support food security under changing environmental conditions. By situating smallholder agriculture within a land system science framework, the study advances understanding of how topography-mediated soil moisture retention, climate variability, and gendered land governance jointly shape land system trajectories in communal tenure settings. Full article

Climate change continues to threaten global food security. Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) offers a solution to addressing this challenge in urban agriculture (UA). This paper addresses a gap in the empirical literature on decision-making about the adoption of CSA practices by examining the determinants of CSA adoption among small-scale urban crop (SSUC) farmers in eThekwini (ETH) Municipality, South Africa. Grounded in a utility theory framework, the paper draws on 412 respondents (Cochran-estimated) from a multi-stage sample design across four wards, providing reasonable coverage of SSUC farmers in ETH Municipality. While the sample size is statistically representative of SSUC farmers in ETH Municipality, it is a single metropolitan case rather than universal. The results show strong complementarities among these CSA practices, for example, between OM and CD (r ≈ 0.70, p < 0.001) and M and CD (r ≈ 0.61, p < 0.001). The multivariate probit (MVP) model predicts that the socio-economic and institutional factors age, gender, marital and employment status, education, credit access, extension contact, land tenure, and location (distance from home to farm plots) (p < 0.05) were significant determinants of adopting CSA practices by SSUC farmers. The findings contribute to the global literature on the UA–CSA nexus, demonstrating that socio-economic and institutional factors shape the adoption of bundled CSA practices. While the findings underscore the need for integrated, custom, and UA context-specific policy and extension interventions to strengthen urban food system resilience, UA farmers, practitioners, researchers, and policymakers should apply these insights elsewhere with caution. Full article

Balancing food security with ecological sustainability is a critical challenge for global agricultural development. This research explores how China’s “three rights separation” reform influences the ecological efficiency of cultivated land use. This institutional innovation separates ownership, contract, and management rights to improve land resource allocation. Utilizing panel data from China spanning from 2005 to 2023, this study employs a super-efficiency SBM model to evaluate ecological efficiency, a continuous difference-in-differences (DID) framework to identify the causal effects of the reform, and a mediation effect model to explore the underlying transmission mechanisms. The results show that the “three rights separation” reform significantly improves the ecological efficiency of cultivated land use, with a regression coefficient of 0.632 that is statistically significant at the 1% level. The findings remain robust across multiple robustness tests. Mechanism analysis reveals distinct hierarchical transmission pathways through the promotion of non-agricultural labor transfer, the optimization of planting structure, and the advancement of agricultural technological progress. Among these pathways, agricultural technological progress emerges as the primary driver. Furthermore, heterogeneity analysis indicates that the positive impact of the reform is more pronounced in non-major grain-producing regions, as well as areas characterized by higher levels of mechanization and land transfer. These results suggest that further deepening land tenure reform is essential, with careful consideration of regional disparities and the mediating role of labor factors, land resource allocation, and technological progress. Full article

Farmland management rights (FMR) mortgage lending has been advanced as a central instrument of rural credit reform in China, yet the program has consistently failed to sustain itself in the absence of direct government facilitation. Drawing on five national and provincial pilot counties in Henan Province, this study investigates the structural factors underlying this sustainability failure. We employ a sequential mixed-methods design: grounded theory analysis of in-depth interviews, policy documents, and media reports from five focal sites to inductively construct a constraint framework, followed by structural equation modeling (SEM) validation using 1055 survey responses. Our grounded theory analysis identifies three internal constraint categories—property rights insecurity, a thin secondary land market, and subject-level agricultural risk—and one external environmental constraint, which together produce a state of mutual non-recognition: neither financial institutions nor farming households regard FMR as legitimate collateral. Notably, the effect of collateral acceptance on farmer mortgage willingness is statistically insignificant, revealing that demand-side barriers are more deeply entrenched than supply-side institutional improvements alone can resolve. These findings challenge the premise that legal formalization of land rights is sufficient to generate market-driven credit activity, and call attention to the equally important role of institutional ecosystem development—encompassing land markets, appraisal capacity, supervisory infrastructure, and rural credit culture. The insights carry direct relevance for developing economies exploring land-backed agricultural credit as a rural finance strategy. Full article

Although Vietnam is committed to complying with international frameworks on gender equality such as CEDAW, the Beijing Platform, and the 2030 Agenda, women still face many barriers in exercising their land use rights in practice. This study uses a doctrinal legal research method combined with comparative analysis to: (i) systematically analyze the provisions on gender equality in the 2024 Land Law; (ii) compare these provisions with the 2013 Land Law and relevant international standards; and (iii) assess the challenges in implementation from the perspective of substantive equality. The results show three notable areas of progress: (1) gender equality is recognized for the first time as a specific right of land users; (2) gender discrimination is included in the list of prohibited acts in land management and use; and (3) the scope and procedures for joint land use rights certification for spouses are clarified. However, gaps in legislative drafting, enforcement mechanisms, and the persistence of patriarchal social norms continue to widen the gap between equality on paper and equality in practice, as evidenced by the persistent 32% proportion of certificates registered solely in men’s names with no updated official data released nearly four years later; the absence of specific sanctions for gender discrimination in land use under Decree 123/2024/ND-CP; and the lack of mandatory enforcement mechanisms for joint spousal certification under the 2024 Law’s implementing regulations. Based on this, the article proposes several recommendations to improve the law and strengthen enforcement mechanisms to better align with CEDAW and SDG 5.a standards. Full article

China’s farmland titling program aims to strengthen tenure security and promote agricultural productivity. This study examines whether land titling affects grain production capacity at the prefecture level using panel data from 30 cities over 2011–2021. We employ a staggered Difference-in-Differences (DID) design that exploits variation in the timing of titling milestones across cities. The results show no statistically significant average treatment effect on grain output, grain yield, or per capita grain production. However, the effect on grain yield exhibits substantial conditional heterogeneity: titling reduces yield in cities with weak agricultural infrastructure but increases yield in cities with high irrigation and mechanization intensity. Mechanism analysis indicates that land transfer intensity, irrigation, and mechanization correlate positively with grain yield, consistent with the hypothesis that titling requires complementary infrastructure to translate into productivity gains. These findings suggest that land tenure reforms alone do not guarantee food security improvements; coordinated investments in agricultural infrastructure remain essential. Full article

This paper examines the role of agricultural credit in shaping farm performance and technology-related outcomes in Peru, using nationally representative microdata from the Encuesta Nacional Agropecuaria (ENA). In a context characterized by credit rationing and institutional constraints, access to finance may influence agricultural income, productivity, and the adoption of improved practices through multiple direct and indirect channels. To address the non-random allocation of credit, the analysis employs a quasi-experimental framework that combines propensity score trimming, block-based common support restrictions, entropy balancing, and doubly robust treatment-effect estimators (IPWRA and AIPW). Descriptive evidence documents substantial heterogeneity in credit sources, loan uses, and rejection reasons, highlighting structural barriers related to collateral, land tenure, and risk. Regression results on the balanced sample indicate positive and statistically significant associations between credit access and both real agricultural income and land productivity. However, estimated treatment effects are sensitive to the estimation strategy: while IPWRA estimates suggest economically meaningful gains among credit recipients, AIPW estimates are smaller and not always statistically distinguishable from zero. Exploratory results further suggest that credit access is positively associated with technology adoption and managerial capacity, consistent with, but not identifying, a potential association between credit approval and technological practices. Overall, the findings are consistent with a growing body of evidence showing that the impacts of agricultural credit are modest, heterogeneous, and context dependent. From a sustainability perspective, the results underscore the importance of complementary interventions—such as land tenure security, risk management instruments, and tailored financial services—in enhancing the effectiveness of rural credit programs in agricultural systems characterized by imperfect markets and high production risk. Full article

This study was conducted to assess the impact of land allocation on the land tenure security, settlement, and land use stability of households, individuals in Central Vietnam. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was employed to test the model using survey data from 400 households and individuals in Quy Nhon, Tay Son, and An Lao, administratively under Binh Dinh Province during the 2019–2023 study period and currently under Gia Lai Province following the July 2025 administrative restructuring. The research results show that land allocation has a direct and positive impact on land tenure security, settlement, and land use stability, while also having an indirect impact through a mediating variable, partly land tenure security (shown by the significance level of the research model at 1%, total effect β_{LA→LTS–SLUS} = 0.603). The research results propose several policy implications for land allocation regulations that combine enhanced legal security, actual security, and perceived security, thereby encouraging land users to settle and stabilize their land use. Full article

Community-based tourism (CBT) is widely promoted as a route to inclusive growth and conservation in emerging economies, yet outcomes vary because the communities’ ability to create, scale, and sustain CBT enterprises depends on the surrounding entrepreneurial ecosystem. Building on entrepreneurial ecosystem theory and grand challenges scholarship, this article reframes CBT as a place-based entrepreneurial ecosystem that mobilizes local and external actors, resources, and institutions to advance the United Nations 2030 Agenda. The purpose of the study is to develop and illustrate an SDG-oriented CBT entrepreneurial ecosystem framework and identify the ecosystem mechanisms and boundary conditions associated with SDG contributions. Using a qualitative multiple-case design and structured document analysis of 42 public artifacts (peer-reviewed studies, program evaluations, organizational reports, and organizational webpages), three initiatives were examined: Namibia’s communal conservancies, Chi Phat community-based ecotourism in Cambodia, and Bolivia’s Chalalán Ecolodge. Cross-case synthesis showed that progress on SDG 1 (No Poverty) and SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth)—with complementary contributions to SDGs 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, and 17—emerges when ecosystems combine: (i) enforceable community rights and benefit-sharing rules; (ii) bridging organizations that provide training, finance, market access, and quality assurance; (iii) accountable local governance for transparency and conflict resolution; and (iv) reinvestment mechanisms that fund conservation and community services. The analysis also identified boundary conditions (e.g., elite capture, value leakage, donor dependence, uneven tourism potential, and demand shocks) and specific policy levers (tenure security, adaptive concession policies, blended finance, and impact monitoring) to strengthen CBT ecosystems for SDG delivery. Full article

In recent decades, profound transformations in work organization, employment conditions, and organizational change processes have intensified workers’ exposure to psychosocial risks, with significant consequences for occupational health and well-being. Despite the growing relevance of these risks, organizations often lack psychometrically robust instruments capable of capturing psychosocial stressors associated with change, Conflicts, and working conditions in an integrated manner. The purpose of this study was to develop and psychometrically evaluate a questionnaire designed to measure psychosocial factors related to organizational changes, interpersonal Conflicts, and occupational well-being. An instrumental study design was employed, following international standards for the construction and validation of psychological instruments. The sample consisted of 350 workers with a mean age of 33.19 years (SD = 9.18; range: 18–66) and an average organizational tenure of 6.71 years (SD = 8.61). The initial 48-item questionnaire was refined to a final version comprising 24 items distributed across 7 scales: Organizational Changes, Work Program, Job Security, Promotion, Training, Interpersonal Conflicts, and Lack of Participation. Preliminary analyses indicated that the data adequately met the assumptions for factor analysis (KMO = 0.81; Bartlett’s test χ² = 4376.98, p < 0.001). The results supported a seven-factor structure explaining 72% of the total variance, with clear and interpretable factor loadings consistent with the theoretical model. Internal consistency was acceptable to excellent across scales (α = 0.72–0.91; ω = 0.84–0.95), including short scales with three items. Inter-scale correlations were low to moderate, supporting discriminant validity and indicating that the dimensions, while related, represent distinct constructs. Overall, the findings provide strong evidence for the instrument’s reliability and validity based on its internal structure, supporting its use for psychosocial risk assessment and research on organizational changes, interpersonal Conflicts, and occupational well-being. Full article