Integrating Multi‐Sensor Remote Sensing Data for Land Use/Cover Mapping in a Tropical Mountainous Area in Northern Thailand

Accurate mapping of land use/cover conditions provides essential information for managing natural resources and is critical for further examination of land use/cover change and its subsequent impacts on the environment. Remote sensing offers a means of acquiring land use/cover data in a timely manner, with optical remote sensing images commonly being used in land use/cover related studies. The persistent cloud cover during the rainy season in Southeast Asia, however, presents a challenge for using optical images in land use/cover mapping. Integrating multi‐sensor images of different spectral domains is thus desirable because more information can be extracted to improve the mapping accuracy. The purpose of this study is to assess the potential of using multi‐sensor data sets for land use/cover mapping in a tropical mountainous area in northern Thailand. Optical data from Landsat Thematic Mapper, radar images from Advanced Land Observing Satellite/Phased Array type L‐band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR), and topographical data were used, providing complementary information on land use/cover. Classification and accuracy assessment were conducted for 12 different combinations of the data sets. The results suggested that short crop mapping using multi‐temporal Phased Array type L‐band Synthetic Aperture Radar images offered insights into the distributions of crop and paddy fields. Because of the mountainous environment of the study area, combining topographic data of elevation and slope into the classification greatly reduced the confusion between different land use/cover types. Improvement of classification accuracy was evident especially in separating evergreen and deciduous forests from other vegetation types and discriminating urban village and the fallow field classes.     

Climate Aridity and Land Use Changes: A Regional‐Scale Analysis

In recent years, aridity and drought have become crucial issues at the global scale because of their environmental and socio‐economic implications. On the one hand, aridity causes a reduction in the biological and economic productivity of terrestrial ecosystems, and represents a serious threat to ecological, biogeochemical, and hydrological processes. On the other hand, human use (and abuse) of vulnerable dry land ecosystems may lead to unsustainable land management. Based on these considerations, this paper analyses the recent land cover changes observed in Latium (Italy) during the exceptionally dry period 2000–2007. More than 50% of the area investigated was classified as dry in 2004–2007 compared with 0% in 2000–2003. Moreover, climatic aridity impacted differently on semi‐natural, agricultural, and built‐up land. These findings illustrate a possible scenario for suburban Mediterranean regions: increasing aridity (mainly due to rising temperatures) mainly impacting on peri‐urban land.     

Three decades of land-use changes in the region of Madrid and how they relate to territorial planning

In recent decades, the region of Madrid has experienced extensive changes in land use-land cover (LULC). Most of these changes are related to an increase in developed areas (urban, industrial, commercial and transport) and abandonment of agricultural uses. The general guideline for regional management has been disregarded and the legal framework overstepped, allowing such changes to go ahead unchecked. Using four maps for different points in time, 1982, 1990, 2000 and 2006, LULC dynamics are analysed and the changes are related to Madrid regional policies. The IDRISI Land Change Modeller is used in order to quantify the changes and find out where they took place. The results show that developed areas doubled in size between 1982 and 2006. Changes were concentrated around the Madrid metropolis and around the main road network, with an increase in urban sprawl and with new, small urban patches in mountain areas of high scenic beauty. These fast and extensive changes were largely made possible by public disinterest and limitations in land and natural resource conservation mechanisms and in housing market regulation.     

From Simplicity to Complexity: The Changing Geography of Land Vulnerability to Degradation in Italy

Although territorial disparities in land quality are commonly observed in Mediterranean‐type ecosystems, how different geographical gradients impact the changing distribution of land vulnerable to degradation over time and space is poorly investigated in southern Europe. The present study assesses the spatial distribution of vulnerable land according to a composite index that describes the degree of land vulnerability to degradation in Italy along eight gradients during two time periods (1960–1990 and 1990–2010), representing distinct socio‐economic and environmental conditions. While the degree of land vulnerability increased at similar paces from 1960 to 1990 and from 1990 to 2010, the spatial distribution of vulnerable land changed considerably. From 1960 to 1990, the area of vulnerable lands increased in coastal areas, lowlands, and areas with moderately high population density, mainly owing to the increased climate aridity. By contrast, peri‐urban areas experienced, especially in northern Italy, the highest vulnerability from 1990 to 2010 owing to increased human pressure on land generating, e.g. land‐use changes. Results indicate that the importance of the gradients shaping the distribution of vulnerable land in Italy is reflected in the (changing) role of climate, vegetation cover, and human pressure as factors predisposing land to degradation. Finally, policy implications of the changing geography of vulnerable land in the Mediterranean region are discussed.     

石河子市土地利用变化及主要地类驱动力研究

通过分析石河子市土地利用的变化,探讨了其土地利用总体变化和各主要地类的驱动机制。社会经济因素是该区域土地利用总体变化的主导性驱动因素。而人口和经济增长是石河子市土地利用总体变化的首要社会经济类驱动因子,其次农业是技术发展。农业结构调整、产业结构转移是耕地利用变化的主导性驱动因素,而城镇化和工业化发展则是引起建设用地变化的主导性驱动因素。     

Developing a Synthetic Index of Land Vulnerability to Drought and Desertification

This paper develops an index of the vulnerability of land to drought and desertification (LVI) for Italy. The index takes into account changes in climate, land use, vegetation cover, soil properties, and population during the period 1990–2000. The LVI was built up through a multivariate approach aimed at assessing the importance of the various indicators included in the synthetic index. Increasing land vulnerability was observed during this time, especially in dry areas of the southern regions. This is interpreted as a consequence of land management practices, agricultural intensification, population pressure, and bio-physical degradation. The LVI can be used in an integrated, decision-support system to evaluate the impact of mitigation policies in rural environments.     

Dynamics of Land Surface Temperature in Response to Land‐Use/Cover Change

In this study, we employed Geographical Information Systems and remote sensing techniques to investigate the impact of land‐use/cover change on land surface temperature (LST) in a rapidly urbanisation city, Kunming in south‐west China. Spatial patterns of LST and land use for 1992 and 2006 were derived from Landsat images to examine how LST responded to urban growth. Remote sensing indices were used to quantify land‐use types and employed as explanatory variables in LST modelling. The geographically weighted regression (GWR), a location dependent model, was performed to explore the influences of the spatially varied land‐use conditions on the LST patterns. Results revealed that rapid urbanisation in Kunming altered the local thermal environment, particularly in increasing the LST in the zone surrounding the urban core. Remote sensing indices demonstrated that water and vegetation played an important role in mitigating the urban heat island effect, while built‐up and barren land accounted for the increase in LST. The GWR improved the goodness‐of‐fit for LST modelling and provided insights into the spatially varied relationship between LST and land‐use conditions.     

Land Abandonment in Russia

Field observations in two regions of European Russia (Kostroma and Samara oblasts) in summer 2010, reinforced by satellite imagery, provide a basis for a team of U.S. and Russian geographers to investigate ongoing changes in agricultural land use since the early 1990s. The authors highlight the contrasting situations in Kostroma (northern European Russia), where agriculture is limited and in retreat beyond relatively small scale operations in suburbia, and Samara (southern European Russia), where agricultural activity appears to be sustainable, albeit on a somewhat less extensive spatial scale than in the past. The comparison suggests that the change from central planning to unregulated market has not been popular, and that crop farming in both regions has better prospects than animal husbandry. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: O130, P320, Q150, R140. 1 table, 17 figures, 21 references.     

Drivers of Unsustainable Land Use in the Semi‐Arid Khabur River Basin,Syria

The semi‐arid zone of Southwest Asia, known as the Fertile Crescent, is under unprecedented stress because of agricultural development. Where rain‐fed agriculture and transhumant herding had prevailed over ten millennia, today intensive cultivation with irrigation threatens future sustainability. A number of interconnected, but uncoordinated drivers of change combine to shape the landscape and its future, and their changes make it hard to anticipate future requirements and opportunities, as well as to implement policies, whether by local stakeholders or at the national level. Among the factors that comprise the socio‐natural systems are (1) climate, (2) water and soil resources, (3) history of land use, (4) social, economic and political factors, (5) infrastructural developments (6) interstate impacts, and (7) legacies of the past. The example of the Khabur River drainage in northeastern Syria shows the dynamic interplay among these factors over the past 70 years, with implications for the way future policies and practices are developed.     

城市绿地景观格局研究——以徐州市为例

运用遥感和地理信息系统技术,以徐州市为例,选用美国的"快鸟"(Quick Bird-2)卫星图像为主要信息源,建立徐州市城市绿地信息系统。在此基础上,以景观生态学理论为指导,选取了绿地景观构成、景观多样性指数、景观优势度指数、景观均匀度指数、斑块密度、斑块数破碎化指数、最小距离指数、景观连通度等景观生态指标对城市绿地景观的结构和格局进行了分析。结果表明,徐州市建成区城市绿地存在着景观结构不合理、破碎度高、景观类型分布不平衡、斑块连通度较低等问题,针对这些问题,提出了徐州市绿地景观建设对策。     

Genealogy of Colonial Land Registration and State Land in Portuguese Timor

ABSTRACT

Establishing territorial control was one of the primary activities of colonial presence on Timor from the late nineteenth century. In Portuguese Timor as elsewhere in Southeast Asia, the colonial state pursued codification and regulation of land in multiple forms, including serial attempts to enact land registration in tandem with colonial projects including pacification, resource extraction, and generation of state income. Seeking to extend official purview to Timor-specific customary land use and practices, Portugal defined distinct social categorizations linked to land access and ownership. This article traces the policies governing land in Portuguese Timor from the late 1800s to the mid-1900s, highlighting state land acquisition, registration processes, laws and procedures asserting state control over land transactions, and international influences on Portuguese practices.     

The Local Drivers of Land Degradation in South‐East Asia

Economic globalisation has led to a huge increase in demand for food, goods and services by expanding urban middle class populations. These demands cause environmental changes that in turn feed back upon the urban environment and human population. While the global changes are well researched, the cumulative significance of local environmental changes is less well known. Yet, the local changes may have greater impact on the decisions which individuals make that affect soil erosion and land degradation. People respond to family circumstances and to local economic opportunities in ways that most suit the needs of their families and households. Several demonstration projects that were not adopted offer lessons in understanding how people make their land‐use decisions. An understanding of people's past experiences, present needs and views of the future helps those seeking to improve environmental management to promote policies and actions that are likely to succeed by being acceptable to those involved.     

No Change for Thirty Years: The Renewed Question of Women's Land Rights in Rural China

Since the mid‐1990s, a new land‐use rights regime has gradually come into effect in China. It follows upon a series of earlier changes — land reform, collectivization and the first wave of contracting land to households — that paid attention to women's role in publicly recognized work and provided access to land. The new regime, which has gradually come into effect as previous (usually fifteen‐year) terms expired, authorizes an adjustment in land allocation which is then normally frozen for thirty years. An apparently inadvertent effect of this policy is not only the exclusion of young people from direct access to land for up to thirty years from birth, but the de facto separation of the majority of women who marry or remarry patrilocally from allocated land. ‘No change for thirty years’ (sanshi nian bu bian) has thus become the distinctive feature for women of China's current land‐use regime. The state has renounced its potential to reallocate land periodically and there is no indication that market mechanisms are filling, or are capable of filling, the void thereby created. This article examines local conceptions, responses and practices regarding land‐use rights and their transfer within this new framework, using field evidence from three upland agricultural communities in Chongqing and Sichuan (studied in 2003, 2004 and 2005), where land allocations were fixed in 1995, 1999 and 2001 respectively. The ethnographic findings are further explored in relation to contemporary research on gender and land rights.     

Land use change in Northeast China in the twentieth century: a note on sources,methods and patterns

Studies of historical change in cultivated land use in Northeast China have become important in the discussion of food supply safety and the reconstruction of land use/cover changes in China. This paper subjects a number of sources relating to land use change in the three provinces of Northeast China to comparative analysis. The data examined include Russian survey data (1914), data from local and regional Chinese governments during the Republic of China (1931), data from the Japanese Society of Manchuria Railway (SMR) for 1940 and various sets of contemporary Chinese data for the second half of the 20th century. A unified method of reconstructing the data and estimating the rate of cultivated land use change in Northeast China during the 20th century is developed here. A relational model is proposed for this purpose. It establishes a general framework for relating the various sets of data generated in different time periods and indicates ways in which the data have to be calibrated to ensure their comparability. The calibration of the data involves correlation and regression analysis. The results of the comparative analysis show that the area of and rate of change in cultivated land use in Northeast China increased until the last decade of the twentieth century. Increase rates were particularly high between 1914–1931 and 1950–1960.     

Land Tenures as Policy Instruments: Transitions on Cape York Peninsula

Over the last four decades, Australia's most remote marginal lands have provided an expansive space towards realisation of emergent national goals, involving recognition of Aboriginal land rights together with protection of ‘wilderness’ and semi‐natural ecosystems. This has been achieved by the revival of land tenures as instruments for the delivery of public policy, requiring innovative federal and state legislation, often driven by judicial determinations. More so than any other bioregion, Cape York Peninsula has experienced radical shifts in landownership, land titles, and property rights, reflecting its pivotal role as an arena in which emerging national goals are contested. The most immediately visible evidence of these changes is depicted in the tenure maps for 1970, 1990, and 2010. However, these maps provide an incomplete account of tenure changes, including new titles such as non‐transferable communal freehold and common‐law recognition of traditional native title, requiring belated responses by state and federal governments. The three benchmark maps provide a starting point for an examination of the currently resurrected role of land titles and land rights as policy instruments. The time‐specific attributes of each tenure category are discussed and linked to the policies underpinning each tenure and to the communities, political constituencies, resources, enterprises, and national values engaged with each tenure. Land titles and land rights are pivotal in political contests about regional futures, with the peninsula acting as a crucible in shaping wider national directions.     

Institutional Change in Land Planning: Two Cases from Galicia

Why do societies implement land policies? A number of arguments have been put forward in the literature, ranging from economic conceptions based on market failure and the problem of negative externalities to a more social conception based on welfare distribution and collaborative planning. However, neither all societies with similar market failures or negative externalities develop and implement land planning nor implemented land planning always results from collaborative planning. The arguments found in the literature seem not to fit the reality and, in most cases, cannot explain why societies create or undertake innovations in land planning. Within the framework of institutional change theory and based on the analysis of the emergence of two land planning devices—a land use law and a land banking law—in Galicia, Northwest Spain, this paper argues that land planning is developed to tackle negative outcomes of former institutional setups. However, the negativity of such outcomes is measured not in terms of economic performance, but in terms of social acceptance. The search for a workable definition of property within the Galician society seems to be the main driver of institutional change in land use planning analysed in this paper.     

南京大学土地利用学科发展回顾与展望

南京大学是国内较早开展土地利用研究的高校之一。1949年后特别是改革开放以来,南京大学土地利用学科取得了突飞猛进的发展,目前已形成了一个相对完整的跨学科发展体系。经过长期的研究凝练,学科目前已逐步形成了"土地利用与规划"、"土地经济与政策"、"土地评价与整治"三个重点研究领域,并在"城市土地利用管理"和"农户土地利用行为"等方面形成了一定的研究特色。今后,南京大学将围绕"全面实现国内一流优势学科,达到国际同类研究一流水平"的目标,通过凝聚力量争取重大科研项目,引进或培养领军人物,加强重点实验室建设等战略举措,建成与国际接轨的具有南京大学特色的土地利用学科体系。     

Land as fictitious commodity: the continuing evolution of women's land rights in Uganda

In sub-Saharan Africa, colonial influences have altered traditional practices as a way to manage that which Polanyi labeled as ‘fictitious commodities’ of land, labor, and money. Land has now become a highly marketable commodity and an intrinsic part of the global economy. Over the past century, Uganda's land rights have evolved from communal rights to that of male-dominated, individual ownership practices that have excluded women. Despite constitutional provisions, which confer title of both a deceased husband's property rights and equal rights to property within a marriage to a wife, postcolonial patriarchal tradition prevails. This article examines historical changes in land rights in Uganda and discusses the impact of shifts in land rights from communal ownership to individual tenure, altering power structures and attempting to create marketable land title. The Ugandan women's movement's opposition to policies and implementation of laws that exclude women has been unable to facilitate the required changes in unbiased access to land rights, despite apparent victories in revisions to the letter of the law. Situated within contemporary interpretations of tradition and pressures of market demand, this article shows that women's access to landownership and use are restricted by misinterpretation of traditional law and a lack of enforcement of contemporary legal rights. To illustrate the impact of a lack of access to land, this article examines an empirical case study of widowed subsistence farmers in southern Uganda. Women in Uganda continue to lose ground, quite literally, decreasing the possibility of gender equity in terms of land.     

Spatial pattern of land cover changes across Northeast China over the past 300 years

To accurately model the regional climatic effects of land use/cover change processes, precise reconstructions of historical land cover are essential. Over the past 300 years, the northeastern region has undergone more significant land cover change than any other region in China owing to large numbers of farmer migrants from North China, reflecting the tremendous effects human activities can have on such changes. In this paper, based on official statistical data, documentary records, survey data, and modern remote-sensing data and vegetation and soil maps, land cover changes across Northeast China over the past 300 years have been reconstructed through cropland data calibrations using correlation analysis, potential vegetation reconstructions, urban area estimations, spatial analyses of land cover type changes by K-mean clustering analysis, and consideration of land use driving forces. The results indicate that cropland expanded gradually from south to north through the cities of Shenyang, Jilin, and Ha’erbin as well as out to the margins of the central plain of Northeast China, with a maximum expansion occurring in the 1950s. Pristine forests and grasslands diminished significantly, especially in the early twentieth century, due to this expansion of cropland. The conclusions drawn from these results are, first, that these results provide a scientific understanding of the process by which the original land cover was replaced by cropland in Northeast China over the past 300 years. Second, the results enabled the development of a series of land use/cover changes maps with 50–100 year time resolutions and county-level spatial resolutions. Based on the reconstructed results of these land cover type changes, the dynamics and causes of land cover changes are discussed in their social–historical contexts.