Linking Agricultural Policies with Decision-Making: A Spatial Approach

Abstract

The loss of agricultural land and its implications have been of great concern in the last decade. By undertaking a spatial analysis of the appropriation of agricultural land for urban use with an overlay of population and urban data, a focus on the consequences of certain regulations on the dynamics of land-use change is explored. This is achieved by integration of data inventories of agricultural land use for Portugal, and linking this information with CORINE Land Cover data as to assess change in the Algarve. An integrated assessment of agricultural land loss follows, undermined by the consequences of urban sprawl. In this sense, this paper expands on the currently existing decrees which provide support to sustainable development in the region while providing a qualitative assessment of future roles based on ethical values and economic efficiency and offering a feasible framework for policy-makers regarding the trends of urban/agricultural dichotomy in a planning and decision-making context.     

Sir Vivian Fuchs – in appreciation

Abstract

The productivity of modern agriculture is a result of a remarkable fusion of technology and science. The emerging skepticism about the role of science in society has led to a questioning of the benefits from technical change in agriculture and there is a rising demand for more effective social control over the development and use of agricultural technology. Agricultural science cannot evade responsibility for the costs as well as the benefits of technical change. But it is in society's interest to let the burden of responsibility rest lightly and to insist that agricultural science maintain its commitment to expanding the productive capacity of the resources used in agricultural production. But society should also insist that agricultural science embrace an agenda that includes a concern for the effects of agricultural technology on the health and safety of agricultural producers; a concern for the nutrition and health of consumers; a concern for the impact of agricultural practices on the aesthetic qualities of both natural and man-made environments; a concern for the quality of life in rural communities; and a concern for the implications of technical choices for the options that will be available in the future. The agricultural science community should, in turn, expect that society will acquire a more sophisticated perception of the contribution of agricultural technology to the balance between man and the natural world. It is also time for the general science community to begin to follow the lead of agricultural science in embracing the fusion of science and technology rather than continuing to hide behind the indefensible intellectual and class barriers that have been retained to protect its privilege and ego from contamination by engineering, agronomy and medicine.     

The Títulos de Ebtún,Yucatan, Mexico: Mapping Maya Communal Identity in a Colonial Spanish Notarial Context

ABSTRACT

The main focus in this article is on four maps from colonial Yucatan, Mexico (c.1542?1821). The maps illustrate a two-volume set of Maya notarial documents called the Títulos de Ebtún and concern disputed communal rights to Tontzimin, one of the sparse water sources (cenotes) of this arid limestone region, and its surrounding arable land. Mention is also made of two maps of the province of Mani that were included in treaties agreed with the Spanish authorities as a final record of Maya claims to traditional agricultural rights. Although all these maps were produced by Spanish officials, they relate to broader colonial mapping traditions in Yucatan and embody a clear Maya influence. At the same time, they reveal the effect of Maya mapping practices on Spanish notarial and mapping traditions at the close of the colonial period.     

Managing for Effective Archaeological Conservation: The Example of Salisbury Plain Military Training Area,England

Abstract

Salisbury Plain Military Training Area, Wiltshire, England is the major zone of southern Engizsh chalk downland where archaeological field monuments are comparatively well preserved over large areas. The land is currently managed with regard to military considerations, to its secondary use for forming, and to conservation concerns. Following expressions of concern about archaeological damage, a working party was set up to evaluate the present state of archaeological survival and to recommend for the future. A survey of all sites evaluated their condition by means of a scoring system. Recommendations were made about military use, agriculture, and controlling natural agencies of destruction; and a solution was offered that incorporated eight elements of strategy. The Salisbury Plain study is considered in its context—the English national policy that there should be an archaeological stock-taking of what we have, and a scoring system to make possible some rational choice in selecting from it what is most precious and what is in most need of protection.     

The Wrong Terms of Reference

Abstract

Agriculture in Alaska is beginning to expand. The approach used to facilitate this expansion may serve as an example for other regions where the pressure for development stems from public interest groups. Alaskan agricultural development is tied to the disposal of government-owned land. If agriculture is to develop according to the United States farm production model, then large quantities of agricultural land must be sold to private citizens. Past federal policy in Alaska has not led to this outcome and thus the present-day development efforts spring from state government leadership. This has led to the recent undertaking of three state agricultural projects which have in common low cost land, low cost financing, and planning by people trained in agricultural disciplines. The pivotal aspect of agricultural development efforts in the state of Alaska is the successful transfer of research and technology to private sector farmers. If this can be accomplished, then Alaskan agriculture is likely to flourish.     

Land Rights under Stress in Darfur: A Volatile Dynamic of the Conflict

Abstract

The aggravation of land rights over time in Darfur was a primary factor in the initiation of the conflict, and has emerged as a particularly dif?cult set of issues in the search for viable peace. While the prospect of being able to keep land acquired in course of the conflict was a primary factor in recruitment for the Janjaweed, it came on the heels of a set of changes in the environment, land use and population patterns, institutions, law and governance that produced a highly unwieldy and volatile land rights scenario. This article explores the role of land tenure in the Darfur conflict, examining the aggravation of rights, custom, and law over time, and then focusing on two of the primary war-related tenure problems currently facing Darfur — use of land rights as tools of belligerence, and the land dispossession — secondary occupation problem.     

Local government perceptions of water related issues in rural Australia

Water supply has long been regarded as a limiting resource in the further development of Australia. Active management has been necessary in both more densely settled areas and in areas of moderate settlement density but low rainfall such as the Murray-Darling system. The recently released Water 2000 Report details current knowledge about the quality and distribution of these resources. Following on from this Report this article presents perceived problems with water quantity and quality (in particular, salinisation) obtained from a survey sent to rural local governments in late 1982. The survey requested information on the relevance of twenty-two land use issues, known from earlier work to be representative of common concerns throughout Australia. Public perceptions were remarkably similar to the results of the Water 2000 Report. Water quantity/quality and salinisation issues were the sixth and seventh most commonly cited issues throughout Australia, but were of much greater concern in specific areas. Tasmanian local governments reported major problems of water supply, those in southwest Western Australia exhibited a very high level of concern with dry land salinisation, local governments in the Murray-Darling Drainage Division reported concern with salinisation, droughts, floods and general water quality, while local governments in the Gulf of Carpentaria Drainage Division consistently cited flooding as being a major problem. Information from surveys such as this, and others where the respondents are the end-users, need to be combined with expert opinion in order to increase the effectiveness of the management of our water resources.     

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.     

Emprise et déprise de l'agriculture sur le territoire de l'est de l'Ontario de 1826 à 2006: la dimension environnementale

Agricultural land‐cover changes in Eastern Ontario from 1826 to 2006: environmental effects. Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry (SDG) counties, Eastern Ontario, are among the first areas in Ontario to welcome settlers. In 1784, they established themselves in a forested land where wetlands are very important. Today, a large part of the wetlands has disappeared, but the landscape is wooded, masking the radical changes that took place over the course of the last two centuries. Analysis of census data from 1826 to 2006 allows the reconstruction of the history of land‐cover changes. It reveals the nature and rates of change for which a first analysis is presented. Four periods are identified. First, agriculture conquers the land and establishes its dominance. A plateau is reached in 1891 as agriculture maintains its supremacy until 1941. Then, as fast as agriculture invaded land, it fades away until 1986 when agricultural land‐cover stops shrinking. The opening of forest for cultivation was relatively slow in SDG because of biophysical and socio‐economical conditions associated with an absence of growth of agricultural population. Deforestation and wetland drainage led to a degradation of agricultural life but resulted in consideration of the environment in agriculture. Today, wooded and agricultural land covers are more balanced and environmental effects less acute.     

Changes in Architecture and Land Use Strategies in the American Southwest: Upland Mogollon Pithouse Dwellers,A.C. 200–1000

Abstract

This study combines functional theories of architectural design with concepts from engineering to devise a method for ranking the effort invested in house construction. Investment in construction is in turn linked with the intensity of site use. Analyses show that from A.C. 200 through A.C. 1000, Upland Mogollon pithouse dwellers invested ever greater effort in building long-lasting, maintainable houses. The implications for models of land use and agricultural dependence are discussed. It is suggested that the architectural trends are consistent with models that characterize Upland Mogollon pithouse dwellers as increasingly sedentary and increasingly dependent on agriculture after A.C. 550.     

Promise and Blessing: Gen 12,1-3

ABSTRACT

Gen 12,1-3 is a text which plays an important part in the dis-cussion about the establishing of the modern state of Israel. The question is, whether this text defends this event in the 20th century’s history or if one should find the defence elsewhere. In order to find an answer to this question three classic German commentaries have been reread. The commentaries, written by Herman Gunkel (GHAT), Gerhard von Rad (ATD), and Claus Westermann (BKAT), are from different periods of the 20th century. The result is that the commentators find that the text is more interested in the blessing and the promise than in the history of the possession of the land of Canaan.     

Field survey and excavation of two linear wooden features at Hooper’s Ground,Westhay Heath,Somerset, 1992

Abstract

While much is known of prehistoric exploitation of the Somerset Levels and Moors,¹ extensive peat extraction across the Moors since the early post-medieval period has effectively removed most of the historic peats and consequently much the archaeology of the later periods. It is now believed that peat was continuing to form in the area until the end of the first millennium AD,² and though little is known, medieval and post-medieval features will invariably have cut into these and earlier peats. B. Coles and J. Coles, Sweet Track to Glastonbury (London, 1986). M. Cox, ‘Archaeology in the Somerset Levels and Moors 1992’ in M. Bell (ed.), Severn Estuary Levels Research Committee Annual Report 1992, 63-68.

In 1991, two similar linear brushwood features were noted, during routine archaeological monitoring of areas subject to peat extraction, in an area known as ‘Hooper’s Ground’ between the villages of Westhay and Burtle, some three miles west of Glastonbury. Revealed as a consequence of peat extraction, a short programme of survey and excavation undertaken in 1992 demonstrated that they were contemporary structures dating from around 1700. Their function is presently unknown, although it is considered that they may reflect land restoration for agricultural use post-dating earlier efforts at peat extraction.     

Survivorship of Earthworks Mapped by T. H. Lewis in Iowa 1884–1894

ABSTRACT

Between 1884 and 1894, Theodore Hayes Lewis mapped 370 prehistoric American Indian mounds and earthworks in Iowa as part of a larger survey of mounds in the upper Midwest. Georeferencing remapped Lewis survey notes allows their comparison with modern GIS data including lidar topographic maps, aerial photos, and land records. Of the 370 mounds, 190 (51.4%) are clearly visible in lidar, 160 (43.2%) are probably destroyed, and 20 (5.4%) are undetermined. Data analyses explore the factors that influenced mound survivorship. By far the strongest correlations for survivorship are modern land use, modern ownership, and local landform, with mounds most likely to survive in wooded areas, on public land, and on islands. Iowa data are compared with Lewis map data from Minnesota, revealing Iowa has a far higher survivorship, 51.4% versus 25.6%, likely attributable to land use in the late nineteenth century. Further comparison with Minnesota data suggests perhaps twice as many mounds stood in modern agricultural fields of Iowa before Lewis made his surveys.     

Multiproxy environmental archaeology of Neolithic settlements at Osłonki,Poland, 5500–4000 BC

Abstract

Archaeological research on Neolithic settlements (ca. 5500–4000 cal BC) at and near Os?onki, Poland, is complemented by palaeoenvironmental investigations in three basins with biogenic sediments adjacent to the archaeological sites. Research included sedimentology, palynology, malacology and cladoceran analysis. Complementary lines of evidence indicate that Linear Pottery pioneer farmers of the late 6th millennium BC caused minimal environmental impact, but intensive settlement and land use by the Brze?? Kujawski Group during the 5th millennium BC triggered pronounced human-induced effects on the local landscape. Of particular significance is the evidence for erosion and aeolian ablation of exposed soil in the vicinity of the Neolithic settlements, presumably reflecting widespread land clearance, agricultural activity and settlement construction.     

Vegetation recolonisation of abandoned agricultural terraces on Antikythera,Greece

Abstract

Antikythera is a small, relatively remote Mediterranean island, lying 35 km north-west of Crete, and its few contemporary inhabitants live mainly in the small village at the only port. However, an extensive network of terraces across the island bears witness to the past importance of farming on the island, although the intensity of use of these cultivated plots has changed according to fluctuating population levels. Most recently, the rural population and intensity of cultivation have dramatically declined. Our aim is to understand the recolonisation process of agricultural land by plants after terraces are no longer used for the cultivation of crops. The results demonstrate a relatively quick pace of vegetative recolonisation, with abandoned farm land covered by dense scrub within 20 to 60 years. The archaeological implications are that, following even relatively short periods of abandonment, the landscape would have required arduous reinvestment in the removal of scrub growth, as well as the repair and construction of stone terraces, to allow cultivation once again.     

Long-term agrarian landscapes in the Troodos foothills,Cyprus

We investigate the temporal and environmental relationships between the terraced hill slopes of Politiko-Koloiokremmos and the adjacent Bronze Age settlement of Politiko-Troullia in foothills of the Troodos Mountains, central Cyprus. Mapping of 102 stone walls on Koloiokremmos is compared with 66 walls farther afield on Cyprus to create a six-part terrace typology. Sherd counts from 174 2-m radius collection circles over approximately 20 ha on Troullia and Koloiokremmos were used to create interpolated sherd density surfaces revealing distinctly different patterns of land use for four major archaeological eras between the Cypriot Bronze Age and Medieval Period. We compared sherd density patterns according to terrace types, length, slope and vegetation cover determined by SAVI (Soil-Adjusted Vegetation Index) from Ikonos and Quickbird satellite imagery.The most robust sherd patterning indicates Prehistoric Bronze Age settlement at Troullia, as confirmed by soil resistivity and excavation, and multi-period land use on Koloiokremmos immediately upslope of the village that may be associated with agricultural terracing. Scattered sherd concentrations indicate later use of this landscape as an agricultural hinterland for the Iron Age city of Tamassos. Sherds and a down slope spread of roof tiles from the Roman through Medieval periods suggest an isolated structure near the crest of Koloiokremmos. Longer terraces correlate with greater vegetation cover and are interpreted as agricultural, while shorter terraces, apparently for erosion control and arboriculture, are significantly related to Prehistoric Bronze Age sherd patterns. Our results suggest that coordinated analysis of archaeological, geographical and remotely sensed environmental data associated with terraced landscapes can be used to infer long-term patterns of agricultural land use.     

The Eastern Sámi: A short account of their history and identity

During the last decade there has been a growing interest in the history and culture of the Eastern Sami, but information on this subject is insufficient. In this article the author starts from the quite problematical question about the use of the term Eastern Sámi, and presents further data about the main historical milestones for the Eastern Sami from olden times up to the end of the 20^th century. Among other things, the author considers changes which happened in the structure of Eastern Sami social life, the cultural and linguistic environment and its influence on the Eastern Sami culture and languages, influence of the state borders and state policies, and the relationship between the Sami and the Orthodox Church. Based on this historical background, the author elucidates the issue of Eastern Sami identity and their sense of affinity. Is there still a future for their culture, language and identity? The author, who grew up on Sami land in Russia, has for more than a decade been studying the Eastern Sami culture, folklore and religion. In this presentation, the inner point of view, native Sami terms and place‐names are especially emphasized.     

LAND USE POLICY AS AN INTERNATIONAL ISSUE

Land use is not an end in itself; it is a means to the realization of a broad range of human objectives – social, economic and political. Few public issues appear to be more strictly national. In environment-related United Nations conferences, Third World representatives in particular have asserted the absolute control of nations over their land and natural resources. Nevertheless, international concern over land use has been growing. This concern is both scientific and political and derives from the perception that use and misuse of land may have international repercussions. Developing countries facing disastrous consequences of unwise land use practices (e.g., soil erosion, desertification, water logging and salinization, laterization, and loss of agricultural land to urbanization) have appealed to international organizations for aid. FAO, UNEP, IUCN, ICSU, and the UN Economic Commissions have undertaken land-use related research and assistance programs. Political sensitivities preclude external involvement in national land use policy except in dire circumstances as, for example, in the drought-stricken African Sahel. Thus legitimate international concerns must find indirect strategies to influence governments from among their own national constituents. The IUCN World Conservation Strategy suggests a route that might lead toward concerted action among nations in the formulation of genuine international land use policy.     

Biogeographical field study of farmland

Abstract

Ecological biogeography, defined here as the ecological study of man‐managed communities, is essentially experimental: practical work therefore should play an important role in teaching this specialism. In Britain, lowland agricultural land has attracted little ecological investigation but falls within the scope of geography; characteristics of the farmland habitat combine to make it especially suitable for biogeographical field study. Field work, varying in form from day visits to projects spanning several years, may illustrate many biogeographical concepts introduced in lectures.     

Family Property and the Limits of Intervention: The Article 27 Reforms and the PROCEDE Programme in Mexico

In the 1990s the Mexican peasants witnessed the introduction of a new Agrarian Law and the implementation of the land regularization programme, PROCEDE. In this article it is demonstrated that the privatization of previously communally held ejido land did not lead to the promised dynamic land market, nor to an increase in agricultural productivity. On the basis of an in–depth study of land tenure practices in the ejido La Canoa in Western Mexico, it is shown that the changes of 1992 did not address the main problems of peasant agriculture. The new Agrarian Law legalized practices which, although illegal, had already become quite common in ejidos throughout Mexico. In addition, it is argued that legal security does not necessarily reside in official registration by the state, but can also be based on local recognition of land rights. The main argument of the article is that property consists of complex sets of claims, rights and obligations that cannot be manipulated by forms of state intervention that reduce land tenure predicaments to technical problems.