| 1. |
- Barron, Jennie
(författare)
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Deep Tillage Improves Degraded Soils in the (Sub) Humid Ethiopian Highlands
- 2019
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Ingår i: Land. - : MDPI AG. - 2073-445X. ; 8
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Intensification of rainfed agriculture in the Ethiopian highlands has resulted in soil degradation and hardpan formation, which has reduced rooting depth, decreased deep percolation, and increased direct runoff and sediment transport. The main objective of this study was to assess the potential impact of subsoiling on surface runoff, sediment loss, soil water content, infiltration rate, and maize yield. Three tillage treatments were replicated at five locations: (i) no tillage (zero tillage), (ii) conventional tillage (ox-driven Maresha plow, up to a depth of 15 cm), and (iii) manual deep ripping of the soil's restrictive layers down to a depth of 60 cm (deep till). Results show that the posttreatment bulk density and penetration resistance of deep tillage was significantly less than in the traditional tillage and zero-tillage systems. In addition, the posttreatment infiltration rate for deep tillage was significantly greater, which resulted in significantly smaller runoff and sedimentation rates compared to conventional tillage and zero tillage. Maize yields were improved by 6% under deep tillage compared to conventional tillage and by 29% compared to no tillage. Overall, our findings show that deep tillage can be effective in overcoming some of the detrimental effects of hardpans in degraded soils.
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| 2. |
- Ekblom, Anneli, 1969-, et al.
(författare)
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Conservation through Biocultural Heritage-Examples from Sub-Saharan Africa
- 2019
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Ingår i: Land. - : MDPI. - 2073-445X. ; 8:1
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper, we review the potential of biocultural heritage in biodiversity protection and agricultural innovation in sub-Saharan Africa. We begin by defining the concept of biocultural heritage into four interlinked elements that are revealed through integrated landscape analysis. This concerns the transdisciplinary methods whereby biocultural heritage must be explored, and here we emphasise that reconstructing landscape histories and documenting local heritage values needs to be an integral part of the process. Ecosystem memories relate to the structuring of landscape heterogeneity through such activities as agroforestry and fire management. The positive linkages between living practices, biodiversity and soil nutrients examined here are demonstrative of the concept of ecosystem memories. Landscape memories refer to built or enhanced landscapes linked to specific land-use systems and property rights. Place memories signify practices of protection or use related to a specific place. Customary protection of burial sites and/or abandoned settlements, for example, is a common occurrence across Africa with beneficial outcomes for biodiversity and forest protection. Finally, we discuss stewardship and change. Building on local traditions, inclusivity and equity are essential to promoting the continuation and innovation of practices crucial for local sustainability and biodiversity protection, and also offer new avenues for collaboration in landscape management and conservation.
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| 3. |
- Jepsen, Martin Rudbeck, et al.
(författare)
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What Awaits Myanmar's Uplands Farmers? Lessons Learned from Mainland Southeast Asia
- 2019
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Ingår i: Land. - : MDPI AG. - 2073-445X. ; 8:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Mainland Southeast Asia (MSA) has seen sweeping upland land use changes in the past decades, with transition from primarily subsistence shifting cultivation to annual commodity cropping. This transition holds implications for local upland communities and ecosystems. Due to its particular political regime, Myanmar is at the tail of this development. However, with Myanmar's official strategy of agricultural commercialization and intensification, recent liberalization of the national economy, and influx of multinational agricultural companies, the effects on upland land transitions could come fast. We analyze the current state of upland land use in Myanmar in a socio-economic and political context, identify the dynamics in three indicator commodity crops (maize, cassava, and rubber), and discuss the state driven economic, tenurial and policy reforms that have occurred in upland areas of mainland Southeast Asian countries in past decades. We draw on these insights to contextualize our study and hypothesize about possible transition pathways for Myanmar. The transition to annual commodity cropping is generally driven by a range of socio-economic and technical factors. We find that land use dynamics for the three indicator crops are associated with market demand and thus the opening of national Southeast-Asian economies, research and development of locally suitable high yielding varieties (HYVs), and subsidies for the promotion of seeds and inputs. In contrast, promotion of HYVs in marginal areas and without adequate agricultural extension services may results in agricultural contraction and yield dis-intensification. The environmental impacts of the transition depend on the transition pathway, e.g., through large-scale plantation projects or smallholder initiatives. The agricultural development in upland MSA follows a clear diffusion pattern with transition occurring first in Thailand, spreading to Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. While these countries point to prospects for Myanmar, we hypothesize that changes will come slow due to Myanmar's sparse rural infrastructure, with uncertainty about tenure, in particular in areas still troubled by armed conflicts, and unwillingness of international investors to approach Myanmar given the recent setbacks to the democratization process.
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| 4. |
- Lindholm, Gunilla
(författare)
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Land and Landscape; Linking Use, Experience and Property Development in Urban Areas
- 2019
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Ingår i: Land. - : MDPI AG. - 2073-445X. ; 8
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article brings together the concepts of land and landscape, tightly linked in urban transformative situations, but rarely used for the purpose to strengthen strategic planning for sustainability. They are investigated as a combined base for land use deliberations, in early phases of planning processes, in practices of different scale, especially in a European context, drawing on planning and landscape policies generally agreed upon, as well as the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This article argues for taking into consideration the landscape as experienced human habitat, in relation to the understanding of land as both a common resource, and as pieces of property. This is motivated partly by the more or less global political trend and the turn from state interventions to individualistic capitalism (calling for new methods to solve common challenges), but also by a changing planning profession, increased collaborative planning processes, increased significance of public space as a scarce resource in densified cities, the need for holistic perspectives in sustainable urban development and the need for unifying concepts for urban and rural land at a local and regional scale. A new concept "around-scape" is suggested, in order to make visible the subjective binding between available perceived resources and spatial transformation.
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| 5. |
- Myrna, Olena, et al.
(författare)
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The influence of wind energy and biogas on farmland prices
- 2019
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Ingår i: Land. - : MDPI. - 2073-445X. ; 8:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In the context of the rapid development of renewable energy in Germany in the last decade, and increased concerns regarding its potential impacts on farmland prices, this paper investigates the impact of wind energy and biogas production on agricultural land purchasing prices. To quantify the possible impact of the cumulative capacity of wind turbines and biogas plants on arable land prices in Saxony-Anhalt, we estimate a community-based and a transaction-based model using spatial econometrics and ordinary least squares. Based on data from 2007 to 2016, our analysis shows that a higher cumulative capacity of wind turbines in communities leads to higher farmland transaction prices, though the effect is very small: if the average cumulative capacity of wind turbines per community doubles, we expect that farmland prices per hectare increase by 0.4%. Plots that are directly affected by a wind turbine or part of a regional development plan, however, experience strong price increases.
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