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Land
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Environmental Sustainability Assessment of Land System
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Environmental Sustainability Assessment of Land System

A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X). This special issue belongs to the section "Land Environmental and Policy Impact Assessment".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 11 September 2024 | Viewed by 3054

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Lucia Rocchi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy
Interests: protected area management; natural resource management; sustainability assessment; multicriteria analysis; choice experiments; ecosystem service assessment and management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Climate change is causing several land-connected environmental issues: irreversible changes and path dependence are common features of land systems that have effects on biodiversity, water management, and natural resources in general. In order to find long-term solutions, a basic step that needs to be taken is the development of a strong framework for environmental sustainability assessments. Indeed, the development of environmental sustainability assessments of land systems is crucial to guide policymakers, as well as the other actors, in the right direction when addressing all these new challenges. Moreover, strong land-related environmental assessment studies are fundamental for constructing a solid adaptation strategy under the climate change scenario. Although a rich amount of research about environmental assessments has been developed over the last few years, environmental land assessments still need additional development, especially when considering the combined effect of land use and change and climate change scenarios at different scales.

This Special Issue aims to collect research on and insights into land environmental assessment, including both methodological proposals and significant case studies. We welcome researchers to submit their high-quality research on topics that include, but are not limited to, the following:

  1. Assessment methods, frameworks, and tools;
  2. Climate change valuation specifically related to land issues;
  3. Environmental assessment of land-use scenarios;
  4. Adaptation strategies for land management;
  5. Land environment and policy impact.

Dr. Lucia Rocchi
Guest Editor

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. Land is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2600 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

  • land system assessment
  • environmental assessment
  • environmental management
  • land policy
  • climate change adaptation

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 5722 KiB  
Article
How to Coordinate the Relationship between Urban Space Exploitation, Economic Development, and Ecological Environment: Evidence from Henan Province, China
by Xiaotong Xie, Kunlin Wu, Yingchao Li, Shanshan Guo and Xiaoshun Li
Land 2024, 13(4), 537; https://doi.org/10.3390/land13040537 - 17 Apr 2024
Viewed by 306
Abstract
With the rapid development of urbanization, China is facing problems, such as uncoordinated regional development, imbalanced land space development, and ecological environment pollution. This poses a huge threat to the sustainable development of China’s economy and society. Therefore, there is an urgent need [...] Read more.
With the rapid development of urbanization, China is facing problems, such as uncoordinated regional development, imbalanced land space development, and ecological environment pollution. This poses a huge threat to the sustainable development of China’s economy and society. Therefore, there is an urgent need to determine how to coordinate the relationship between the space exploitation, economic development, and ecological environment (SEE) of urban areas. In this study, taking the Henan Province as an example, long time-series data (2000–2020) were used, at a city scale. Then, we developed a logical framework to reveal the interrelationship and intrinsic mechanism between SEE. Next, we explored the spatiotemporal coupling characteristics of SEE using a linear weighting method and a coupling coordination analysis. We found that, from 2000 to 2020, the comprehensive level of SEE showed an obvious trend of change, and different cities have different coupling coordination degrees. However, the overall coupling coordination level is steadily developing and tending to improve. Furthermore, with the spatial autocorrelation method, we analyzed spatial correlation patterns and collaboration/trade-off relationships for SEE. Through the analysis, positive correlation types (HH, LL) cluster significantly and negative correlation types (HL, LH) have low clustering. Meanwhile, we found significant spatial differences in cooperation/trade-off relationships between different years. This research can serve as a reference and as methodological guidance for achieving coordination and sustainable development of the economy, space, and environment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Sustainability Assessment of Land System)
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22 pages, 14423 KiB  
Article
Can Urbanization-Driven Land-Use and Land-Cover Change Reduce Ecosystem Services? A Case of Coupling Coordination Relationship for Contiguous Poverty Areas in China
by Jian Zhang, Xin Lu, Yao Qin, Yuxuan Zhang and Dewei Yang
Land 2024, 13(1), 82; https://doi.org/10.3390/land13010082 - 11 Jan 2024
Viewed by 971
Abstract
New urbanization often leads to land-use and land-cover change (LUCC), which inevitably affects ecosystem services (ESs). Although it is traditionally believed that urbanization reduces ecosystem services, some studies have shown that reasonable urban development facilitates ecosystem conservation. Previous studies have focused on the [...] Read more.
New urbanization often leads to land-use and land-cover change (LUCC), which inevitably affects ecosystem services (ESs). Although it is traditionally believed that urbanization reduces ecosystem services, some studies have shown that reasonable urban development facilitates ecosystem conservation. Previous studies have focused on the impacts of urbanization on either LUCC or ESs, with fewer dynamic assessments of the coordination of the three. Taking China’s contiguous poor areas (CPAs) as an example, this study applied coupling coordination, path analysis, and a multiscale geographically weighted regression (MGWR) model to identify the dynamic relationship among urbanization, land use, and the environment and then predicted their coupling coordination under shared socioeconomic pathways (SSP-RCP) in 2035 using the Patch Generation Land Use Simulation (PLUS) and a random forest model. The results of the study show that (1) urbanization, land-use change, and environmental loads in China’s CPAs showed an inconsistent upward trend. There was a slight overall decrease in ESs before 2013, which was consistent with the early stage of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC); after that time, they showed different characteristics. (2) From 2000 to 2018, the coupling coordination degree of CPAs decreased slightly due to urbanization, geographic factors, and grassland and unused land. LUCC was essential to maintaining the system balance. The SN (southern contiguous poverty area) was at a basic level of coordination, while the other regions showed a moderate imbalance. (3) According to scenario projections, the degree of coupling coordination in all regions will increase by 2035. Environmental prioritization and sustainable routes are the best options for CPAs’ development. The SN is more stable, while the WN (western contiguous poverty area) has the lowest coupling coordination. (4) Environmentally friendly urbanization should be carried out with land management tailored to local conditions. Measures that could be recommended include establishing ecological pilot zones in SN areas, prioritizing the protection of grassland ecosystems in WN areas, and promoting intensive land use in the NN (northern contiguous poverty area). The present study offers a novel perspective on the interplay between the economy and the environment at the county level and achieves predictive coupling coordination through the integration of PLUS and random forest models. This investigation into coordinated urbanization–LUCC–ES development in CPAs yields valuable insights for enhancing environmental and economic well-being in similar regions within China, as well as globally. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Sustainability Assessment of Land System)
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16 pages, 1238 KiB  
Article
Carbon Farming: How to Support Farmers in Choosing the Best Management Strategies for Low-Impact Food Production
by Lea Piscitelli, Annalisa De Boni, Rocco Roma and Giovanni Ottomano Palmisano
Land 2024, 13(1), 5; https://doi.org/10.3390/land13010005 - 19 Dec 2023
Viewed by 1064
Abstract
The European Commission is directing efforts into triggering the storage of carbon in agricultural soils by encouraging the adoption of carbon farming practices under the European Green Deal and in other key EU policies. However, farmers that want to enter this production model [...] Read more.
The European Commission is directing efforts into triggering the storage of carbon in agricultural soils by encouraging the adoption of carbon farming practices under the European Green Deal and in other key EU policies. However, farmers that want to enter this production model urgently need to define the sustainable practices required for increasing soil organic carbon without overturning production systems and also need to adapt it for optimizing yields and improving carbon stocks. However, there is still a lack of tools that are easy to use and interpret for guiding farmers and stakeholders to find ways in which to increase soil organic carbon content. Therefore, this research aims to set up a novel bottom–up approach, in terms of the methodology and analysis process, for identifying tailored sustainable farming management strategies for the purpose of increasing soil carbon. We investigated 115 real food production cases that were carried out under homogeneous pedo-climatic conditions over a period of 20 years in the Apulia region (Southern Italy), which made it possible to create a dataset of 12 variables that were analyzed through a decision tree (created with the C4.5 algorithm). The overall results highlight that the treatment duration was the most crucial factor and affected the carbon stock both positively and negatively. This was followed by the use of cover crops alone and then those in combination with a type of irrigation system; hence, specific agricultural management strategies were successfully identified for obtaining effective carbon storage in the considered real food production cases. From a wider perspective, this research can serve as guidance to help EU private actors and public authorities to start carbon farming initiatives, pilot projects, or certification schemes at the local and/or regional levels. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Sustainability Assessment of Land System)
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