Mapping and analysis of changes in the riparian landscape structure of the Lockyer Valley Catchment, Queensland, Australia

[Abstract]: A case study of the Lockyer Valley catchment in Queensland, Australia, was conducted to develop appropriate mapping and assessment techniques to quantify the nature and magnitude of riparian landscape structural changes within a catchment. The study employed digital image processing techniques to produce land cover maps from the 1973 and 1997 Landsat imagery. Fixed and variable width buffering of streams were implemented using a geographic information system (GIS) to estimate the riparian zone and to subsequently calculate the landscape patterns using the Patch Analyst (Grid) program (a FRAGSTATS interface). The nature of vegetation clearing was characterised based on land tenure, slope and stream order. Using the Pearson chi-square test and Cramer’s V statistic, the relationships between the vegetation clearing and land tenure were further assessed. The results show the significant decrease in woody vegetation areas mainly due to conversion to pasture. Riparian vegetation corridors have become more fragmented, isolated and of much smaller patches. Land tenure was found to be significantly associated with the vegetation clearing, although the strength of association was weak. The large proportion of deforested riparian zones within steep slopes or first-order streams raises serious questions about the catchment health and the longer term potential for land degradation by upland clearing. This study highlights the use of satellite imagery and geographic information systems in mapping and analysis of landscape structural change, as well as the identification of key issues related to sensor spatial resolution, stream buffering widths, and the quantification of land transformation processes

Land Use and Transportation Costs in the Brazilian Amazon

Transport infrastructure improvements are considered to be one of the most effective tools for stimulating economic activity; at the same time environmentalists have largely condemned most road building as being one of the greatest threats to tropical forests. In this paper we put forth some empirical evidence from the Brazilian Amazon that the relationship between roads and land clearing may be much more complex. In particular, we find that decreasing transport costs in areas that have established settlements is associated with lower rates of land clearing. Constructing roads into relatively pristine areas, however, has the expected effect of increasing agricultural land use and the rate of deforestation. Furthermore, our out of sample model evaluation exercises suggested that changes in land clearing tend to precede, rather than follow, changes in transport costs. Taken together our results suggest that intensifying road networks in settled areas of the Amazon region(as opposed to road building in virgin forest) may be a “win-win” strategy, both enhancing economic development and reducing environmental destruction.transport costs, roads, deforestation, Amazon

Land Cover Change in Mixed Agroforestry: Shade Coffee in El Salvador

Little is known about land cover change in mixed agroforestry systems, which often supply valuable ecological services. We use a spatial regression model to analyze clearing in El Salvador’s shade coffee–growing regions during the 1990s. Our findings buttress previous research suggesting the relationship between proximity to cities and clearing in mixed agroforestry systems is the opposite of that in natural forests. But this result, and several others, depends critically on the characteristics of the growing area, particularly the dominant cleared land use. These findings imply that policies aimed at retaining mixed agroforestry need to be carefully targeted and tailored.agroforestry, shade coffee, land cover, El Salvador, spatial econometrics

Brazilian Maize Yields Negatively Affected by climate after Land Clearing

To date, over 50% of the Brazilian Cerrado has been cleared predominantly for 11 agropastoral purposes. Here, we use the Weather Research and Forecasting model to run 15- 12 year climate simulations across Brazil with six land-cover scenarios: 1) before extensive land 13 clearing; 2) observed in 2016; 3) Cerrado replaced with single-cropped (soy) agriculture; 4) 14 Cerrado replaced with double-cropped (soy-maize) agriculture; 5) eastern Amazon replaced 15 with single-cropped agriculture; and 6) eastern Amazon replaced with double-cropped 16 agriculture. All land-clearing scenarios (2-6) contain significantly more growing season days 17 with temperatures that exceed critical temperature thresholds for maize. Evaporative fraction 18 significantly decreases across all land-clearing scenarios. Altered weather reduces maize yields 19 between 6–8%, when compared to the before extensive land clearing scenario; however, soy 20 yields were not significantly affected. Our findings provide evidence that land clearing has 21 degraded weather in the Brazilian Cerrado, undermining one of the main reasons for land 22 clearing: rainfed crop production

Economic Dynamics and Forest Clearing: A Spatial Econometric Analysis for Indonesia- Working Paper 280

This paper uses a large panel database to investigate the determinants of forest clearing in Indonesian kabupatens since 2005. Our study incorporates short-run changes in prices and demand for palm oil and wood products, as well as the exchange rate, the real interest rate, land-use zoning, forest protection, the estimated opportunity cost of forested land, the quality of local governance, the poverty rate, population density, the availability of communications infrastructure, transport cost, and local rainfall and terrain slope. Our econometric results highlight the role of dynamic economic factors in forest clearing. We find significant roles for lagged changes in all the short-run economic variables—product prices, demands, the exchange rate and the real interest rate—as well as communications infrastructure, some types of commercial zoning, rainfall, and terrain slope. We find no significance for the other variables, and the absence of impact for protected-area status is particularly notable. Our results strongly support the model of forest clearing as an investment that is highly sensitive to expectations about future forest product prices and demands, as well as changes in the cost of capital (indexed by the real interest rate), the relative cost of local inputs (indexed by the exchange rate), and the cost of land clearing (indexed by local precipitation). By implication, the opportunity cost of forested land fluctuates widely with changes in international markets and decisions by Indonesia’s financial authorities about the exchange and interest rates. Our results suggest that forest conservation programs are unlikely to succeed if they ignore such powerful force.

Pengaruh Teknik Persiapan Lahan terhadap Serangan Hama Penyakit pada Tegakan Bambang Lanang

Land preparation may affect the infestation of pests and diseases. This study aimed to find out the dynamic of pests and diseases infestation in the bambang lanang stand based on land preparation techniques. Land preparation was done by total clearing, path clearing and circle clearing. Percentage attack and intensity attack of pests and disesases were carried out over two years. Pest infestation was found by Graphium agamemnon L. (Papilionidae; Lepidoptera), Sorolopha cumarotis (Tortricidae; Lepidoptera), and leaf minner. Diseases infestation was found by Colletotrichum sp., Cercospora sp. and Curvularia sp. Pests and diseases infestations tended to go down on all land preparation treatments, in line with the increase of plant age. The lowest plant damage was found in total clearing treatment

How the location of roads and protected areas affects deforestation in North Thailand

Using plot-level data, the authors estimate a bi-variate probit model to explain land clearing, and the siting of protected areas in North Thailand in 1986. Their model suggests that protected areas (national parks, together with wildlife sanctuaries) did not reduce the likelihood of forest clearing, but wildlife sanctuaries may have reduced the probability of deforestation. Road building, by reducing the impedance-weighted distance to market, has promoted clearing, especially near the forest fringe. The authors stimulate the impact of further road building to show where road building is likely to have the greatest impact on forest clearing, and where it is likely to threaten protected areas.Wetlands,Climate Change,Earth Sciences&GIS,Environmental Economics&Policies,Water Conservation,Climate Change,Wetlands,Earth Sciences&GIS,Environmental Economics&Policies,Forestry

Optimal Land Use and the Allocation of Endogenous Amenities

This paper explores the implications, from a public sector economics point of view, of combining welfare assessments concerning land use in urban and environmental economics respectively. Urban economics has a long tradition in determining the optimal allocation of land (or space) as a consumption good, while land use issues in environmental economics are predominantly rooted in hedonic pricing as a valuation method for optimising the allocation of public goods. Recently, hedonic pricing methods have been extended by adopting location choice models for the valuation of non-marginal changes in levels of local amenities. Following a possible revision of the location choices by the population, endogenous prices are introduced and compensated for in a willingness to pay. Some of the new methods also allow for social interactions by means of endogenous amenities. While endogenous prices are the main contribution of these so-called sorting models to the valuation literature, until now little attention has been paid to the efficiency of the market equilibrium assumed, in terms of the consumption of space. This is surprising, because social interactions as endogenous amenities might alternatively be interpreted as positive external effects. As such, they are likely to result in an oversupply of land in a competitive market. The dominant characterisation of the equilibrium on the land (or housing) market in sorting models is market clearing, given a fixed supply. In this paper, the total amount of land used in the market clearing equilibrium will be compared with the competitive market equilibrium and the allocation by a benevolent social planner maximising social welfare. It is shown that under relatively general conditions and allowing for endogenous amenities, market clearing with a fixed supply will yield a total amount of land used that is smaller than in a competitive market, but larger than in the case of land use planning. This result suggests that in public policy recommendations, sorting models could benefit from complementing the valuation methodology with the internalisation of external effects for optimising land use.

Basye: Clearing Land Titles

A Review of Clearing Land Titles. By Paul E. Basye