The redistribution of land for commercial agriculture in the era of 'land grabbing': A multi-scalar exploration of the 'marginal lands' narrative with a focus on contemporary Ethiopia

Bringing more agricultural land into production for biofuels and food crops will be necessary if we are to both fulfill our collective climate initiative goals and feed an increasing global population. The direct competition between land for food and land for biofuels has resulted in increased interest in identifying 'marginal lands' such that biofuels can be grown on land that does not threaten the food security of poor, rural communities. The term `marginal land' is also used by developing state governments to describe large swaths of land being leased to private or state-affiliated investors in what has been referred to by the international research community as the 'global land grab'. 'Marginal land', however, is defined and operationalized differently across users and anecdotal evidence shows that some lands classified as marginal are actually used by local communities. Empirical studies investigating these contested lands have not incorporated spatial information. The main objective of this thesis is to conduct a multi-scalar, spatially-explicit exploration of the marginal lands narrative. The first chapter investigates the ontology of the marginal land label as it is applied on a global/regional scale using a meta-analysis of four recent studies. The second chapter triangulates national-level geospatial information with information from semi-structured interviews to examine marginal lands allocated to Ethiopia's federal land bank as contested spaces. The third chapter uses a statistical analysis to identify the socio-political and biophysical determinants of banked lands on a subnational scale in Benishangul-Gumuz, Ethiopia. Results show that methods using remotely sensed information to identify marginal lands on a global/regional scale are qualitatively and quantitatively divergent and are limited in their usefulness in identifying available land for biofuels. The Ethiopia case study finds that the federal government is banking 'marginal land' for future investment that is more appropriately understood as 'land unused for commercial agriculture' and that they are contested spaces where the federal government stands to incur multiple benefits through their transformation to large-scale agriculture. I also find both biophysical and socio-political factors (i.e. ethnicity, agricultural practices) guide the federal government's decision regarding which land to target in the subnational region of Benishangul-Gumuz

Downgrading Recent Estimates of Land Available for Biofuel Production

Recent estimates of additional land available for bioenergy production range from 320 to 1411 million ha. These estimates were generated from four scenarios regarding the types of land suitable for bioenergy production using coarse-resolution inputs of soil productivity, slope, climate, and land cover. In this paper, these maps of land availability were assessed using high-resolution satellite imagery. Samples from these maps were selected and crowdsourcing of Google Earth images was used to determine the type of land cover and the degree of human impact. Based on this sample, a set of rules was formulated to downward adjust the original estimates for each of the four scenarios that were previously used to generate the maps of land availability for bioenergy production. The adjusted land availability estimates range from 56 to 1035 million ha depending upon the scenario and the ruleset used when the sample is corrected for bias. Large forest areas not intended for biofuel production purposes were present in all scenarios. However, these numbers should not be considered as definitive estimates but should be used to highlight the uncertainty in attempting to quantify land availability for biofuel production when using coarse-resolution inputs with implications for further policy development

Downgrading Recent Estimates of Land Available for Biofuel Production

Recent estimates of additional land available for bioenergy production range from 320 to 1411 million ha. These estimates were generated from four scenarios regarding the types of land suitable for bioenergy production using coarse-resolution inputs of soil productivity, slope, climate, and land cover. In this paper, these maps of land availability were assessed using high-resolution satellite imagery. Samples from these maps were selected and crowdsourcing of Google Earth images was used to determine the type of land cover and the degree of human impact. Based on this sample, a set of rules was formulated to downward adjust the original estimates for each of the four scenarios that were previously used to generate the maps of land availability for bioenergy production. The adjusted land availability estimates range from 56 to 1035 ha depending upon the scenario and the ruleset used when the sample is corrected for bias. Large forest areas not intended for biofuel production purposes were present in all scenarios. However, these numbers should not be considered as definitive estimates but should be used to highlight the uncertainty in attempting to quantify land availability for biofuel production when using coarse-resolution inputs with implications for further policy development

Downgrading recent estimates of land available for biofuel production

Recent estimates of additional land available for bioenergy production range from 320 to 1411 million ha. These estimates were generated from four scenarios regarding the types of land suitable for bioenergy production using coarse-resolution inputs of soil productivity, slope, climate, and land cover. In this paper, these maps of land availability were assessed using high-resolution satellite imagery. Samples from these maps were selected and crowdsourcing of Google Earth images was used to determine the type of land cover and the degree of human impact. Based on this sample, a set of rules was formulated to downward adjust the original estimates for each of the four scenarios that were previously used to generate the maps of land availability for bioenergy production. The adjusted land availability estimates range from 56 to 1035 million ha depending upon the scenario and the ruleset used when the sample is corrected for bias. Large forest areas not intended for biofuel production purposes were present in all scenarios. However, these numbers should not be considered as definitive estimates but should be used to highlight the uncertainty in attempting to quantify land availability for biofuel production when using coarse-resolution inputs with implications for further policy development.Fil: Fritz, Stephen. International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis. Ecosystem Services and Management Program; AustriaFil: See, Linda. International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis. Ecosystem Services and Management Program; AustriaFil: van der Velde, Marijn. International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis. Ecosystem Services and Management Program; AustriaFil: Nalepa, Rachel A.. Boston University; Estados UnidosFil: Perger, Christoph. International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis. Ecosystem Services and Management Program; AustriaFil: Schill, Christian. Universitàdi Modena e Reggio Emilia. Dipartimento di Scienze delle Terra; ItaliaFil: McCallum, Ian. International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis. Ecosystem Services and Management Program; AustriaFil: Dmitry Schepaschenko. International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis. Ecosystem Services and Management Program; AustriaFil: Kraxner, Florian. International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis. Ecosystem Services and Management Program; AustriaFil: Cai, Ximing. University of Illinois at Urbana; Estados UnidosFil: Zhang, Xiao. University of Illinois at Urbana; Estados UnidosFil: Ortner, Simone. University of Applied Sciences; AustriaFil: Hazarika, Rubul. Gauhati University; IndiaFil: Cipriani, Anna. Universitàdi Modena e Reggio Emilia. Dipartimento di Scienze delle Terra; Italia. Columbia University; Estados UnidosFil: Di Bella, Carlos Marcelo. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Rabia, Ahmed H.. Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II; ItaliaFil: García, Alfredo Gabriel. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Vakolyuk, Mar'yana. International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis. Ecosystem Services and Management Program; AustriaFil: Singha, Kuleswar. Gauhati University; IndiaFil: Beget, María Eugenia. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria; ArgentinaFil: Erasmi, Stefan. Universität Göttingen; AlemaniaFil: Albrecht, Franziska. International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis. Ecosystem Services and Management Program; AustriaFil: Shaw, Brian. International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis. Ecosystem Services and Management Program; AustriaFil: Obersteiner, Michael. International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis. Ecosystem Services and Management Program; Austri

Downgrading Recent Estimates of Land Available for Biofuel Production

Recent estimates of additional land available for bioenergy production range from 320 to 1411 million ha. These estimates were generated from four scenarios regarding the types of land suitable for bioenergy production using coarse-resolution inputs of soil productivity, slope, climate, and land cover. In this paper, these maps of land availability were assessed using high-resolution satellite imagery. Samples from these maps were selected and crowdsourcing of Google Earth images was used to determine the type of land cover and the degree of human impact. Based on this sample, a set of rules was formulated to downward adjust the original estimates for each of the four scenarios that were previously used to generate the maps of land availability for bioenergy production. The adjusted land availability estimates range from 56 to 1035 million ha depending upon the scenario and the ruleset used when the sample is corrected for bias. Large forest areas not intended for biofuel production purposes were present in all scenarios. However, these numbers should not be considered as definitive estimates but should be used to highlight the uncertainty in attempting to quantify land availability for biofuel production when using coarse-resolution inputs with implications for further policy development