Illegal land use change assessment using GIS and remote sensing to support sustainable land management strategies in Taiwan

Land use is changing at accelerated rates in Taiwan, and illegal land use change practices (ILP) are regularly observed within conservation areas. For this reason, we map high-potential areas of ILP within the Soil and water conservation zone (SWCZ) as an aid for effective land management and conducted an exploratory analysis of explanatory variables to evaluate their variability within ILP hot spots. We used variables relevant to hot spots to develop a logistic regression model and identified seven statistically significant variables. We re-applied the logistic regression approach to produce spatially explicit predictions of ILP. High probability areas are distributed along the coastal regions, covering 26% of the SWCZ, and their major drivers are related to accessibility and topography. The results from this research provide relevant information on the major drivers of ILP and high-potential areas, which can support officials in monitoring efforts for better planning and governance within the SWCZ

Invasive plant species in indian protected areas: conserving biodiversity in cultural landscapes

Invasive plant species in Indian protected areas have received relatively little attention until recently. This may partly be due to a historical emphasis on wildlife protection, rather than on a broader science-based approach to conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. A literature review of invasive plant species in India showed that nearly 60 % of all studies have been done since 2000, and only about 20 % of all studies are from protected areas. Studies from protected areas have largely focused on a small subset of invasive alien plants, and almost half these studies are on a single species, Lantana camara, probably reflecting the species’ ubiquitous distribution. The spread of alien plants in India has been both ecologically and human mediated. Efforts to manage plant invasions have, in the past, been diluted by the ambivalence of managers attempting to find beneficial uses for these species. Despite growing knowledge about the harmful impacts of certain invasive plants on native species and ecosystems, their deliberate spread has continued, even till quite recently. And, despite the successful implementation of management initiatives in some protected areas, these efforts have not expanded to other areas. The lack of a national coordinated effort for invasive species monitoring, research, and management largely underlies this