Search

• Three distinct stages can be discerned in sustainable local settlement. • Legal tenure security is not a guarantee of de facto tenure security. • Owning a house in town improves tenure security (a bit) and social status (a lot). • Who owns a plot in the city, belongs to the city. • In absence of the rule of law, real tenure security is difficult to achieve. Sustainable local settlement in the area of refuge is considered one of the durable solutions to displacement, but not so much is known about ways in which internally displaced persons (IDPs) self-settle in urban settings. Based on two qualitative research projects carried out amongst IDPs in an urban setting in the conflict-affected east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), this paper explores the main stages of settlement of IDPs, ranging from being hosted to becoming a formal owner of a plot. Combining theoretical perspectives from refugee studies and land studies, the paper investigates to what extent the different stages of settlement bring tenure security to IDPs. Policy often assumes that formal ownership is desirable as it provides tenure security and subsequently economic investment opportunities. Our data show that even formal ownership does not provide adequate tenure security when the rule of law is lacking and that obtaining 'access' to a property is more critical than obtaining rights. Yet, IDPs nevertheless continue to aspire ownership that is as formal as possible. We argue that this is related to the social status of ownership that helps to transform somebody from an outsider that does not belong in the city to a resident that is entitled to claim her/his right to the city and benefit from the advantages that come with belonging to urban space. There is thus a strong mutual relationship between social status and connections on the one hand and tenure security and access to housing on the other hand that feed into people's sense of belonging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Decisions to participate in reforestation programs are strongly influenced by pro-environmental motivations. • External support from conservation organizations play a significant role in landowner's decision to plant trees. • Contextual factors, including farm size and length of residency, influence the decision to plant trees. • Lack of knowledge, unsuccessful past experiences, and upfront financial investments are barriers to planting trees. Abstract Reforestation programs are being implemented across the globe to address the decline in global forest cover. This research examines the role of motivations, external support, and barriers on farmer participation in reforestation in the tropics. Eighty-five household surveys and 18 in-depth interviews were conducted with farmers and organizations in Costa Rica. To measure motivations, we asked farmers' their perceptions of environmental, social and financial outcomes of reforestation. External support was measured as perceived support from conservation organizations. Regression models were used to determine the significance of motivations and external support, controlling for household and biophysical characteristics, on reforestation behaviors. External support and environmental motivations both had a positive and statistically significant effect on reforestation. Farm size and the number of years spent on the property also positively influenced the decision to plant trees. Farmers identified instrumental pro-environmental values, such as water regulating ecosystem services, as their primary motivations for planting trees. Barriers to reforestation included a lack of technical skills for planting trees, unsuccessful past experiences, a lack of trust in external organizations and initial reforestation costs. Overall, this research indicates that environmental motivations influence the decision to participate in reforestation, but that external support is critical for overcoming initial participation barriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Major challenges are emerging to integrate private lands into whole-of-landscape conservation policy, especially if definitions of biodiversity and conceptions of conservation alienate farming communities. Insufficient attention has been paid to the way that farmers perceive and value biodiversity. By undertaking 'walk-and-talk' in-depth interviews with leading farmers in the South Australian viticultural region of the McLaren Vale, seven important narratives were identified on the way that farmers conceive of and exploit biodiversity on-farm. Farmers' conceptions of biodiversity challenge traditional policy divisions between 'natural' and anthropogenic biodiversity and represent a sophisticated understanding of agricultural and regional ecology. While farmers clearly recognise and prioritise important biodiversity values, the dominant policy frameworks are not effectively defining, quantifying or supporting that biodiversity which is constantly being regenerated through farming practices. A range of opportunities for better conservation emerge from a recognition that productive farming activities and associated agricultural biodiversity form a vital part of the region's biocultural heritage. Of particular importance is the need for farmer definitions of biodiversity to be included in policy both to guide new connections between private landowners and biodiversity conservation, and to normalise goals of sustainable environmental management across rural landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This research re-examines the nature and intensity of losses, associated with the compulsory acquisition of private land for public projects, through the lens of the 'capability approach.' Through in-depth interview of forty-seven landowners in and around Bengaluru city, whose land is currently under notification for compulsory acquisition for the Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project, this research identifies eighteen functionings of land which are crucial to the well-being of the landowners. Together these functionings encompass the financial, social, political and personal aspects of landowners wellbeing and are grouped under five heads: (i) being able to secure basic necessities for life, (ii) being financially secure, (iii) being able to protect oneself from discrimination, exploitation, violence, and assault, as a fundamental human right, (iv) being able to establish social associations and harness personal, familial, and societal interests through these associations, (v) being able to maintain and enhance self-respect and identity. The role of land in providing access to food, shelter, income, and credit, for the poor and agriculturists, is identified as the most valuable functioning. Financial security arising out of using or leasing land is another very important functionings, particularly for those who are financially dependent due to physical disability, poor education, lack of employment, social discrimination, and other reasons. Among other most valuable functionings of land is the financial autonomy and physical security it grants to the women and Dalits, who are vulnerable to homelessness, landlessness, and physical violence. This research also brings out the crucial role of land ownership in safeguarding self-respect and self-identity of the landowners. Findings from this research pave the way towards designing a fairer mechanism of compensation through which all the valuable functionings of each affected landowner can be satisfactorily reconstructed or replaced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Perceptions of wind energy remain steady post-construction for roughly half of nearby landowners. • Among those that change, in aggregate, results are mixed and conflict with theory. • Paths diverge based on residents' perceptions of procedural justice. • Paths also diverge based on residents' financial relationship to the project. • Future research and policy should account for procedural and distributive justice. Abstract Researchers have suggested that residents' acceptance of wind turbines follow a U-shaped curve over time, starting with generally positive attitudes about wind energy, dipping once a project is proposed, and then rebounding after construction. This research considers how residents' perceptions of the benefits and negative impacts of wind turbines shift post-construction by surveying the same individuals (n = 520) at two time periods after a nearby wind project became operational. We find that residents' perceptions follow two separate trajectories based on their perception of the fairness of the wind siting planning process and—to a lesser extent—whether they have a direct financial stake in the wind project. Residents who perceived a fair planning process tended to perceive greater benefits of wind turbines, job creation, and revenues for landowners specifically, while residents who perceived an unfair process perceived significantly greater negative impacts, including visual and noise problems, reduction of nearby property values, and human health problems. These results suggest that while energy business models that extent direct financial compensation to more landowners impact the attitudes of residents in the short-term, resident attitudes about procedural justice may have implications that extend well beyond the project planning stage, impacting long-term support for adding new and repowering old turbines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Investor can achieve its maximum interest through incentive coordination in REDD+. • Landholders will not suffer any losses after incentive coordination in REDD+. • Incentive-coordinated contracts can improve the efforts to reduce emissions. • Landholder with better capability is more likely to improve its efforts in REDD+. • Incentive coordination is interpreted as a techne of neoliberal environmentality. Abstract The complexity and profound spatial effects of incentives in the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) contracts make them an ideal case for applying neoliberal environmentality theory, as they provide a special lens to closely observe how incentive coordination, as a techne of neoliberal environmentality, shapes individual behavior in reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation. This paper introduces some political and economic arguments related to the issue of incentive coordination in REDD+ contracts from the perspective of neoliberal environmentality. According to the efforts of landholders to reduce emissions, this paper conducts a game model of payments for ecosystem services to describe the dynamic interaction behavior between an investor and several landholders in the current REDD+ contract and an incentive-coordinated REDD+ contract. In the theoretical framework, the effects of incentive coordination on the landholders' efforts to reduce emissions are analyzed. A numerical simulation is adopt to examine the changes in the efforts of landholders to reduce emissions and in the benefits of stakeholders under two REDD+ contracts. The results demonstrate the following: First, the investor can maximize benefits without losing the landholders' interests via designing incentive-coordinated REDD+ contracts. Second, extra incentives can improve landholders' efforts to reduce emissions, which contributes to achieving the goal of the REDD+ scheme. Third, landholders with stronger capabilities are more likely to reduce emissions, thus receiving more extra incentives. Incentive coordination has become a neoliberal environmentality; it can impact a landholder's use of forest resources by changing the benefits of reducing emissions in the REDD+ scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Landowners and farmers of rented farmland face several barriers to conservation. • Some of these barriers are unique to the role of the landowner or farmer. • Improving communication and sharing of risks/rewards are important. • Conservation programs should continue to offer communication & lease tools. Abstract Agricultural conservation programs often focus on farm operators when promoting conservation practices. However, much of U.S. farmland is owned by landowners not directly involved in farm operations. Rental arrangements on these lands can dis-incentivize the adoption of conservation practices that could improve soil health, water quality, and land values. To date, agricultural conservation policy has largely ignored the role of non-operating landowners (NOLs) and rental arrangements. We help improve the evidence-base for policy by identifying barriers to adoption of conservation practices on rented farmlands. Analysis of forty interviews with NOLs, operators, farm managers and university extension personnel in Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana revealed five categories of barriers: cash rent lease terms, rental market dynamics, information deficits/asymmetries, cognitive/interpersonal, and financial motivations. Some barriers, such as risk aversion and farm aesthetics were expressed by both NOLs and operators, while other barriers, such as status quo bias and annual renewal of leases were only expressed by NOLs and operators, respectively. To overcome barriers to conservation, interviewees recommended improving communication between NOLs and operators and modifying cash rent lease terms in order to build in flexibility for equitable sharing of risks and rewards. Agricultural conservation programs could readily apply these results—possibly working with intermediaries (e.g., farm managers, lawyers)—to offer communication and lease tools and assistance to NOLS and operators. Future research should evaluate the efficacy of these conservation interventions and how intermediaries affect the balance of power between NOLs and operators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • The concept of ecosystem services is applied to consider the broader impact of the land management in Cameroun. • Provision of six cultural and provisioning ecosystem services was assessed in two peripheries of Yaoundé in 2000 and 2018. • A sharp decrease in the provision of six ecosystem services was found at both sites. • Provisioning areas hotspots have almost disappeared due to high urbanization rates. • The current land tenure system is a driving force in changes in ecosystem services provision. Abstract In Africa, cities are unable to accommodate population growth within their current administrative limits, putting pressure on ecosystem services (ES) in peripheral areas. Existing ES related studies in the region were conducted in East and South Africa, and rarely focused on cultural ES in peri-urban areas. This study aimed to assess changes in the value of cultural ES in two peripheral areas of Yaoundé, Cameroun. It applied the concept of ES through participatory geographic information systems (PGIS) to understand how the value of cultural ES has changed over time and how residents perceive it. It also considered the impact of land management by relating changes in ecosystem service provisioning areas (SPA), with the current land tenure system. We focused on two study areas, Mbalngong and Nkozoa, which were selected for their high urbanization rates. PGIS activities were conducted during twenty semi-directive interviews and one workshop per site. We found that the provision of ES decreased by more than 90% within an 18-year period, from 2000 to 2018. The lack of randomness in the distribution of ecosystem services showed that SPA had distinct functions for residents, but that this was not taken into consideration in planning decisions. We showed that current land management strategies are influenced by the land tenure system and do not incite landowners to preserve their parcels and associated SPA. While direct subsidies may not be appropriate, other approaches such as community land trusts may be more advisable for the preservation of SPA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper examined the impacts of large-scale land holdings on Fulani pastoralists' livelihoods in Agogo, Ghana in the light of questions of Fulani citizenship and increased violent conflicts between farmers and pastoralists. The study is theoretically conceptualized within issues of belonging, citizenship and legitimacy, which have heralded pastoralists' quest for land. We studied pastoralists land acquisitions in comparison with large land acquisitions of ScanFarm (Gh.) Ltd, Nicol-Miro Plantation Ltd and Bernard Kojo Ofori Teak Plantation Ltd as case studies. The study found increased competitions and demand for land by smallholder farmers, Fulani pastoralists and large-scale companies in the Agogo area. These competitions for land by large landholding companies and farmers alike have affected pastoralists' livelihoods negatively; which has pushed pastoralists to marginalized lands while crops are grown along pasturelands and livestock migratory corridors. Consequently, there is increased destruction of crops by cattle, leading to violent conflicts. Besides, pastoralists face high land tenure insecurity as local farmers and landowners seize their leased lands and reallocate them to large agro-companies, partly because of their lack of first-comer claims to land. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complexity and deeply spatial effects of incentives in REDD+ make it a good case study for the application of governmentality theory, as it provides a special perspective to observe how REDD+ incentives shape individual conduct. This paper describes political and economic arguments related to incentives associated with the REDD+ mechanism from the perspective of governmentality. This paper conducts a theoretical analysis of policymaker, landholder, and developer strategies under different market power structures. The goal is to explore the optimal incentives and efforts for REDD+ through two-stage game models. A numerical simulation is applied to examine the effects of changing the parameters associated with each stakeholder’s strategies. The results demonstrate the following. First, the conduct of landholders and developers in reducing carbon emissions is unrelated to the market power they own. Policymakers need to consider market power structures when designing REDD+ incentives. Second, policymakers need to consider multiple factors to design heterogeneous REDD+ incentives under different market power structures. These factors include the price of carbon emission credits, opportunity costs, output elasticity of effort, cost coefficients and total factor productivity. Third, variations in compensation payments do not affect landholder and developer efforts to reduce carbon emissions, but would affect the REDD+ incentive design. Finally, REDD+ incentives have become hybrid neoliberal governmentality; they are consistent with the characteristics of neoliberalism, but are also instruments for serving state policy goals. All these factors need to be considered in designing future REDD+ incentives that achieve an incentive-compatible REDD+ mechanism and realize appropriate governance in forest conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acacia plantations have an important role in increasing the reforestation rate and fulfilling the market demand for processed timber in some Asian countries. This study investigates the factors affecting the time-to-adoption of Acacia spp. by smallholders in different landscapes of Indonesia. We use discrete time duration analysis and data on time of first adoption by 430 landholders from Yogyakarta and the outer regions of South Sumatra and West Kalimantan. Results show that, on average, the time to adoption among smallholders in Yogyakarta was 3.1 years, while that for the outer regions was considerably longer at 10.8 years. Faster rates of acacia adoption were associated with smallholders growing other timber species, having larger land holdings, land acquired from inheritance (compared to via the market), being younger, having an on-farm occupation, and having experience of contracts used in commercial forestry. Changes in the reforestation schemes had limited impact on the adoption rate of acacia, although some schemes marginally decreased or increased the adoption rate. This could be associated with limited availability of acacia seedlings provided by government, which prioritizes seedlings of other commercial tree species, and changes in the contract mechanisms. The mode of extension, such as farmer-to-farmer learning and forest extension agents, also affected adoption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the U.S. the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) administers the Wetland Reserve Program (WRP) that funds the restoration of wetlands on privately-owned lands under conservation easements. These programs provide a number of potential benefits to landowners along with the wetland including access roads and reduced property taxes on the easement land. To receive these benefits, landowners agree to limit development opportunities on their land but can continue to use it for other activities such as hunting, fishing, viewing wildlife, haying, or extracting wood for personal use. We surveyed 35 participants in the NRCS program in northeastern New York State to measure factors associated with willingness to enroll land in the WRP program beyond direct monetary incentives. In addition, we conducted follow up interviews with eight program participants to enhance our understanding of landowners’ motivations to participate in the programs. We found that valuing the conservation aspects of wetlands, being retired and a female respondent were associated with willingness to enroll lands without compensation. In addition, qualitative interviews provided context to these findings such that landowners enrolled land due to 1) lived experience with wetland use and preservation; 2) a conservation ethic in regards to preserving nature; and 3) the desire to use the restored wetland as a ‘showcase’ for family and community members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land consolidation is one of the important tool of increasing productivity in agricultural production. Land consolidation not only consolidates fragmented land, but also improves the standards of landowners in agriculture, technical, social and cultural areas. Land consolidation projects consist of various stages. The most important, complicated and time-consuming part of these stages is land reallocation. Land reallocation is a process which requires a long time and high operating costs and in which there frequently arise disputes between landowners. For these reasons, it is inevitable to use computer technology to optimize this process. In this study, a hybrid method including genetic algorithm and fuzzy logic techniques which enable reallocation to be done automatically in land consolidation has been used. The crossover rate and the operation of the genetic algorithm (GA) method have been realized as a self-adaptive structure using fuzzy logic techniques. A similar study used for the land reallocation problem in the literature, the results of reallocation plans obtained by the technician and the results obtained by the hybrid method have been compared. When the experimental results are evaluated, it has been found that the hybrid method used is more successful and efficient than similar studies in the literature and also has a better reallocation plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Voluntary incentive programs are widely used to generate conservation actions on private land. Although there is a growing body of research about factors that influence landholder participation in incentive programs, studies generally conceptualise landholders in agricultural landscapes as owner-occupier, farming individuals or families. Few studies have considered participation by absentee landholders and fewer still have recognised group landholders (e.g. non-government organisations or community groups) as potential incentive program participants. We examined participation in a conservation stewardship tender (reverse auction) in South Australia to identify the diversity within participants, and particularly to evaluate the extent of participation by absentee landholders and groups. A diverse set of landholders participated, where nearly a quarter of participants were absentee landholders, and a small component were groups. Although small in number, groups were shown to be important because they were likely to offer larger land areas in the stewardship tender. With very little known about how absentee and group landholders may differ from their counterparts, further research is recommended to inform incentive program design. We recommend that incentive programs consider landholder diversity in order to achieve effective conservation in agricultural landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stemming from the theoretical concepts worked out in detail in Paper I, this paper demonstrated in empirical terms on two major fronts. First, the redevelopment trajectory of industrial land in Nanjing was identified and was shown to consist of the dilemma of firm migration and the puzzle of space transformation. Second, the multiple rounds of bargaining between original land user and land owner were analyzed, and it was shown in particular how the industrial land of local state-owned enterprise (SOE) can be redeveloped under the control or intervene of urban government. Finally, we argued that the disputes between original land user and land owner on the sharing of redevelopment cost and the distribution of potential benefits constituted a potent system of explanatory coordinates that effectively reveals the hidden logic of industrial land redevelopment in urban China. And the carrot-and-stick approach employed by local authorities is the key to breaking that deadlock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given land owners’ resistance to the compulsory acquisition of land and the recurring debate on inadequacy of compensation, this research re-examines losses of landowners in terms of loss of functionings offered by land. The aim of this research paper is to understand the relationship between land ownership and well-being when seen through the lens of Sen’s (1979) ‘capability approach’ and to identify fundamental functionings associated with land that are generalizable at global level. The relationship between wellbeing and functionings offered by commodities is the focus of Sen’s (1979) ‘capability approach’ Understanding functionings of land required inductive approach and primary investigation was performed through focus group discussions with participants from eleven different countries, who are currently pursuing doctoral research at the University of Melbourne. A holistic list of nine fundamental functionings of land was obtained towards the end of these discussions, which are: (i) Secure means to basic ends; (ii) Self-identity; (iii) Social capital; (iv)Social equity; (v) Political empowerment; (vi) Power to take decisions on land matters; (vii) Family’s wellbeing; (viii) Personal comfort and convenience; and (ix) Psychological wellbeing [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines emergent engagements between state and customary actors in planning and land delivery in Tamale, Ghana. In the context of a resurgence of traditional authorities in many African countries and the resulting hybrid and multiple governance arrangements that emerge, the article questions the potential of co-production practices to promote equitable land delivery. In many rapidly urbanising cities in Ghana, increased demand and value for land has precipitated the conversion of peri-urban and hitherto rural lands into urban uses. Consequently, various forms of functional interfaces, formal, semi-formal, and informal negotiations have evolved and flourished in land delivery. These largely take the form of local chiefs making various payments (in cash and kind) to cover the cost of surveying, planning, and sub-dividing customary lands. Drawing on the concept of co-production in public services delivery, we analyse in this paper the drivers and conditions under which chiefs and public servants engage with each other in local planning and land delivery in Ghana. The evidence gathered suggests that although locally adaptive, these emergent engagements are not the panacea to the challenges of land management in Tamale, Ghana. The case studies contradict the largely theorised positive outcomes of co-production as they are driven by motivations that are unduly self-serving, resulting in modest positive and largely negative and inequitable outcomes for indigenous landholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forest certification is considered a viable market-based strategy for promoting sustainable forest management by providing landowners with financial incentives and social recognition for responsible forest practices. In China, it is an issue of international as well as domestic concern, especially considering the magnitude of country’s wood exports. To examine landowners’ perceived barriers to and interests in forest certification in China, we conducted a landowner survey in Shandong province in 2016 and analyzed whether and how landowners’ ownership motivations, management objectives, sociodemographics, and perceptions about benefits and drawbacks associated with certification schemes influenced their willingness to participate in certification programs. Results indicate that the majority of landowners in Shandong province are not currently familiar with forest certification programs but are willing to consider participating when provided with pertinent information. There may be a potential market for certification programs in China with appropriate outreach and extension. In addition, landowners’ willingness to participate in certification programs is significantly affected by the expected benefits and limitations associated with certification schemes, landownership motivation, management objectives, and characteristics of the forestland and households. Findings will be useful to institutions and policy makers interested in understanding and promoting the market for forest certification in China and other developing countries with similar circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing popularity of private land conservation (PLC) globally has quickly translated into an array of polices and programs aimed at achieving ecological benefits. The growth of PLC is entwined with the rise of neoliberal governance, with private land proving congruous with the promotion of market-based instruments (MBIs) and the reliance on private protected areas for conservation in lieu of government investment in public lands. Despite a growing literature on the implications of neoliberal environmental governance, there remains a need for specific insights into the way that individual landholders and ecologies can co-opt or resist the rationalities of MBIs in the practice of private land conservation. Through semi-structured interviews and property walks with 18 landholders, this research examines the implementation of a reverse-auction tender scheme called ‘EcoTender’ in Victoria, Australia. We uncovered four main tensions between the market logic of the program and conservation practice: 1) some landholders used the payment scheme to increase regulatory protections on their property through covenants/easements; 2) many landholders struggled to conceive of their stewardship practice as contractual labour; 3) landholders were producing novel ecosystems that challenged land management focused at the property parcel scale when EcoTender encouraged a return to historical benchmark ecologies, and; 4) many landholders wanted social collaboration when the program required competition for cost efficiency. Our insights show that PLC must create room for a diverse trajectory of conservation practice in dynamic socio-ecological contexts. This means careful reflection on the validity of assumptions underpinning MBIs, the trade-offs that come with applying market logic to conservation and the long-term implications of these instruments for policy and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is growing concern that Agri-environment Schemes (AESs) may not be effective in conserving the countryside. Particular concern has arisen around whether the current approach of individual, farm-level, AES agreements are sufficient to offer landscape-scale environmental protection and enhancement. Whilst recent additions to AESs have sought to encourage more joined-up thinking by offering payments to farmers to form collective agreements, uptake is low and there is very little known about farmers’ (non)resistance to such collective conservation. Drawing on in-depth qualitative research with 74 farms across 5 sites in the UK, this paper provides new data on the barriers to farmers’ uptake of collective AESs and offers a new formulation of how we understand farming cooperation. The paper advances Bourdieusian-inspired ideas of the cultural construct of ‘good farming’ by synthesising these with recent reconceptualizations of ‘trust’ in order to provide a more contextually grounded and temporally-inflected understanding of farmers’ cooperative activities. The findings reveal that whilst working relations between farmers are often collegiate, and in places collective, several watershed events over past decades have led to a shift from community-level to process-based (peer-to-peer) trust and a move toward land management being depicted as a squarely individual rather than collective issue. Conceptually, the paper moves beyond the current limitation of viewing trust, and the associated development of social capital – seen as a prerequisite for more collective AESs – as cumulative and one-directional to highlighting their multiple, issue-specific, nature which may become eroded and (re)developed over time. Alongside this, the paper offers a new way of understanding the good farmer by shifting the focus from the individual farm/farmer level to a more fine-grained and contextualised issue-centered notion of good farming. This is then used to explain the seeming reluctance of land holders, evidenced in official statistics, to engage in collective AESs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a land consolidation project, preparation of the reallocation plan is a crucial and challenging stage with many factors playing a role. It is quite difficult to identify these factors and their contributions. The most important element in the allocation stage is the opinions of the landowners regarding the new location of their parcels. Projects are more successful when landowners’ opinions are evaluated and considered. Current technological developments may facilitate the inclusion of the landowners’ requests in the project. The land consolidation and reallocation phase is time-consuming and complex and forms the basis of the project. The biggest problem at that stage is block balancing. Therefore, in this study, we evaluated the performance of a reallocation model to perform block distribution by evaluating landowners’ requests. The model was tested in four villages (Baharlar, Calikoy, Hirka, and Sofular) of the Denizli province, Tavas district (Turkey) where land consolidation work had been done before. Using the model, the excess distribution rates in the blocks were reduced to between 0.03% and 2.09%. In addition, the fulfillment ratio of first requests was 80–90% using the model; while, it was only 66–83% when the work was done without the model. The most powerful part of the model is to process the data within minutes compared with weeks or months for the project engineer. Thus, the model should save time and improve results for future land consolidation projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Landowners are the key players in bioenergy production on wasteland; such as cutaway peatlands. In this study, the landowner’s interest to use cutaway peatlands for bioenergy production was investigated using a survey and GIS (Geographic Information Systems) methods in an area in South Ostrobothnia, Finland. The focus was to identify which different bioenergy production chains are preferred by the respondents: combustion, gasification or biogas production from agriculture, energy-willow short-rotation forestry or forestry based energy crops. Also, the influence of personal environmental values on the selection was measured and the future impacts and barriers for the land use were assessed. Afforestation was the most popular after-use method among the landowners. The next most favorable method was energy crop cultivation but it was highly dependent on economic profitability and subsidies. Currently, approximately 8.2% or 500 ha of the total peat extraction area could be used for bioenergy production in the region by 2035. Based on the survey, forest based biomass is the best option if bioenergy is to be produced. The next choice was agro biomass and the least favored plant was willow. This study suggests that the biggest cutaway peatlands will be converted to forest energy in the future. Suggestive results were that the owners with high environmental values are especially interested in agro biomass growing and the landowner having a distant home place does not have a negative influence on bioenergy production. Altogether, land use and biomass production of cutaway peatlands is connected with the demands of the Finnish bio-economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Brazilian native vegetation supports essential ecosystem services and biodiversity for the global society, while land use competition may intensify around the increasing needs for food, fibre and bioenergy. The Brazilian Forest Act of 2012 amplified a market-based mechanism for offsetting native vegetation deficits in private farmlands. This mechanism enables a large-scale trading system allowing landholders to offset their own deficits of native vegetation by purchasing certificates associated with a surplus of native vegetation from other landholders. This mechanism is an alternative for the more expensive restoration of native vegetation on own land. The launching of the mechanism now depends on specific regulations at state level, which may include geographical restrictions for offsetting deficits. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects in nature protection and socio-economic development of different offsetting implementation alternatives. Our findings suggest that in a business-as-usual scenario the offsetting mechanism may have little or no additional effects on protection of native vegetation, because most of the offsetting is likely to take place where native vegetation is already protected by prevailing legislations. We concluded that it is possible to maximise environmental and socio-economic returns from the offsetting mechanism without undermining productive land. This would be possible if regulations ensure additionality in nature protection while enabling a self-sustaining mechanism for income generation for small-scale family farmers in the poorest region of Brazil, protecting biodiversity and counteracting major trade-offs between ecosystem services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strict regulations, such as the EU Nature Directives, remain pivotal for halting the downward spiral for some protected species. In recent years, though, it has become clear that nature protection rules, are also generating perverse incentives, especially when rigidly applied to areas that have already been transformed by human use, such as agricultural land, quarries and port sites. With the arrival of novel incentive concepts, such as temporary nature in several EU Member States, an unprecedented window of opportunity exists to reframe current nature protection rules. Temporary nature fosters private landowners, ranchers and project developers to actively participate in the recovery of endangered species, also in urban and industrial environments. In return for allowing nature to develop on their undeveloped and vacant lands, the project developers are provided with the legal guarantee that they can still subsequently develop their lands at a later stage. These newly founded conservation policies, which are increasingly endorsed by stand out as striking illustrations of the recently emerged branch of reconciliation ecology, since they aim at increasing biodiversity by opting for win-win scenarios in human-dominated landscapes. It is concluded that a more reconciliatory approach towards nature conservation, which goes beyond the ambit of protected areas, can serve as a catalyst for biodiversity recovery across the wider landscape. Further research will need to underpin whether the ambitious presumptions with regard to these well-intentioned and innovative approaches to nature conservation are justified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Once driven by large-scale clearings, Amazon deforestation now occurs mostly in small increments. Did this result from the emergence of a new group of agents or from a strategic adaptation in the behavior of those who led deforestation in the past? We address this question using georeferenced data on private rural properties and deforestation. We cross property-level and forest clearing data in an empirical setting designed to detect shifts toward clearing patches that were knowingly invisible to the monitoring system. We are therefore able to assess not only whether deforesters were responding strategically to stricter monitoring of deforestation, but also how this response differed across actor types. Results suggest that centralized policy efforts introduced starting in the mid-2000s inhibited medium- and large-scale deforestation, but had heterogeneous effects on small-scale deforestation. Although the relative participation of small deforestation polygons increased in both sample states, the relative participation of smallholders in total state deforestation increased in Pará, while remaining constant in Mato Grosso. We interpret these results as suggestive — albeit not causal — evidence that landholders strategically responded to the monitoring system by adapting their forest clearings practices to elude monitoring in both Mato Grosso and Pará. In the latter, however, the increase in smallholders’ share of annual deforestation suggests that their clearing practices were relatively less affected by what effectively contained deforestation in large properties. The apparent similarity in scale of deforestation across states conceals relevant baseline differences between the agents engaging in forest clearing in each locality. Tailoring policy to account for such differences could strengthen Brazilian conservation policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wild mushroom picking is a growing recreational and commercial activity. In Spain, wild mushrooms legally belong to the landowner, who seldom benefits from trade in mushrooms or from their recreational value. Cultural aspects (tradition, picker-related harms) and economic aspects (costly forestry works, income opportunities) constitute elements of the debate on how to deal with mushroom picking. Through a survey of private forest owners in Catalonia (north-eastern Spain), this paper examines their experiences with mushroom pickers, the factors shaping their related policy preferences and their willingness to engage in mushroom reserves. The results show broad support for introducing mushroom picking norms. A regulation would allow outsider pickers to enter private land, but only under certain conditions, i.e. to comply with socio-ecological rules of the area. Among respondents who support the regulation, active land owners who report instances of picker-related harm (both tangible and intangible) tend to support the establishment of a fee system which could be reinvested into forest management. That is also the position of the respondents who perceive mushrooms as a private right, i.e. they believe to have a legitimate right to exclude outsider pickers and, eventually, to raise revenues from that asset. On the contrary, forest owners who conceive mushroom picking as a free-access activity prefer neither to regulate it nor to charge fees. The option to establish a mushroom picking reserve depends on the landholder being a fee-supporter and perceiving instances of harm. Harm, instead, is mainly determined by the perception of congestion of pickers, which in turn is determined by the mushroom productivity of their forest, their level of privacy protection and their involvement to the primary sector. These findings help policymakers to better understand the logic and sensitivities of forest owners in view of designing mushroom picking policies that can effectively solve picker-landowner conflicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Brazil, market-based instruments focusing on land use dimensions are increasingly promoted as a means to make public environmental policies effective. Landowners and farmers call for more flexible regulations and economic incentives to adopt ecologically sound practices, while public agencies and conservation NGOs seek new ways of financing and legitimising legal standards. Market-based instruments are considered by these actors as having the potential to both achieve their own goals and conciliate all interests. As a result, legal frameworks (including cap-and-trade systems, biodiversity offsetting and payments for ecosystem services) are being designed which allow to exchange land use rights and obligations. Under a sociolegal approach, this article provides an overview of such instruments. It shows to what extent they may entail a reconfiguration of the burden sharing and the priority setting of nature conservation. Depending on how actors use legal standards, their responsibilities may be eased and the level of conservation may be lowered, both facts that raise significant controversy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alternative crops, combined with modern farming methods, are integral parts of the new agricultural model and dominant priorities of agricultural policy. The new conditions created in the internal and global markets of agricultural products indicate significant opportunities for growing alternative crops and for the introduction of modern farming practices and processing. The present study aims to assess the factors that determine the landholder’s decision to uptake an alternative crop. Primary data were gathered through a quantative survey (in-depth interviews) with landholders in two remote and less-favored prefectures of Northeastern Greece, and were analysed through a logistic regression model. The results indicate that the most significant determinants for adopting an alternative crop involve the scientific support to farmers, the development of product demand in the market, the creation of agricultural cooperatives, the development of promotional campaigns for the alternative products, the education and knowledge regarding alternative crops, and the landholder’s satisfaction with income. On the contrary, negative factors to their decision refer to exports development, product subsidies, landholder’s age, membership to a cooperative in its current form, and satisfaction with pesticides prices. Despite the dominance of conventional agriculture models and varieties, the new favorable investment conditions can spur the promotion of alternative crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conservation tenders − or procurement auctions − are a competitive mechanism, in which payment for ecosystem service contracts are allocated to landholders based on their submitted bids. These encompass a price and sometimes a measure for the environmental services the landholder offers to provide. This special edition comprises a set of papers from a workshop on conservation tenders across developed and developing countries. These papers assess the status quo, and the challenges and prospects of tendering approaches. Four high level lessons emerge: 1) Conservation tender performance has been robust; 2) Developed − developing country conservation tender differences are modest; 3) Conservation tender prospects are dependent on political and institutional support; and 4) Optimal conservation tender design is circumstance specific. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recreational hunting may be important to the shaping of the agricultural landscape. Land owners who hunt or lease out hunting rights have an incentive to promote landscapes that contain wildlife biotopes, which may serve wider societal values, such as landscape aesthetics, biodiversity, and preservation of valued and/or threatened animal and plant species. Recreational hunting may thus contribute to preserve and enhance landscape multifunctionality. Yet, little is known about the importance of hunting interests in motivating such landscape management. In this article, we seek to shed light on these issues on the basis of data from a nationally representative survey of Danish landowners. Our findings show a mixed picture of the role of recreational hunting in supporting multifunctional landscapes. We observe a broad swathe of landscape changes for multifunctionality cross properties with different forms of hunting utilization and non-hunted properties. The likelihood of such landscape changes is higher on holdings that are hunted by the owner or where the hunting is leased out, than on properties where the owner lets family or friends hunt for free or where there is no hunting. Non-hunted holdings are smaller and have a less varied land use pattern than larger, hunted holdings. Yet, some of their production characteristics appear to favor multifunctionality and they feature a high intensity of landscape changes that favor multifunctionality. In terms of policy implications, our results indicate that support for multifunctional landscapes should emphasize a broader focus on the interests and identity of different types of landscape managers in information and advisory services and stimulate owners of smaller holdings to cooperate across holdings and see their holding in a broader landscape context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes the political-economy of the agriculture frontier in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso to question the productivist argument commonly presented by the agribusiness sector. The assessment makes use of the category of rent considered as a proportion of exchange value diverted from production for the payment to the landowners and its class-based allies. The agriculture frontier in Mato Grosso had basically three main rent extraction periods: a first moment when rent was forged by the state apparatus (1970s–1980s), a second period with serious turbulence and a macroeconomic transition (1980s–1990s) and a third phase with more complex flows of rent due to the neoliberalization of agribusiness (since the late 1990s). At the frontier of agribusiness, agricultural activity depends on combined strategies of rent creation and rent extraction. Empirical results suggest that rent is more than just the extraction of value from the use of land, but there is a wider capture of value from the network of relations that maintain land in production. Rent derives from land through the formation of a powerful network state-landowners-private agroindustrial sector that provides the conditions for rent extraction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines cooperation and competition among landowners, hunters, and other outdoor recreational land-users in Denmark in relation to recreational hunting. The study used an internet-based questionnaire, sent to representative samples of, respectively, the Danish public ( n = 1001), hunters ( n = 1130) and landowners ( n = 1207 ). A series of qualitative interviews with a sample of landowners and hunters determined their approach to conflict management. The findings showed that relatively few negative encounters take place between hunters and other users compared to the frequency of such incidents between other outdoor recreational users. The relatively low levels of conflict may be explained by the more collaborative approach taken by hunters and landowners (who provide hunting opportunities) and the low degree of interdependence between hunters and other recreational users. Information about conflicts and ways of handling them may help predict and address future sites of potential negative interactions between different user groups and hunters, given changes in land management or policy-making. The article proposes a revised analytical framework for analyzing such conflicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efforts aimed at sparing forests on tropical forest frontiers through REDD+, PES or conservation initiatives currently rely on a limited understanding of the operation of land markets and their effects on the opportunity cost of forests as frontiers develop. In this paper, we draw on a unique dataset of landholder-reported land transactions that includes post-1991 land sales-in three sub-montane frontier forest areas on the eastern slopes of the Peruvian Andes. We analyze reported land sales that took place between 1979 and 2013 among Amazonian frontier farmers and find highly active land markets in all three areas, often in the absence of formal land tenure. As frontiers developed, parcel size fell, as did the portion of remaining forest cover, and land prices rose, reflecting both forest clearing and general land price inflation as the areas became more populated and developed. Across three study districts in 2013, each additional hectare of forest cleared raised the expected price of a parcel of land by US $1371–$2587. Importantly, we estimate the opportunity cost per hectare of frontier forest rose markedly over time: by $124–$226 per year between 2003 and 2013, a rate of increase over that period of 9–27% per year. Forest conservation programs that rely on estimates of landholders' willingness to accept compensation for sparing forest need to take into account that these values change rapidly as frontiers develop. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the personal and property characteristics of landowners who use EU Rural Development agri-environmental schemes (AES), as well as their motives for participation or non-participation in such schemes. The study is based on a questionnaire survey with landowners, in selected study areas in the Netherlands, Denmark, Austria, Italy and Greece. Our principal findings show that AES tend to attract more the owners of larger farms, who are frequently full-time, younger, post-primary school educated and agriculturally-trained farmers. The latter findings are contingent on local geographical particularities and on subjective factors, farmers' individualities, different rural cultures, landscape types, EU and national policies and special needs of the study areas—all areas where agricultural production is increasingly marginalized, for different reasons. Subsidy scheme participation motives did not seem to be strictly economic; they also regarded personal satisfaction. They are all together generally appeared to be place specific, since the respondents from peri-urban Northern European areas were more motivated to participate in AES than respondents from Central and Southern European areas with marginal potential for agriculture. Motives for non-participation were also found to be dependent on the level of farming engagement and on case-area landscape types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural land use has a large impact on landscape diversity and the types and quality of the services landscapes provide to society. This editorial introduces four papers in a themed section of Land Use Policy which examines different themes related to agriculture and landscape interaction. The papers present new findings from research undertaken within the scope of the VOLANTE research project ( Kristensen et al., 2013 ). The main objective of the research was to increase our knowledge about landowners’ decision-making processes and drivers of land use change in rural Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many of the semi-natural landscape elements found in rural areas, such as woodlots, hedgerows and grasslands, were originally maintained as part of the agricultural system. During the 20th century, they lost most of their functions and were often removed or transformed. Presently, production concerns are less dominant and many landscape and land use changes are undertaken to improve public goods or fulfil personal and family ambitions and values. This paper investigates the patterns of farm-level land use changes that occurred between 2002 and 2012 in three different landscape regions of Europe (peri-urban landscapes, areas with marginal potential for agriculture, post-socialist landscapes) and the drivers behind, based on a questionnaire survey in six study areas. A second objective is to analyse landowners’ decision-making and endogenous factors that are correlated with their engagement in land use changes. Common to all areas is that agricultural production is under pressure due to physical or socio-economic challenges. The results indicate that relatively more nature or landscape features have been added by landowners than removed by them in the six study areas. Furthermore, the analysis revealed that full-time landowners were responsible for the largest proportion of landscape change and that the areas involved differed greatly. The analysis also underlined the variety of European landscapes, as many landscape activities exhibited strong geographical patterns. A multivariate analysis of the relationship between ten farm and landowner characteristics confirmed the geographical diversity, as only a dummy variable representing the geographical location was statistically significant. When location was omitted from the analysis, two factors were significant: farm size and ownership of livestock. In addition, the results suggest that landowners in peri-urban locations were more engaged in landscape activities than landowners in other locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Japanese agriculture has stagnated since the late 1980s, setting in motion a steady process of farmland readjustment. The notable consequence is an increase in the number of people who quit working on the land and a concurrent decline in cultivated farmland, a process which is often balanced by the development of land rental markets. However, since the total areas of rented land and abandoned farmland have increased in parallel, the contribution of land rental as a countervailing force may be underappreciated. And indeed, a cross-sectional observation paints quite a different picture: a negative correlation between the land rental ratio and the farmland abandonment ratio at the prefecture level. Our econometric analysis suggests that it is not so much farm households but rather non-farm household entities that are deeply involved in the appearance of this relationship over the past two decades. In particular, non-farm household producers play an important role as lessees not only by facilitating land market development but also by pre-empting farmland abandonment. Land-holding non-farm households, another relevant group of actors, are significant contributors to the supply side of farmland but their land also accounts for around half of the total abandoned area. Our analysis also offers unambiguous evidence that a former institution, namely Landholding Corporations, serve an intermediary role in facilitating the exchange of land use rights. However, although these corporations were expected to help reverse farmland abandonment, the limited resources granted by the government tend to make them averse to the kind of risky transactions that are often associated with promoting neglected or unfavorable land. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why are organised shoots involving birds that are farm-reared and subsequently released a dividing issue in several countries? As a contribution to answering this question the paper reports a national survey of landowners ( n = 1207), hunters ( n = 1130) and the general public ( n = 1001) in Denmark. While there was broad agreement across all three groups that recreational hunting of naturally occurring “surplus” wildlife is acceptable, the release of farm-reared game birds for shooting was a dividing issue, both within the groups and between them. The majority of participants (51%) in the survey representing the general public were against the practice; a majority of hunters (61%) were in favour of it; and landowner approval rates lay between these two poles. Respondents with a “mutualist” or “distanced” wildlife value orientation according to the definitions by Teel et al. (2005) consistently displayed a more negative attitude to rear and release shooting than those with a “utilitarian” orientation. The differences in attitude could not be explained in terms solely of underlying concerns about nature conservation and biodiversity protection. Concerns about the behaviour of the released birds, and about hunting “culture” and regulatory measures, also informed the participants’ attitudes. The regulatory framework governing shooting based on the release of farm-reared birds could reflect a wider range of concerns than those hitherto acknowledged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Across the tropics, development banks and conservation donors are investing millions in property mapping and registration projects to improve accountability for deforestation. An evaluation of the effectiveness and accuracy of existing environmental registries is crucial to assure the success of future efforts. This study presents an evaluation of deforestation and registration behavior in response to one of the largest of these property registration programs to date — the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR) in the Amazonian state of Pará. From late 2007 to 2013, approximately 100,000 properties covering 30 million hectares of self-declared claims were entered in this digital registry. We used fixed effects regression models and property level data to assess how registration influenced deforestation on different sizes of properties. Registration had little impact on deforestation behavior, with the exception of a significant reduction on “smallholder” properties in the size range of 100–300 ha. We link this reduction to interacting incentives from forest protection and land regularization policies and suggest that desire to strengthen land claims motivates these landholders’ response to the environmental registry. We also present evidence that some landholders may be registering incomplete or inaccurate parcels into the self-declared system to strategically benefit from policy incentives. Our results for smallholder properties indicate that environmental registries may have potential to facilitate reductions in deforestation if combined with a favorable combination of incentives. However, in places where land tenure is still being negotiated, the utility of environmental registries for forest policy enforcement and research may be limited without ongoing investment to resolve uncertainty around land claims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Responsibility for solving collective action problems in invasive species control has conventionally been assigned to government. The large continuing costs arising from invasive species demonstrate the limitations of government-centred (monocentric) approaches to governance in this domain, and indicate a need for polycentric alternatives which complement government capacities with those of landholders and their community organisations. We sought to add to existing knowledge about collective action problems for invasive species management, and to explore the potential for community-based, polycentric approaches to improve management in this domain, through workshops and a survey of landholders regarding the weed serrated tussock ( Nassella trichotoma ) in two regions of New South Wales, Australia. Serrated tussock threatens the private interests of a substantial proportion of landholders in the two regions. Private landholders recognise how management of this weed on their own properties poses a collective action problem, where success is dependent on the diligent control efforts of neighbouring private and public landholders. They are more likely to consider issues relating to horizontal social capital (e.g. relationships with public and private neighbours) as barriers to effective serrated tussock control on their own property, than issues relating to information and education about this species. Community-based approaches to this weed have the potential to improve its management across the landscape, and a great majority of private landholders appear willing to participate in such a program. Such an approach will require the active participation of public land managers, continued coercion of non-cooperative landholders, and can be developed from the foundation of existing institutional arrangements for land management, taking into account unique regional relationships and characteristics. It should complement and build on, rather than replace existing legislative, research, and extension approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unlike in many developing contexts, land title regularization and registration projects in Afghanistan have for the most part eschewed judicial adjudication and recording of title for those landholders with customary tenures or otherwise without legally recognized rights to land. Rather, the pilot land titling and registration projects in the country have been community-based, the defining feature of which is recording of community consensus regarding who in the community holds what rights to what land, buildings, water, trees, and commons, with some recognition by a governmental entity such as a municipal or government agency, but not as a result of judicial adjudication and registration processes. We call these initiatives Community-Based Land Adjudication and Registration, or CBLAR. We show that CBLAR is more appropriate than legal titling in the Afghan context but that the success of these initiatives in improving household land tenure security depends on the quality of customary governance and on investment in public goods such as roads, schools, lending institutions, administrative capacity of local governments, and forums to resolve disputes that overwhelm communities. More generally, CBLAR promises to improve household land tenure security in post-conflict settings when it is implemented in the appropriate context and with the appropriate support from the state and international donors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the increased extension of forest plantations in Brazil, new challenges for landowners, forest technicians and policy and decision makers have emerged in order to ensure the provision of the ecosystem goods and services. Nevertheless, fire represents one of the most important limited factors of forest plantation growth and production in Brazil, especially in the Cerrado biome. This work focuses on the evaluation of the priority of the variables that landowners take into account during forest plantation establishment. The combined use of SWOT analysis and Analytic Hierarchical Process facilitates the priority ranking, allowing the assessment of the variables regarding fire-related aspects. The study highlights that landowners recognize fire as a hindering factor for forest plantation production adopting some preventative actions, even though these are poorly organized and rather made by default. Improving the awareness of landowners, promoting the local market of forest productions, and reducing costs for plantation establishment represent the main challenges highlighted in this study. The combined methodology applied represents a helpful tool for decision makers, offering them the possibility to assess the current gaps in plantation establishment with a particular focus on fire-related aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conflicts often arise in relation to the conservation of protected predator species. If stakeholders are well defined and involved in participatory processes, their views and perceptions can be incorporated and steps can be made towards resolving such conflicts. In this paper, a case from Hungary is presented. In this case, a participatory management planning process was initiated in the Jászság Special Protection Area of European importance (SPA), within the frame of a LIFE+ project focusing on the conservation of the Eastern Imperial Eagle ( Aquila heliaca ). It provided a good opportunity to address a complex conflict situation between nature conservationists, game managers and farmers. We identified structural conflicts such as contradictions between direct agricultural payments and nature conservation goals, conflicts related to different views of the main influencing factors, relational problems between various stakeholders, and even differences in value orientation. The participatory management planning process was successful in clarifying the conflict situation and making productive steps toward a common understanding and resolution. Besides the mutually agreed conservation measures, the establishment of an administrative and financial incentive such as the high nature value area (HNVA) scheme proved to be an especially important factor for mitigating the conflict. It also contributed to a more successful realisation of nature conservation objectives in an area dominated by private land owners. However, continued interaction and cooperation are needed to stabilise this progress. Our paper also shows that stakeholder involvement in conservation management planning can transcend the strategic dimension of participation, and address broader common values besides the interests of land user groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers are increasingly interested in understanding the impact of contentious social processes on land change. In the Brazilian Amazon, there are often contentious interactions between landholders defending private property rights and squatters who have the right to occupy land that is deemed unproductive. Previous studies suggest that the contentious social processes inherent in the Brazilian land tenure and land reform system cause a significant amount of deforestation. An environment of insecure land title, and policies that value deforested land over forested land, among other factors, encourage both landholders and squatters to deforest more land than is necessary for pasture or crop production. This paper examines the impact that land occupations have on deforestation at the municipal scale across the Brazilian Legal Amazon, from 2000 to 2009. We show that land occupations have a direct influence on deforestation. We use spatial analysis as well to show that land occupations have a spatial component in the effect on deforestation: occupations in one municipality affect deforestation in adjacent areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are principally two ways for quantifying the land value of parcels in land consolidation schemes. The first approach involves assigning an agronomic value based on soil quality and land productivity represented by a score while the second method determines the market value signified in monetary terms. In Cyprus, the market value is employed, which is defined through an empirical process based on visual inspection of all parcels and hence it constitutes a type of mass land appraisal. This process presents weaknesses regarding time, costs, transparency, accuracy, reliability, consistency and fairness. In addition, the lack of adequate sales transactions in rural areas further complicates the whole process. Consequently, these deficiencies have adverse effects in the preparation of land consolidation plans and cause arguments between landowners and the authorities carrying out each scheme. Although experts are aware of this issue, there is a lack of research investigating land valuation factors and the quality of this traditional process. Therefore, this paper discusses, explores and assesses the land valuation undertaken by the Land Valuation Committee (LVC) in a case study area in Cyprus and proposes a new framework for carrying out this process. The assessment of the current process is undertaken by employing advanced spatial analysis techniques, including multiple regression analysis (MRA) and geographically weighted regression (GWR) within a GIS. Results show that eight out of fourteen land valuation factors related to parcel location characteristics, legal factors, physical attributes and economic conditions are the most significant. In addition, although the basic regression fits are quite good, some of the assumptions required for testing the hypothesis are not met, indicating unreliability and inconsistency in the relationships modelled. Furthermore, the presence of spatial autocorrelation reveals important regional variation in these factors suggesting significant inconsistencies in the valuation policy applied by the LVC. The latter two findings confirm experts’ concerns and suggest the need for a new land valuation framework that is designed to overcome the problems of the current process. The application of this framework and the investigation of various critical relevant issues is the core of ongoing further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The implementation of EU policies is far from linear and straightforward, and this is also true of the establishment of the Natura 2000 network. In this article, we contribute to the discussion of how the implementation of EU directives can be explained by various approaches to implementation research and examine the explanatory strength of these approaches using the example of the implementation of Natura 2000 in Austria. First, we review the body of literature on both Natura 2000 and the theoretical approaches to implementation theory. Second, we develop a theoretical framework that includes as explanatory factors the pressure of the problem, administrative capacities, pressure for institutional change, and the role of actors and the culture of compliance. Using this framework to analyse the implementation of Natura 2000 in seven Austrian federal states, we observe three different modes of implementation that are related to different outputs: (a) a landowner-oriented mode, (b) a compromise-oriented mode, and (c) a non-participatory, top-down mode of implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land consolidation is a well-proven land management instrument traditionally used for farm restructuring. A land consolidation project's success depends to a large extent on the interest and willingness of landowners and communities to participate in the project. Here, local governments and responsible agencies can contribute to the higher motivation of landowners if the factors influencing the landowners' readiness to participate are known and appropriately addressed. Building on qualitative and quantitative data collected from landowners' interviews in 10 municipalities in North Macedonia during 2019, this article provides insights into the individual factors influencing landowners' readiness to participate in land consolidation and behavioural factors at both individual and social level determining negative attitude towards land consolidation. The article further identifies possible incentives, techniques, and nudges to increase landowners' participation in land consolidation.Low economic interest, adversarial and non-cooperative attitude, lack of trust in institutions, fear of manipulation, and the belief that the process will be unjust, are the top subjective reasons landowners are not interested in participating in land consolidation. The regression analysis results revealed that the age of a landowner, plans to pass land to children, the sufficiency of information and the number of parcels forming a holding have a statistically significant relationship with the readiness to participate in land consolidation. • lack of economic interest undermines support to land consolidation. • lack of trust in institutions, fear of manipulation and injustice reduce the interest. • plans to pass land to children and sufficient information increase the interest. • operational techniques and nudges may persuade landowners to participate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extent to which REDD+ initiatives should be a mechanism to address poverty and provide other co-benefits apart from carbon storage, is hotly debated. Here, we examine the benefit distribution policy and practice of a prominent REDD+ project in Kenya with the aim of understanding the extent to which it addresses equity. We reveal that while the project design was attentive to equity concerns in distributing benefits amongst the project implementer, landowners and the wider population of small-scale farmers and pastoralists in the area, in practice, the initial flow of benefits were concentrated in the hands of a few. This was because developments in land tenure since pre-colonial times had involved processes of dispossession and elite capture, enabled by colonial and post-colonial land policies that left the majority of local people with little or no land entitlement. As the distributive policy of the project maps onto the existing unequal land distribution, it reinforces inequality. By illustrating how current, well-intended, REDD+ efforts inadvertently come to entrench a long process of dispossession of marginalized people, we call attention to the pivotal importance that historical context plays in discussions of equity and social safeguards related to implementing REDD+ initiatives and related policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study elicits willingness to supply marginal land for biomass cultivation in Southern Lower Michigan. Most of the surveyed landowners are not interested in renting land for bioenergy crop production. Those who are interested offer relatively little land for bioenergy crops, even at rental rates three times current levels. Willing landowners would prefer to grow a significant portion of these crops on cropland rather than non-crop, marginal land. Hence, the area of marginal land that owners are willing to supply for bioenergy crop production falls far short of area estimates based on remote sensing that ignore landowner preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Ghana, Chiefs and families have over the years controlled access and managed customary lands based on the rules of custom in their respective jurisdictions. The Land Administration Project (LAP) sought to strengthen customary land management by establishing Customary Land Secretariats (CLSs) for recognized and organized land owning communities to promote good local land governance. The analyses show that the Wa Central Customary Land Secretariat (WCCLS) has done considerably well in land documentation and disputes resolution. However, inadequate cooperation and collaboration between the customary and formal land management systems in the area; rising number of individual landowners due to changes in the social structure; and lack of accountability are hampering good land governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]