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Depopulation often leads to the abandonment of agricultural land and the resulting process of afforestation and reforestation. In this paper, we study the land use changes between 2000 and 2018 in two Spanish provinces, Soria and Teruel. The provinces chosen as case studies are of particular interest because they have some of the lowest population densities in Europe and continue to suffer depopulation processes that have been ongoing since the mid-20th century. The reasons for this are not immediately clear given that unlike other European regions with similar population density values, for example in Northern Scandinavia, they are not exposed to extreme climatic conditions, nor are they located in isolated mountain regions. Using the CORINE Land Cover database, we observed that in both provinces, there has been an expansion in shrub and forest land uses and a decline in agriculture due largely to the fact that certain areas have been abandoned by their inhabitants, although in other parts of these provinces, the amount of land used for agriculture has increased. Urban growth over this period has been minimal. In the coming years, it seems likely that the population of these areas will continue to fall, given that the policies carried out over decades to try to revert this trend have not been successful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the strategies of social movement organizations working in towns and cities of the global South to secure justice for their members and address poverty and inequality. The paper argues that there has been a false distinction between alternative strategies of resistance. Drawing on research in Kenya and South Africa, I argue that, rather than seeing strategies of contention, collaboration and subversion as separate approaches, they can best be understood as alternative strategies, adopted simultaneously and iteratively by urban social movements. Movements, I suggest, move among contentious politics, efforts at collaboration with the state, and subversion (often taking the form of encroachment), to address the survival imperatives of their members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior literature has shown that retailer ex ante sharing imperfect demand information hurts the retailer, benefits the manufacturer and reduces the total profit of the supply chain. This paper extends the investigation of information sharing to the context where the manufacturer may have encroachment capability and may face production diseconomy or economy. We find that, when not considering the manufacturer’s production cost, manufacturer encroachment encourages the retailer to share demand information with manufacturer and improves the supply chain performance. As information sharing in this scenario does not hurt the retailer but do benefit the manufacturer, thus making the supply chain better off. In addition, the manufacturer may have an incentive to encourage the retailer to improve the demand forecast accuracy. When the manufacturer encroaches and faces production diseconomy, information sharing benefits the retailer and it benefits the manufacturer and the supply chain on condition that production diseconomy is relatively small. When either the demand becomes more variable or the demand signal of the retailer becomes more accurate, the retailer benefits more from information sharing. When the manufacturer encroaches and faces production economy, information sharing hurts the retailer. And it benefits the manufacturer and the supply chain if the production economy is relatively small. Furthermore, for either production diseconomy or economy, information sharing improves the manufacturer profit and the supply chain performance if and only if the demand signal is very accurate and demand variable is relatively large. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that flood vulnerability around the Weija Dam, near Accra, the capital of Ghana, can be explained by the city's complex peri-urbanization trajectories. The dam, which was constructed 40 years ago, supplies water to many parts of the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area. To offset the impacts of potential dam failure due to seismic activities, as well as accidental and planned water spillages, about 100 m of lands around the dam and 30 m of riparian lands around River Densu were reserved. Despite planning prohibitions, these reservations have largely been encroached by homebuilders and business operators. Analyses of time-series rainfall data and hazard mapping showed that during periods of torrential rainfall, the dam and the river are overwhelmed with storm water hence exposing the Weija Township located downstream to flood hazards. Questionnaire surveys, in-depth interviews with selected homebuilders, and institutional consultations revealed that the spatial and institutional management dynamics, customary land ownership, along with the growing defiance of planning regulations were the key influences of floods in the Weija Township. The affected households have attempted to mitigate the effects of flooding by elevating structures with stones and sandbags, strengthening walls, constructing drains and pumping water out during flooding events, but with little success. However, given the lack of political will to remove the unauthorized structures constructed within the buffers and reservations, the challenge now is to minimize flood vulnerabilities by flood-proofing buildings, improving drains and channelizing portions of the river within the township. These structural measures should be complemented by flood vulnerability maps, early flood warning and evacuation systems, mandatory property insurance policies, and above all, improved institutional coordination and collaboration for flood management. The paper recommends a re-examination of Ghana's urban land use planning and management of water bodies in urban areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A failure of urban planning in many developing countries is evidenced by encroachment on road reservations. Urban planning literature suggests that such encroachment is largely explained by poverty and urban growth. But how do encroachers find space in the road reservations? This paper examines encroachment along the Anloga Junction to Ejisu section of the Kumasi--Accra highway in Ghana. It argues that formal rules are not effective in governing the road reservations: informal rules rooted in social networks of reciprocity matter more. The research involved interviews with encroachers, senior officials from government institutions and traditional authorities. It emerged that encroachers invoked mainly ethnic and political party ties with public officials to secure space in the road reservations. This occurred in an environment of non-enforcement of relevant laws, weak formal collaboration among public institutions, and inadequate political commitment. There is a need for effective application of the principles and methods of multi-stakeholder governance, linking improved legal regulation with informal processes, to achieve better outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Horizontal curves of rural roads are accident-prone segments of the route. Sharp curves, steep slopes, and reduced visibility due to the mountainous environment greatly affect the driver behavior and performance. Lane-keeping ability, which is quite crucial in head-on road collisions, is a lateral driver behavior examined in a number of previous studies. This study, which is aimed to examine the naturalistic behavior, has employed the "aerial video recording" to investigate the drivers' lane-keeping ability in horizontal curves. To address the risk of encroachment (enc) into the opposite lane, this paper has developed a logistic regression model to predict the probability of a head-on collision with an enc > 0 cm threshold by exploring the relationships between road features (geometric, traffic, pavement conditions, etc.) and driver encroachment into the opposite lane. To this end, use was made of the data of 785 vehicles in 11 horizontal curves (in Kashmar-Neyshabor and Siahkal-Deylam mountainous routes) with radii in the 30–150 (m) range, deflection angles in the 80°-150° range, and slopes in the 0–8% range. The explanatory variables used in the model included the start point position (sp), road slope (Gr), sufficient stopping sight distance (Sd) and difference between the posted and vehicle speeds in mid-curves (DPS). According to the results, speeding and curve rising of 70° increased the encroachment probability, and steep upgrades exacerbated it; at a sufficient stopping sight distance, it reached 85%. • Encroachment into the opposing lane is more likely to happen on roads with a high degree of curve (low radius). • A horizontal curve on the upward steep is more prone to encroachment into the opposite lane. • Speeding can exacerbate the encroachment into the opposite lane. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The demand and supply of safe water is a basic need. The consumption of clean water intensified with population growth and economic development which in turn cause degradation of available freshwater resources while creating huge volumes of wastewater, solid waste, and serious environmental problems. This paper presents the impact of disposing of domestic/industrial effluents into an irrigation canal. The subsequent contamination of the canal water becomes a public health risk. The non-perennial Phuleli canal with a discharge of 15,026 cusecs, takes in water from the left bank of Kotri Barrage, which is the last controlling hydraulic structure on the Indus River. This canal runs from the periphery of Hyderabad, Tando Muhammad Khan (TM Khan) and Matli cities and supplies water for domestic, agricultural, and industrial activities. The canal water is the only source of drinking water for millions of people because the groundwater in the command area of the canal is highly saline. The banks on both sides of the canal have encroached in cities' areas. The huge volume of solid waste and municipal and industrial wastewater from these cities and from the occupied canal banks are dumped directly into the canal without any treatment. The collected samples' were analyzed for pH, EC, TDS, Cl, SO4, HCO3, hardness, Na, K, Ca, and Mg. These results show higher than permissible limits as per NEQS and WHO. The Karl Pearson matrix correlation of parameters reveals strong relation among EC with TDS and CL with SO4, Mg with K and moderated relationship among the other parameters except for pH and DO. Water Quality Index (WQI) model indicates that the water quality of the canal is poor and unfit for drinking. Hence the consumption of canal water is a high potential health risk for locals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Channel encroachment and financing decisions are prevalent in practice. Utilizing the Stackelberg game framework, we investigate the impact of a retailer's capital position and financing strategies on supply chain dynamics in which a supplier considers establishing a direct sales channel. We find that the retailer's equilibrium financing strategy is impacted by demand volatility and the initial working capital. The supplier's encroachment decision hinges on the entry cost when neither trade credit financing nor bank credit financing is available. When both types of credit are available, the choice of financing is a complex interplay involving initial working capital, entry cost, and demand volatility. Notably, the supplier's decision to encroach may shift from a binary stance of either encroaching or not encroaching, or it may oscillate from encroachment to non-encroachment and back to encroachment, particularly with an increase in demand volatility when the entry cost is moderate. The novelty of this study lies in its integration of supplier channel decisions with retailer operational decisions and financing strategies, examining how the capital position and financing strategies impact channel decisions. This study provides managerial insights into the interplay between supplier's channel dynamics and retailer's financial considerations, shedding light on unexplored aspects of channel management. In future studies, some assumptions in this study can be modified to obtain more managerial insights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wetlands are the partially water-submerged environments that are highly productive, and support fauna and flora species in significant numbers that are dependent for their survival on the organic production of wetlands. Kanwar Lake is situated about 22 kilometers to the northwest of Begusarai. The Gandak River, a tributary of the Ganges, meanders across the area, creating the largest oxbow lake in Asia. It is a natural body of water that is significant on many different levels, including ecological, floral, faunal, geomorphological, and zoological. In 1989, the state government of Bihar designated Kanwar as a protected area for avian species. It has been considered a Ramsar site since 1987, but the wetland was not one of the 13 designated sites. In 1984, the lake's area was 6,786 hectares (ha), but by 2004, it had shrunk to 6,043.825 ha. Only 2,032 hectares remained of the original lake area by 2012. Wealthy farmers and locals have rapidly colonized the lake bed. Lake biodiversity has declined as weeds have grown across the wetland. Widespread deforestation, overgrazing, unsustainable agricultural methods and over-exploitation of biomass for wood, fodder, and timber have stripped the land of its natural vegetative cover and exacerbated erosion. The research deals with the ecological study of the area and how urbanization has caused impacts on it. It focuses on how this has caused the deterioration of the lake and the measures for restoring the lake ecology, safeguarding the trend of urbanization. After analyzing the major key issues and analyzing the issues at the edge of the lake and around the Manjhaul, some of the major findings conclude that there is a need for stormwater management of the whole city, restoration of Kanwar wetland, and industrial control around the lake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural expansion is the main driver of deforestation in Myanmar. We analyzed the effectiveness of a national policy intervention on agricultural encroachment in state forests in Taungoo District in Myanmar from 2010 to 2020. The policy aims to stop agricultural encroachment and reforest encroached areas through farmers' participation in an agroforestry community forestry. We applied an integrated approach that involved a land cover change analysis together with a household survey about encroachment behavior. The remote sensing analysis for the years 2010, 2015 and 2020 showed the land cover change pattern and an increase in agricultural encroachment from 9.5% to 18.5%, while forests declined from 62.8% to 51.9%. The survey showed that most farmers (91%) believed that the policy intervention did not lead to a change in their encroachment behavior or farm size. The main reasons that incentivized encroachment were stated to be livelihood needs, immigration due to marriage and increased accessibility due to road construction. The main reason for reducing encroachment was plantation establishment, leading to a loss of land for encroaching farmers. In conclusion, the integrated approach showed that the policy intervention did not decrease encroachment, whereas other factors influenced encroachment behavior. We recommend solving interministerial conflicts of interest related to encroachment in Myanmar and using an integrated approach for future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper analyses Uganda’s rangeland policies and their ecological and socio-economic consequences, beginning in pre-colonial times. The paper interrogates what informed these policies, their objectives and outcomes that have been realized. Policy actions are recommended to correct the deficiencies identified in the analysis. This analysis shows that policies were based on western European resource management, classical rangeland ecological and economic theory and marginalization narratives, rather than the socio-ecological realities of Uganda’s rangelands. The unique attributes of Uganda’s rangelands were largely unrecognized. Consequently, pastoralists, dependent on the rangeland resources and ecosystem services, were displaced and exposed to incremental risks, poverty and a breakdown of social networks and safety nets as well as decline in rangeland productivity. In the rangelands of north-eastern Uganda for example, the inflexibility and immobility and forms of exploitation dictated to the Karimojong pastoralists led to increased soil erosion and decline in land productivity. Similarly, with increased parcelization, individualization and sedentarization in central and south-western Uganda, pastoral communities became impoverished as rangeland resources became increasingly limited. This increased their exposure to the vagaries of extreme events such as droughts, floods and disease outbreaks, thereby increasing livestock mortality and recurrent food insecurity. Expansion of competing land uses has reduced the net availability of rangeland resources, often with the support of external incentives. Current policies promoting fire exclusion have led to increased bush encroachment, while other policies have undermined the centrality of commons’ governance practices and institutions. Uganda’s land use policies ought to emphasize a more balanced socio-ecological perspective (ensuring net gain especially in the interaction of resource use between humans and the environment) that supports the functionality and productivity of rangeland ecosystems and their ability to deliver socio-economically important ecosystem services and address human needs. This can be through promotion of common property and consolidation of land for optimal utilization of ecological heterogeneity and enhancement of resilience. Mapping of transhumance corridors to determine ways through which mobility can increase herds’ access to forage and water between and within years will be equally important to enhance pastoralists’ resilience. Policy actions that provide payments for conservation stewardship of rangelands should be considered to incentivize land owners to maintain their land as rangelands. Assessment is required of the ecological and social impacts of fire, in order to determine optimal fire regimes and amendment of laws that ban the use of fires, so as to promote prescribed burning in rangelands. Achieving all these will require reforms that clearly delineate policy and legal frameworks for sustainable rangeland use and management.

The development of socio-economic activities within the 60 m buffer zone has imposed change on the characteristics of rivers in northern Tanzania, subjecting rivers to collateral and irreversible damage due to their prolonged exposure to anthropic activities. Time series satellite images were classified to analyze land use/cover (LULC) changes and anthropic development along the buffer zone from 2000 to 2020. Structured questionnaires were used to identify the encroachment factors and level of compliance with alleged environmental legislation. Furthermore, focus group discussions were used to acquire information on the concurrent barriers to environmental legislation implementation. The land use/cover change along the buffer zone showed that agriculture and artificial areas had a credible increase of about 43% and 30% from 2000 to 2020, respectively. Furthermore, forest and semi-natural areas decreased by 71% from 2000 to 2020, whereas wetlands decreased by about 2% within the same timeframe. On the other hand, artificial and agricultural areas increased by 24.5% and 19.5%, respectively. Forest and semi-natural areas decreased by about 44%, whereas wetlands and water showed a flimsy increase from 2000 to 2020. This trend shows that high land use/cover changes occurred along the riparian buffer zone. The results suggest that urbanization is the main driving force for riparian buffer zone encroachment, threatening ecological well-being and water resource sustainability in urban rivers. The findings of this study are useful for advancing regional and national policies and practices for sustainable water resource management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Horizontal curves of rural roads are accident-prone segments of the route. Sharp curves, steep slopes, and reduced visibility due to the mountainous environment greatly affect the driver behavior and performance. Lane-keeping ability, which is quite crucial in head-on road collisions, is a lateral driver behavior examined in a number of previous studies. This study, which is aimed to examine the naturalistic behavior, has employed the “aerial video recording” to investigate the drivers' lane-keeping ability in horizontal curves.To address the risk of encroachment (enc) into the opposite lane, this paper has developed a logistic regression model to predict the probability of a head-on collision with an enc > 0 cm threshold by exploring the relationships between road features (geometric, traffic, pavement conditions, etc.) and driver encroachment into the opposite lane. To this end, use was made of the data of 785 vehicles in 11 horizontal curves (in Kashmar-Neyshabor and Siahkal-Deylam mountainous routes) with radii in the 30–150 (m) range, deflection angles in the 80°-150° range, and slopes in the 0–8% range. The explanatory variables used in the model included the start point position (sp), road slope (Gr), sufficient stopping sight distance (Sd) and difference between the posted and vehicle speeds in mid-curves (DPS). According to the results, speeding and curve rising of 70° increased the encroachment probability, and steep upgrades exacerbated it; at a sufficient stopping sight distance, it reached 85%.

• The boundaries between public relations and marketing roles still exist. • An examination of how these boundaries are breached, upheld and negotiated is important to our understanding of the practice of public relations. • This article proposes a way to understand these boundaries as they continue to shift but not disappear by revisiting encroachment concepts. Although public relations and marketing trade presses regularly discuss the conflict between the functions (e.g., Ecker, 2013; Havartin, 2013), academic researchers focused on the issue primarily in the 1980s and 1990s. The drop in public relations and marketing encroachment research does not parallel a drop in encroachment in practice, especially in light of today's social media environment. In fact, historic tension between public relations and marketing intensified with the incorporation of social media into communication efforts. This paper updates the study of encroachment by reviewing the historical views of the topic, proposes ways that social media use has intensified issues related to role encroachment between public relations and marketing professionals, and outlines questions to guide future study of these topics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines invasion of grasslands on Cape York Peninsula, Australia, by Melaleuca viridiflora and other woody species, and the role of storm-burning (lighting fires after the first wet season rains) in their maintenance. Trends in disturbance features, fuel characteristics, ground layer composition, and woody plants dynamics under combinations of withholding fire and storm-burning over a 3-year period were measured on 19 plots in three landscape settings. Population dynamics of M. viridiflora are described in detail and 20-year population projections based on transition matrices under different fire regimes generated. Numerous M. viridiflora suckers occurred within the grass layer, increasing each year regardless of fire regime, and were rapidly recruited to the canopy in the absence of fire. Storm-burning had little impact on fuel, ground layer or woody plant composition, but maintained open vegetation structure by substantially reducing recruitment of M. viridiflora suckers to the sapling layer, and by reducing the above-grass-layer abundance of several other invasive woody species. Population projections indicated that withholding fire for 20 years could cause a sevenfold increase of M. viridiflora density on Ti-tree flats, and that annual to triennial storm-burning should be effective at maintaining a stable open vegetation structure. These findings argue against vegetation thickening being an inevitable consequence of climate change. We conclude that a fire regime that includes regular storm-burning can be effective for maintaining grasslands and grassy woodlands being invaded by M. viridiflora. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is based on an on-going 3-year study in the wetland communities of Kampala. The study uses participatory methods and aims to contribute to (i) the development of low-income wetland communities, (ii) to prepare these communities to become less dependent on wetlands without receding into poverty, and (iii) the better management of the wetlands. The communities in direct dependence and intimate interaction with Nakivubo wetlands are mainly poor, live and work under hazardous conditions, and their activities pose a threat to the ecological function of the wetlands. Yet these wetlands are important for filtering the city’s waste and storm water before it flows into Lake Victoria’s Murchison Bay, which is Kampala’s source of piped water. Government approaches to the problem of wetland encroachment have largely failed because they are confrontational, and are not consistent or participatory. The study has in the first year conducted a series of activities including stakeholder analysis, resource analysis, livelihood analysis, a questionnaire survey and action planning. Preliminary data show that wetland dependency is very high among the poor nearby communities. They practice cultivation, brick-making and harvesting of wetland vegetation. However, these activities are under threat because wetland resources are dwindling due to increasing population and over-use. Livelihoods are threatened not only by the decreasing productivity of the wetland, but also by the ever-present government threat to evict wetland encroachers to restore its ecology. The study therefore works with communities to prepare for less dependence on wetlands so that they do not suddenly recede into worse poverty if they are evicted. They formulate strategies to enhance alternative livelihood, and for management of the wetland. Action plans have been formulated to address the situation through a newly created association. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Deforestation is a major cause of environmental degradation. Tropical countries with huge population pressure and widespread poverty are main frontier of deforestation. Bangladesh, being one the most densely populated country with diminishing tropical forestland, supports lowest per capita forestland. The forests are depleting mainly due to illegal logging and conversion to non-forestry uses. In this paper encroachment of forestland by individuals has been dealt with. The socioeconomic causes and pattern of encroachment have been analyzed. Limited land availability and unemployment have been identified as the major proximate causes of encroachment and, if no measures are adopted within next three decades the existing natural forests might be encroached. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Franchisees within large branded chains loudly complain of a form of channel conflict known as "encroachment" or "impact." Encroachment occurs when franchisors add new units of their brand proximately to their franchisees' existing units. Franchisees claim that their revenues have substantially decreased as a result of encroaching same-brand entry. The topic of encroachment has not only dominated franchisee association agendas and trade journal headlines but has also become a hot topic for politicians and policymakers. Yet, until now, evidence of encroachment has been strictly anecdotal. This paper provides the first systematic evidence of encroachment. Using revenue data from the Texas lodging industry in the 1990s, I find that when franchisors approve new same-brand units in the vicinity of incumbent units, these new units cannibalize the incumbents' revenues. In contrast to the result for franchisors, the addition of a new unit by company-owned brands in the vicinity of same-brand units is associated with an increase in the incumbents' revenues. This contrast suggests that encroaching behavior is caused by incentives that result from the governance form of franchising and is not simply an outcome that accompanies all expansion. This finding informs theory on governance forms and exclusive territories. Implications for practitioners and policy are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seed dispersal has become an important component in understanding plant–animal interaction. Recently, there have been concerns about the role of ruminants, particularly browsers, in the dispersal of woody plant seeds. This study aimed to determine whether including Vachellia nilotica seeds in livestock, diets could reduce the spread of viable seeds in the rangelands and control bush encroachment. The shoots and seed pods of Vachellia nilotica were harvested and analyzed for fiber, protein, and mineral nutrients at different seed pods inclusion rates, with or without a feed additive. Six diets were selected for feeding 24 goats and quantifying seed recovery and germination after ingestion. Results indicated that including seed pods and feed additives to Vachellia nilotica shoots significantly improved the quality of the fodder. Chipping the seed pods prior to including them in the diet resulted in 13% intact seed recovery, and approximately 2% of these seeds were recovered after ingestion. These recovered seeds were mostly still viable but were still dormant as seed coats were not sufficiently damaged after ingestion. Therefore, viable seeds may still be dispersed in the rangeland, leading to further bush encroachment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A failure of urban planning in many developing countries is evidenced by encroachment on road reservations. Urban planning literature suggests that such encroachment is largely explained by poverty and urban growth. But how do encroachers find space in the road reservations? This paper examines encroachment along the Anloga Junction to Ejisu section of the Kumasi–Accra highway in Ghana. It argues that formal rules are not effective in governing the road reservations: informal rules rooted in social networks of reciprocity matter more. The research involved interviews with encroachers, senior officials from government institutions and traditional authorities. It emerged that encroachers invoked mainly ethnic and political party ties with public officials to secure space in the road reservations. This occurred in an environment of non-enforcement of relevant laws, weak formal collaboration among public institutions, and inadequate political commitment. There is a need for effective application of the principles and methods of multi-stakeholder governance, linking improved legal regulation with informal processes, to achieve better outcomes.

Forest reserves play an important role in the provision of ecosystem goods and services; however, these reserves are facing increasing anthropogenic impacts primarily because of agricultural activities. In sub-Saharan Africa, studies on understanding the extent and impacts of agricultural expansion into forest reserves are generally lacking. Thus, this study aimed to assess the extent of agricultural expansion into forest reserves in Zambia on a national scale between 2000 and 2018 and explores the drivers. We used a remote sensing approach by employing Google Earth Engine (GEE) and Random Forests classifier to map land cover changes at five-time steps: 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2018. Landsat images were used to map six land cover classes (forest, cropland, wetland, grassland, settlement, and water body) determined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). A social survey was also undertaken to understand the drivers of agricultural expansion into forest reserves at two study sited located in eastern and north-western part of Zambia. Based on the land cover maps which were produced with high accuracies ranging from 82% to 94%, the results indicated a general decline of 10% in forest area and an increase of 25% in cropland. Almost 50% of the forest reserves in Zambia are experiencing some form of encroachment, and 10% of these are heavily encroached (>90% loss). Local communities indicated that population growth, loss of soil fertility, high market demand for crops, land tenure system, and lack of law enforcement are the major drivers of agricultural expansion into forest reserves. This study highlights the need for policy marker to consider trade-offs in agricultural expansion and conservation of forest reserves relation to population growth. Enhancing sustainable agricultural practices and strengthening the implementation of different legislative frameworks is key in addressing the challenges of conservation, while enhancing food security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wood pastures represent specific ecosystems across Europe with diverse ecological, agricultural, and socioeconomic roles. Land-use changes and the cessation of traditional management in conjunction with socioeconomic changes led to shifts in their spatiotemporal distribution. Despite a recent increase in scientific interest, data on historical patterns of wood pastures in many European locations remain insufficient. This study presents wood-pasture habitat continuity and analyzes changes in their distribution over space and time in selected parts of Slovakia. Simultaneously, we analyzed the relation of wood pastures to selected environmental and landscape features. To achieve this, we examined the historical distribution of wood pastures using aerial imagery from the 1950s. We thoroughly examined an area of 16,209 km2 to identify preserved wood pastures. To identify the present conditions and the spatial distribution of wood-pasture habitats, we compared the historical data with recent ortophotomaps. Based on landscape–ecological analyses of historical distribution, we determined prevailing environmental conditions of wood-pasture locations. The findings reveal that over 90% of wood pastures from the first half of the 20th century have now been lost or encroached and preserved in the form of a closed-canopy forest. In most of the encroached sites, we identified the presence of vital core veteran trees. For the identification of wood pastures and further analyses of the environmental variables, the ArcGIS 10.3 program was used; the R software was used for all statistical evaluations. The results show that the studied wood pastures were not established randomly, but were rather set within a certain landscape context, characterized by elevation, soil quality, and distance from settlements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Depopulation often leads to the abandonment of agricultural land and the resulting process of afforestation and reforestation. In this paper, we study the land use changes between 2000 and 2018 in two Spanish provinces, Soria and Teruel. The provinces chosen as case studies are of particular interest because they have some of the lowest population densities in Europe and continue to suffer depopulation processes that have been ongoing since the mid-20th century. The reasons for this are not immediately clear given that unlike other European regions with similar population density values, for example in Northern Scandinavia, they are not exposed to extreme climatic conditions, nor are they located in isolated mountain regions. Using the CORINE Land Cover database, we observed that in both provinces, there has been an expansion in shrub and forest land uses and a decline in agriculture due largely to the fact that certain areas have been abandoned by their inhabitants, although in other parts of these provinces, the amount of land used for agriculture has increased. Urban growth over this period has been minimal. In the coming years, it seems likely that the population of these areas will continue to fall, given that the policies carried out over decades to try to revert this trend have not been successful.

River and canal encroachments have become a common problem in Bangladesh. The prevalence of river and canal encroachments has a direct impact on population growth. However, the impacted population appears to be unaware of its negative consequences. To this end, we aimed to investigate the past and present canal scenarios with a focus on canal encroachment as the influencing factor in Ulipur upazila (highly vulnerable) of northern Bangladesh. To examine the impact of this encroachment, the Flood Vulnerability Index (FVI), Adaptive Capacity Index (ACI) and Economic Vulnerability Index (EVI) were used. Our results showed signs of narrowing of the canal structure of Ulipur upazila in 1982 and 1992, while satellite images from 2002 and 2012 showed the presence of encroachment in the middle and lower parts of the canal. The FVI value for Hatia union was 0.703, indicating that this area was highly vulnerable to flooding. According to the ACI, the Pandul union has a high capacity to cope with flood impact, while the Hatia union has less capacity to cope with flood impact. Conversely, Hatia's union EVI value was 72.8, denoting a high economic vulnerability. Canal encroachments will have negative consequences for these impacted unions. It is critical to reduce the flooding and economic vulnerabilities associated with canal encroachments. It is found that canal excavation is very important for controlling flood water and reducing the damage caused by flooding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phalaris arundinacea and Phragmites australis are frequently planted together in constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment in the Czech Republic. However, it has been observed that Phragmites usually outcompetes Phalaris over time but the speed of this process varies among systems. In this paper we evaluated the process of Phragmites encroachment into Phalaris stands in two constructed wetlands with horizontal subsurface flow. The results revealed that 50% of the area originally planted with Phalaris was overgrown by Phragmites in 5 and 9 years in the monitored systems while the complete elimination of Phalaris occurred after 9 and 13 years. Replacement of Phalaris did not have any effect on removal of BOD 5 and COD while removal efficiency of TSS increased after Phalaris was replaced with Phragmites . However, it is difficult to determine out whether replacement was the only reason for better TSS removal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyzing the dominant forms and extent of land cover changes in the Mount Elgon region is important for tracking conservation efforts and sustainable land management. Mount Elgon's rugged terrain limits the monitoring of these changes over large areas. This study used multitemporal satellite imagery to analyze and quantify the land cover changes in the upper Manafwa watershed of Mount Elgon, for 42 years covering an area of 320 km2. The study employed remote sensing techniques, geographic information systems, and software to map land cover changes over four decades (1978, 1988, 2001, 2010, and 2020). The maximum likelihood classifier and post-classification comparison technique were used in land cover classification and change detection analysis. The results showed a positive percentage change (gain) in planted forest (3966%), built-up (890%), agriculture (186%), and tropical high forest low-stocked (119%) and a negative percentage change (loss) in shrubs (−81%), bushland (−68%), tropical high forest well-stocked (−50%), grassland (−44%), and bare and sparsely vegetated surfaces (−14%) in the period of 1978–2020. The observed changes were concentrated mainly at the peripheries of the Mount Elgon National Park. The increase in population and rising demand for agricultural land were major driving factors. However, regreening as a restoration effort has led to an increase in land area for planted forests, attributed to an improvement in conservation-related activities jointly implemented by the concerned stakeholders and native communities. These findings revealed the spatial and temporal land cover changes in the upper Manafwa watershed. The results could enhance restoration and conservation efforts when coupled with studies on associated drivers of these changes and the use of very-high-resolution remote sensing on areas where encroachment is visible in the park. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Babile Elephant Sanctuary in Ethiopia was established in 1970 specifically to protect its elephants Loxodonta africana. They were once part of a larger population that ranged in eastern Ethiopia and northern Somalia but that was largely extirpated during the 20th century. Since its establishment, the Sanctuary has experienced severe anthropogenic pressure, inadequate government support, and civil conflict. Mapping was undertaken to analyse the rate of human immigration into the Sanctuary in 2006, 2014 and 2017, as part of an assessment of the Sanctuary's effectiveness in protecting its resident elephant population and in mitigating anthropogenic pressures. From 2006 to 2017 the number of illegal houses in the Sanctuary increased from 18,000 to > 50,000, of which > 32,000 were in the area in which elephants range. This settlement, coupled with high demand for natural resources, has resulted in significant habitat destruction and could also have exacerbated human–elephant conflict. Elephant conservation and monitoring by the Born Free Foundation were challenging because of ethnic conflict; rural and political stability is required if efforts to protect wildlife are to be successful. Unless these issues are resolved and the integrity of the Sanctuary is restored, this elephant population will be extirpated in the near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The livelihoods of most Ugandans intimately depend on the environment, both as a source of subsistence and as a basis for production. Environmental degradation in the country-which includes wetland encroachment and contamination of water resources-is critical: based on estimates, degradation costs represent an environmental debt of about US$ 1-4 billion today. Although the country's water resources are rich, severe water scarcity is predicted for the near future, particularly in more populated areas and in the more fragile arid and semiarid pastoral areas. The Ugandan government has formulated a number of policies to regulate land use and impacts on the environment. However, the alarming rate at which natural resources are being depleted shows that these laws and policies are not enforced effectively. Using both qualitative and quantitative research methods, the study presented here focused on water resources, assessing their status in 4 mountainous districts of Uganda and evaluating the effectiveness of government policies with regard to restoration and conservation of water catchments. The study revealed a glaring gap between the existence of laws and policies on the one hand, and the reality of implementation on the ground on the other-there is rapid depletion of water resources, and water scarcity has already led to conflicts. The paper calls for effective implementation of existing policies and laws without fear or favor and for increased budgetary allocations from the current 25.6 billion shillings (2006- 2007) to 34.45 billion or more, to accommodate funding for the execution of policies and laws. It also calls for meticulous review of the existing environmental policy regime with a view to tailoring, customizing, and localizing it for practical purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The demand and supply of safe water is a basic need. The consumption of clean water intensified with population growth and economic development which in turn cause degradation of available freshwater resources while creating huge volumes of wastewater, solid waste, and serious environmental problems. This paper presents the impact of disposing of domestic/industrial effluents into an irrigation canal. The subsequent contamination of the canal water becomes a public health risk. The non-perennial Phuleli canal with a discharge of 15,026 cusecs, takes in water from the left bank of Kotri Barrage, which is the last controlling hydraulic structure on the Indus River. This canal runs from the periphery of Hyderabad, Tando Muhammad Khan (TM Khan) and Matli cities and supplies water for domestic, agricultural, and industrial activities. The canal water is the only source of drinking water for millions of people because the groundwater in the command area of the canal is highly saline. The banks on both sides of the canal have encroached in cities’ areas. The huge volume of solid waste and municipal and industrial wastewater from these cities and from the occupied canal banks are dumped directly into the canal without any treatment. The collected samples’ were analyzed for pH, EC, TDS, Cl, SO4, HCO3, hardness, Na, K, Ca, and Mg. These results show higher than permissible limits as per NEQS and WHO. The Karl Pearson matrix correlation of parameters reveals strong relation among EC with TDS and CL with SO4, Mg with K and moderated relationship among the other parameters except for pH and DO. Water Quality Index (WQI) model indicates that the water quality of the canal is poor and unfit for drinking. Hence the consumption of canal water is a high potential health risk for locals.

Climate change is a vital topic explored throughout the world. Drastic change in the environment occurs from the deepest of the oceans to the exosphere, the end of the Earth's surface. Fictions including the environmental change or the disaster are categorized under Cli-fi or climate change fiction which reverberates through the fact of deforestation, encroachment of forest land, poaching and killing of the endangered species, using of pesticides and insecticide to food produced, increase in global temperature, and change in season. Homeland, a cli-fi novel is a collection of different stories focusing on human's ability to demolish, disintegrate and destroy the elements in nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Namibia, the encroachment by a native, but invasive bush on Savannah land leads to both environmental and economic loss. This invasive bush is, however, suitable for harvesting as a source of biomass for local industry. Harvesting biomass from the invasive bush has been shown to restore biodiversity, improve water conservation efforts, and restore grazing lands. Beyond the environmental benefits of removing the invasive bush, the raw biomass harvested is amenable to simple value-added production. Although some efforts are underway to make use of harvested biomass, current harvesting practices are not selective enough to meet governmental requirements intended to protect several species of local fauna and flora. Limitations, such as a lack of knowledge, during the harvesting process, can be overcome to a significant degree through the introduction of a smart application. This can integrate geographical context with computer vision to provide a ground-level tool for the identification of areas suitable for harvesting. This study shows that this tool can identify indigenous taxonomies with an accuracy of 76%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates a supplier's voluntary disclosure strategy when it can encroach on a retailer's operations by selling directly to final consumers. The establishment of a direct sales channel expands market potential, induces the supplier to adopt a more frequent disclosure strategy, and ultimately leads to a higher level of information transparency in the supply chain. Since more quality information is revealed in the presence of a dual channel, the retailer is able to free ride on the supplier's disclosure to enhance consumers' quality expectations. In most cases, such a free‐riding effect is positive and can even create a higher ex ante payoff for the retailer in face of the supplier's encroachment. Conversely, more transparent product quality information does not necessarily benefit the supplier, who can then no longer hide negative quality information from consumers due to the potential change in the channel structure. Thus, we show that the supplier's ex ante payoff may become lower with encroachment and that the supplier may commit not to encroach on the retail market, even when it has a free option to open a direct sales channel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the dry, western edge of the eastern deciduous forest of the USA (Cross Timbers), the drought-tolerant, evergreen eastern redcedar (Juniperus virginiana) is encroaching into post oak- (Quercus stellata) dominated woodlands. The overall goal of this study was to examine whether the drought tolerance strategies of eastern redcedar provide it a competitive advantage over post oak and whether this is a key attribute facilitating its successful establishment in the Cross Timbers. Specifically, we assessed xylem water potential and leaf gas exchange of these two species growing in single-species stands and in a mixed-species stand. We found that both species exhibit a similar degree of isohydry and close their stomates to the same extent in response to declining xylem water potentials. Both species had similar relative reductions in gas exchange in response to drought, despite differences in xylem anatomy. However, post oak had leaf-level gas exchange rates approximately 5× greater than eastern redcedar during periods of high moisture availability. Therefore, it did not appear that eastern redcedar encroachment into an oak-dominated forest is facilitated by growing season differences in carbon gain, although evergreen eastern redcedar can conduct gas exchange year-round when conditions are favorable while post oak is deciduous. We found that volumetric soil water content (0–45 cm) was lower in the pure eastern redcedar stand than the mixed-species or pure post oak stand which may indicate that eastern redcedar may experience favorable soil moisture conditions when encroaching into open oak woodlands. Moreover, water potentials in eastern redcedar tended to be more negative in pure stands compared to the mixed stand. Our results suggest the two species may be using water from different depths, reducing competition. Overall, our findings indicate that eastern redcedar encroachment into formerly oak-dominated Cross Timbers forests likely will continue under moderate drought, in the absence of fire, with consequences for water budgets, carbon cycling, grazing forage, wildlife habitat, and wildfire risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The encroachment of woody plants into grasslands, and the conversion of savannas and open woodlands into shrublands, has been widely reported during the past decade. Encroachment has generated considerable interest among ecologists worldwide, but there have been few quantitative syntheses of the effects of encroachment on ecosystem processes across large areas of the globe. Here we summarize the results of observations of the effects of encroachment by woody plants on 111 ecosystem response variables using data obtained from 1722 encroached-unencroached pairs, reported in 160 studies from North and South America, Africa, Europe, Australia, and Asia. We used an extensive review of the literature, including both published and unpublished data, to summarize available data on the effects of a change from open woodland or grassland to shrubland or closed woodland, on richness of plant and animal taxa, soil chemistry, and the status of the soil surface. Our database is restricted to arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid environments (drylands) receiving average annual rainfall between 850 and 200 mm. An analysis of the impacts of shrub encroachment on ecosystem structure and function has already been reported using a large subset of these data. This updated data set can provide an opportunity to test further hypotheses about the effects of encroachment on plant and animal communities and on soil processes related to ecosystem functioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims Serpentine barrens of the Mid-Atlantic United States are globally rare, grass-dominated ecosystems thought to exclude C3 species and characterized by unique soil composition. However, like many grassland ecosystems globally, these sites are presently facing encroachment by surrounding forest. In this ecosystem, the tendril climbing vine, Smilax rotundifolia, forms dense thickets around barrens that typically precede forest encroachment. While numerous factors speculatively initiate and promote encroachment in these systems, few studies have examined photosynthetic responses of serpentine grasses to changes in resource availability initiated by encroachers or physiological ability of encroaching S. rotundifolia to colonize high-light barren environments. We sought to understand both environmental and physiological dynamics of encroachment along an irradiance gradient in these systems. Methods At three serpentine barren sites in southeastern Pennsylvania, physiological responses of the native grasses Sorghastrum nutans and Schizachyrium scoparium to increased shading by S. rotundifolia were examined. Additionally, the physiological performance of S. rotundifolia in the forest understory was compared to that in sunlit barrens environments. Light-saturated photosynthesis (Asat), stomatal conductance (gs), instantaneous transpiration efficiency (ITE), maximum efficiency of photosystem II (Fv/Fm), midday leaf water potential (ψleaf) and specific leaf area (SLA) were measured for all species over the course of the 2014 growing season. Two-way analyses of variance were used to assess changes in these parameters across growing environments, as well as seasonally for each species. Multiple regression analyses were also performed to investigate the influence of vapor pressure deficit (D) and leaf temperature (Tleaf) on Asat and ITE. Important Findings Light-saturated photosynthesis was significantly greater in S. rotundifolia growing in sun than in the shade (P < 0.001) and early in the season (P = 0.012). Sun S. rotundifolia had up to 27% greater Asat than shaded plants. Even with reduced ψleaf in the barrens, S. rotundifolia maintained high gs though Asat was limited by high D later in the growing season. These data are in agreement with recent research suggesting that plants are not subject to water limitation in Mid-Atlantic barrens. Unexpectedly, shaded grasses at the encroachment interface did not exhibit any significant reduction in Asat. Declines in grass photosynthesis do not likely occur until S. rotundifolia rhizomes transition into monotypic thickets, completely excluding grasses. Encroachment by S. rotundifolia appears to be primarily facilitated by its ability to capitalize on light resources early on in the summer growing season, when environmental conditions are less stressful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amphibian populations fluctuate naturally in size and range and large datasets are required to establish trends in species dynamics. To determine population trends for the endangered Suweon Treefrog (Dryophytes suweonensis), we conducted aural surveys in 2015, 2016, and 2017 at each of 122 sites where the species was known to occur in the Republic of Korea. Despite being based on individual counts, the focus of this study was to establish population trends rather than population size estimates, and we found both environmental and landscape variables to be significant factors. Encroachment was also a key factor that influenced both the decreasing number of calling individuals and the negative population dynamics, represented here by the difference in the number of calling individuals between years. Generally, most sites displayed minimal differences in the number of calling males between years, although there was a large fluctuation in the number of individuals at some sites. Finally, when adjusted for the overall population size difference between years, we found the population size to be decreasing between 2015 and 2017, with a significant decrease in the number of calling individuals at specific sites. High rate of encroachment was the principal explanatory factor behind these marked negative peaks in population dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Mapping the spatiotemporal patterns of soil moisture within heterogeneous landscapes is important for resource management and for the understanding of hydrological processes. A critical challenge in this mapping is comparing remotely sensed or in situ observations from areas with different vegetation cover but subject to the same precipitation regime. We address this challenge by wavelet analysis of multiyear observations of soil moisture profiles from adjacent areas with contrasting plant functional types (grassland, woodland, and encroached) and precipitation. The analysis reveals the differing soil moisture patterns and dynamics between plant functional types. The coherence at high‐frequency periodicities between precipitation and soil moisture generally decreases with depth but this is much more pronounced under woodland compared to grassland. Wavelet analysis provides new insights on soil moisture dynamics across plant functional types and is useful for assessing differences and similarities in landscapes with heterogeneous vegetation cover. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]