This paper presents an econometric analysis of land-cover change in western Honduras. Ground-truthed satellite image analysis indicates that between 1987 and 1996, net reforestation occurred in the 1,015.12 km study region. While some reforestation can be attributed to a 1987 ban on logging, the area of reforestation greatly exceeds that of previously clear-cut areas. Further, new area was also...

The damaged environment is a global problem. It is more serious in China because of the cultivable land destroyed. So the agroecosystem reconstruction is the primary object in China. A case of reclamation planning in LiaoNing Province was studied in this paper. A large number of abandoned land sites have become an urgent task for the local government since farmland is so short in this area. The...

Urban agriculture is recently being recognized as a distinctive urban land use contributing to greenspaces and food security. The land inventory forms the critical first step in identifying sites for urban agriculture. The authors’ analysis greatly expands on prior land inventory strategies, first analyzing land cover to identify all open areas available for siting urban agriculture. Then in GI...

European agriculture is undergoing widespread changes that are likely to have profound impacts on farmland biodiversity. The development of tools that allow an assessment of the potential biodiversity effects of different land-use alternatives before changes occur is fundamental to guiding management decisions. In this study, we develop a resource-based model framework to estimate habitat suita...

Land use planning and ecological land evaluation are considered the most important tools and factors of sustainable development. Two aspects are of importance, firstly the potential suitability of the land for a specific use and the secondly management practices that integrate various factors such as agro-ecological aptitude, environmental impact, hydro-climate conditions and socioeconomic cons...

Global disease suitability models are essential tools to inform surveillance systems and enable early detection. We present the first global suitability model of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 and demonstrate that reliable predictions can be obtained at global scale. Best predictions are obtained using spatial predictor variables describing host distributions, rather than land us...

Balancing natural resource protection and urban development is of concern to researchers, planners and citizens who are aware of the environmental, social and economic impacts of urban land use. Land-use change models can assist in finding this balance. An objective of this research was to build a better model of land-use change by integrating quantitative and qualitative techniques. A modellin...