Testing of Decision Making Tools for Village Land Use Planning and Natural Resources Management in Kilimanjaro Region

This paper focuses on participatory testing of decision making tools (DMTs) at village level to assist in development of land use plans (LUPs) for sustainable land management (SLM) in Kilimanjaro Region, Tanzania. Data were collected using conditional surveys through key informant interviews with the project’s district stakeholders in each district, focused group discussions with selected villagers and participatory mapping of natural resources. Soil health, land degradation, carbon stock, and hydrological conditions were assessed in the seven pilot villages in all seven districts using DMTs as part of testing and validation. Results indicated soils of poor to medium health, and land degradation as portrayed by gullies and wind erosion in lowlands and better in uplands. Carbon and forest disturbance status could not be assessed using one-year data but hydrological analysis revealed that water resources were relatively good in uplands and poor in the lowlands. Challenges with regard to land use include increased gully erosion, decreased stream flow, reduced vegetation cover due to shifting from coffee with tree sheds to annual crops farming, cultivation near water sources, and overgrazing. Empowering the community with decision making tools at village level is essential to ensure that village land uses are planned in a participatory manner for sustainable land and natural resources management in Kilimanjaro and other regions in Tanzania.

Prospects and Challenges of Village Land Forest Reserves Management in Mbarali District, Tanzania

Prospects and challenges of Village Lands Forest Reserves (VLFRs) in Mbarali district, southern Tanzania were investigated. Data were collected through questionnaire surveys, in-depth key informant interviews, physical field visits and documentary reviews. A total of 44 subjects were involved in the study. SPSS, Microsoft Excel and content analysis were used in data analysis. Findings indicated that inadequate capacity building, passive community participation and involvement in VLFRs management fostered the continued forest degradation and deforestation in the study area. It was further observed that on average 2.04 ha of forest was being lost every year through anthropogenic activities, mainly farm expansion, charcoal business and firewood. In order to achieve VLFRs sustainability, the study recommends improvement of relationship and coordination among VLFRs key stakeholders, participatory preparation of forest management plans, enforcement of community forest management bylaws, and use of energy saving stoves to reduce overdependence on forests as source of energy.

Application of Systematic Theory in Design of Mountainous Village Landscape

According to systematic concept,system of mountainous village landscape was divided into landscape systems of natural environment,of humanistic entity,and of humanistic spirit.In the paper,analysis was conducted on characteristics of mountainous village landscape,and more attention was paid to the integrity,correlation,adaptability and dynamic.Present features of mountainous village landscape system were analyzed based on present construction of mountainous village landscape and the result indicated that overall design was absent in the system.Besides,research was carried out on present conditions of the three subsystems and the result indicated that the subsystems were inconsistent.Based on the analysis,suggestions were proposed on design of mountainous village landscape.It is emphasized in many aspects in the paper,such as overall design,rational planning,protection of natural environmental landscape system,improvement of humanistic entity system and inheritance of humanistic spirit system,so that coordinated development of subsystems would be promoted.

Analysis on Ecological Adaptability of Hani Village Landscapes in Yuanyang,Yunnan Province

The eco-adaptation of the landscape in Hani villages consists of two stages.The first stage is the ecological selection and adaptation of the landscapes in Hani villages to the natural environment.The forest landscape ecosystem,the architectural landscape ecosystem,and the terraced landscape ecosystem are the concentrated manifestations of meeting production and living needs,adapting to topographic changes,and adapting to climate features.The second stage is the adjustment and improvement of the landscape in Hani villages to the built environment.It is embodied in the establishment of the Mysterious Woods,abundance of plants in the building group,construction of artificial ditches,production of water infrastructures,and abundance of landscape nodes.In the end,Hani villages have experienced a long process of selection,adaptation,improvement and perfection,and gradually formed a harmonious and unified landscape ecosystem.Through field investigation,this paper analyzed the landscapes of Hani villages from the angle of ecological adaptability.It mainly studied the formation causes of the village landscapes as a material carrier,the process of village landscape adapting to natural and built environment,and the inherent ecological significance,which is of imperative and realistic significance to promote the ecological protection and construction of Hani villages.

Radiometric Characteristics of the Landsat Collection 1 Dataset

This study evaluates the long-term radiometric performance of the USGS new released Landsat Collection 1 archive, including the absolute calibration of each Landsat sensor as well as the relative cross-calibration among the four most popular Landsat sensors. A total of 920 Landsat Collection 1 scenes were evaluated against the corresponding Pre-Collection images over a Pseudo-Invariant Site, Railroad Valley Playa Nevada, United States (RVPN). The radiometric performance of the six Landsat solar reflective bands, in terms of both Digital Numbers (DNs) and at-sensor Top of Atmosphere (TOA) reflectance, on the sensor cross-calibration was examined. Results show that absolute radiometric calibration at DNs level was applied to the Landsat-4 and -5 TM (L4 TM and L5 TM) by –1.119% to 0.126%. For L4 TM and L5 TM, the cross-calibration decreased the radiometric measurement level by rescaling at-sensor radiance to DN values. The radiometric changes, –0.77% for L4 TM, 0.95% for L5 TM, –0.26% for L7 ETM+, and –0.01% for L8 OLI, were detected during the cross-calibration stage of converting DNs into TOA reflectance. This study has also indicated that the long-term radiometric performance for the Landsat Collection 1 archive is promising. Supports of these conclusions were demonstrated through the time-series analysis based on the Landsat Collection 1 image stack. Nevertheless, the radiometric changes across the four Landsat sensors raised concerns of the previous Landsat Pre-Collection based results. We suggest that Landsat users should pay attention to differences in results from Pre-Collection and Collection 1 time-series data sets.

Assessment of ecological geological vulnerability in Mu Us Sandy Land based on GIS and suggestions of ecological protection and restoration

Eco-geological vulnerability assessment is a significant research topic within the field of eco-geology,but it remains poorly studied.The Mu Us Sandy Land,located in the central part of the farming-pastoral ecotone in northern China,plays a critical role in maintaining the ecological security pattern in this region.However,this sandy land also faces severe sandy desertification and ecological degradation.This study conducted a regional eco-geological vulnerability assessment of the Mu Us Sandy Land using a comprehensive index evaluation method based on eco-geological theories and survey results.To construct an appropriate index system for the eco-geological vulnerability assessment of the Mu Us Sandy Land,the study considered the sandy land’s unique characteristics and identified 15 factors of five categories,namely geology,meteorology,soil,topography,and vegetation.The paper calculated the comprehensive weights of all the indices using the analytic hierarchy process(AHP)and the entropy weight method(EWM).Furthermore,it established the eco-geological vulnerability index(EGVI)and obtained the assessment results.The results showed that the eco-geological vulnerability of the Mu Us Sandy Land gradually intensifies from east to west,manifested as vulnerable eco-geological conditions overall.Specifically,extremely vulnerable zones are found in the northwestern and southeastern parts of the study area,highly vulnerable zones in the western and southern parts,moderately vulnerable zones in the central part,and slightly and potentially vulnerable zones in the eastern and southern parts.Areas with high spatial autocorrelations include the northern Uxin Banner-Otog Banner-Angsu Town area,the surrounding areas of Hongdunjie Town in the southeastern part of the study area,the Hongshiqiao Township-Xiaohaotu Township area,Otog Front Banner,and Bainijing Town,which should be prioritized in the ecological conservation and restoration.Additionally,the paper proposed suggestions for the ecological conservation and restoration of county-level administrative areas in the study area.Overall,the findings provide a valuable reference for the ecological conservation and restoration of the Mu Us Sandy Land and other desert areas in arid and semi-arid regions.

Land Suitability Evaluation of Zanthoxylum schinifolium in Dry and Hot Valley of Jinsha River: A Case Study of Jiaopingdu Town of Luquan Yi and Miao Autonomous County,Yunnan Province

According to the recent practice in Laopingzi Village,Jiaopingdu Town,Luquan Yi and Miao Autonomous County(Luquan County hereinafter)in dry and hot valley of Jinsha River,the development of Zanthoxylum schinifolium Sieb.et Zucc planting industry can help farmers gradually get rid of poverty and achieve a virtuous cycle of ecological environment.It is a sustainable poverty alleviation way.Based on the three aspects of soil properties,climatic conditions,and topographical conditions influencing the growth of Z.schinifolium,this paper selected eight evaluation factors to establish a suitability evaluation system for Z.schinifolium,used the analytic hierarchy process to determine the indicator,and determined the weight of the evaluation indicators.Besides,it calculated the comprehensive suitability index of land suitability of Z.schinifolium and evaluated the suitability of Z.schinifolium land in Jiaopingdu Town of Luquan County.The results showed that the suitable area for the cultivation of Z.schinifolium in Jiaopingdu Town reached 7270.78 ha,accounting for 88.69%of the study area;the area of unsuitable land was 922.07 ha,accounting for 11.31%of the study area.Among the suitable land areas,the high suitability area reached562.99 ha,accounting for 7.79%;the moderate suitability area was 2206.76 ha,accounting for 28.61%;the low suitability area was4599.03 ha,accounting for 63.6%.Based on the results of suitability evaluation,it came up with pertinent recommendations for the development of Z.schinifolium industry in Jiaopingdu Town.

Land Use and Soil Organic Carbon in China’s Village Landscapes

Village landscapes, which integrate small-scMe agriculture with housing, forestry, and a host of other land use practices, cover more than 2 million square kilometers across China. Village lands tend to be managed at very fine spatial scales （≤ 30 m）, with managers both adapting their practices to existing variation in soils and terrain （e.g., fertile plains vs. infertile slopes） and also altering soil fertility and even terrain by terracing, irrigation, fertilizing, and other land use practices. Relationships between fine-scale land management patterns and soil organic carbon （SOC） in the top 30 cm of village soils were studied by sampling soils within fine-scale landscape features using a regionally weighted landscape sampling design across five environmentally distinct sites in China. SOC stocks across China＇s village regions （5 Pg C in the top 30 cm of 2 ×10^6 km^2） represent roughly 4% of the total SOC stocks in global croplands. Although macroclimate varied from temperate to tropical in this study, SOC density did not vary significantly with climate, though it was negatively correlated with regional mean elevation. The highest SOC densities within landscapes were found in agricultural lands, especially paddy, the lowest SOC densities were found in nonproductive lands, and forest lands tended toward moderate SOC densities. Bue to the high SOC densities of agricultural lands and their predominance in village landscapes, most village SOC was found in agricultural land, except in the tropical hilly region, where forestry accounted for about 45% of the SOC stocks. A surprisingly large portion of village SOC was associated with built structures and with the disturbed lands surrounding these structures, ranging from 〉 18% in the North China Plain to about 9% in the tropical hilly region. These results confirmed that local land use practices, combined with local and regional variation in terrain, were associated with most of the SOC variation within and across China＇s village landscapes and may be an important cause of regional variation in SOC.

Assessing the Impacts of Land Use and Land Cover Changes on Hydrology of the Mbarali River Sub-Catchment. The Case of Upper Great Ruaha Sub-Basin, Tanzania

Intensification of agricultural land use and population growth from 1990-2017 has caused changes in land cover and land use of the Mbarali River sub-catchment which is located in the Upper Great Ruaha Sub basin, Tanzania. This has affected the magnitude of the surface runoff, total water yield and the groundwater flow. This study assesses the impacts of the land cover and land use changes on the stream flows and hydrological water balance components (surface runoff, water yield, percolation and actual evapotranspiration). The land use and land cover (LULC) maps for three window period snapshots, 1990, 2006 and 2017 were created from Landsat TM and OLI_TIRS with the help of QGIS version 2.6. Supervised classification was used to generate LULC maps using the Maximum Likelihood Algorithm and Kappa statistics for assessment of accuracy. SWAT was set up and run to simulate stream flows and hydrological water balance components. The assessment of the impacts of land use and land cover changes on stream flows and hydrological water balance component was performed by comparing hydrological parameters simulated by SWAT using land use scenarios of 2006 and 2017 against the baseline land use scenario of 1990. Accuracy of LULC classification was good with Kappa statistics ranging between 0.9 and 0.99. There was a drastic increase in areal coverage of cultivated land, for periods 1990-2006 (5.84%) and 2006-2017 (12.05%) compared to other LULC. During 2006 and 2017 surface runoff increased by 4% and 9% respectively;however, water yield increased by only 0.5% compared to 1990 baseline period. This was attributed to increased proportion of cultivated land in the sub-catchment which has a high curve number (59.60) that indicates a higher runoff response and low infiltration rate.

Study on Landscape Features of Bai People'sTraditional Mountainous Villages in Dali

In view of the vast mountainous areas and abundant mountainous settlement resources of Dali Bai Nationality Autonomous Prefecture, the authors proposed the significance and necessity of studying landscape features of traditional mountainous settlements of the Bai Nationality by considering policy requirements of "protection system planning of famous historic and cultural cities, towns, villages and blocks in Yunnan Province" and "construction of mountainous towns". On the basis of investigating traditional mountainous settlements of the Bai Nationality in Dali, 5 typical settlements were analyzed from the perspectives of landscape structure, village layout, landscape element, landscape materials and decorative art. And characteristics of traditional mountainous settlements of the Bai Nationality were summarized as "following the nature, adaptive to actual terrains, multidimensional, human-nature oneness".

Analysis of Settlement Landscapes in Ancient Villages of Anyi County,Jiangxi Province of China

Forms and compositions of landscape elements in traditional spaces such as streets,lanes and plazas in ancient villages of Anyi County were studied.On the basis of investigating and analyzing current situation and problems of these ancient villages,difficulties in the development of ancient villages and improvement of living conditions as well as their contradictions with protection of ancient relics and cultures were explored,and corresponding protection principles and means proposed.It was stressed that the protection of landscape images in ancient villages of Anyi County should follow the principles of "protection first,reasonable development,integrated protection,valuing traditional cultures,encouraging the locals' participation",so as to create ancient villages with sustainable cultural traditions and favorable landscape images.

Spatial Allocation of Land Use in Luodeli Village,Luquan County,Yunnan Province from the Perspective of Rural Complex

Conceptually,rural complex is actually a comprehensive sustainable development model for new agricultural and rural areas across industries and functions.From the perspective of rural complex,combined with the actual case of Idyllic Orient in Yangshan,Wuxi,the first rural complex in China,this paper analyzes the current benefits of relevant projects.Considering the basic situation of Luodeli Village in Luquan County,Yunnan Province,the direction,development model and spatial allocation of land use are initially determined.Finally,the overall development path is proposed for Luodeli Village in Luquan County,in order to provide some ideas for its next development.

Science and Technology Commissioners Supporting High-Quality Development Project for Hundreds of Counties, Thousands of Towns, and Myriads of Villages in the Context of Rural Revitalization

This paper discusses the important role of science and technology commissioners in the high-quality development of hundreds of counties,thousands of towns,and myriads of villages in the context of rural revitalization,including building bridges,accelerating the transformation of achievements,promoting the value-added of the whole agricultural industry chain,and promoting the rapid development of rural industrial economy.It also discusses the working achievements of science and technology commissioners,in order to promote further development of rural revitalization in Guangdong Province.

Arrangement of High-standard Basic Farmland Construction Based on Village-region Cultivated Land Quality Uniformity

As an important constitute of land consolidation, high-standard basic farmland construction is an important means to protect the quantity, quality and ecological environment of cultivated land. Its target not only lies in the increase of cultivated land quantity, but also the improvement of cultivated land quality, agricultural production conditions and ecosystem environments. In the present study, the quality evaluation method and construction arrangement of cultivated land were explored to facilitate the process of decision-making and implementation for high-standard basic farmland construction(HSBFC) with administrative village as the unit. Taking the land comprehensive improvement project area in Quzhou County, Handan City, Hebei Province as a case study, the whole process of the study comprised of three steps: 1) establishment of the evaluation model of cultivated land quality uniformity based on regional optimum cultivated land quality, and construction of the uniformity evaluation index system from the aspects of soil fertility quality, engineering quality, spatial quality and eco-environment quality, according to the new concept of cultivated land quality; 2) calculation of cultivated land quality uniformity by grading indicators, assigning scores and weighting sums, exploring the local homogenization characteristics of regional cultivated land quality through spatial autocorrelation analysis, and analyzing the constraints and transformative potential of barrier factors; 3) arrangement of HSBFC according to the principle of concentration, continuity and priority to the easy operation. The results revealed that the value of farmland quality uniformity for the administrative villages in the study area was between 7.76 and 21.96, and there was a difference between various administrative villages. The regional spatial autocorrelation patterns included High-High(HH), Low-Low(LL), High-Low(HL) and Low-High(LH). These indicate that regional cultivated land quality has local homogenization characteristics. The most restrictive factors in the study area were the medium and low transformation difficulty indexes, including soil organic matter content, farmland shelterbelt network density, field regularity and scale of the field. In addition, there were also high transformation difficulty indicators in some areas, such as sectional configuration. The project area was divided into four partitions: major construction area, secondary construction area, general construction area, and conditional construction area. The cultivated land area of each subarea was 1538.85 ha, 1224.27 ha, 555.93 ha, and 1666.63 ha, respectively. This comprised of 30.87%, 24.56%, 11.15% and 33.42% of the total project area, respectively. The evaluation model and index system could satisfy the evaluation of farmland quality and diagnosis of obstacle factors to facilitate the subsequent construction decision. The present study provides reference for the practice of regional HSBFC, and a new feasible idea and method for related studies.

Methods and Paths for Rural Collectively Owned Profit-oriented Construction Land Entering into Trading Market

On the basis of analyzing cases of existing rural collectively owned profit-oriented construction land entering into trading market,this paper put forward several thoughts,introduced methods and paths for rural collectively owned profit-oriented construction land entering into trading market,including reforming rural collective land property right system,cultivating new rural collective economy organizations,helping them to become market entities; improving various legal systems,making clear range of construction land entering into trading market; formulating scientific benefit allocation mechanism; establishing fair and transparent decision making mechanism.

Evaluation of Land Use &Land Cover Change Using Multi-Temporal Landsat Imagery: A Case Study Sulaimaniyah Governorate, Iraq

Land use & land cover change detection in rapid growth urbanized area have been studied by many researchers and there are many works on this topic. Commonly, settlement sprawl in area depends on many factors such as eco-nomic prosperity and population growth. Iraq is one of the countries which witnessed rapid development in the settlement area. Remote sensing and geographic information system (GIS) are analytical software technologies to evaluate this familiar worldwide phenomenon. This study illustrates settlement development in Sulaimaniyah Governorate from 2001 to 2017 using Landsat satellite imageries of different periods. All images had been classified using remote sensing software in order to proceed powerful mapping of land use classification. Maximum likelihood method is used in the accurately extracted solution information from geospatial imagery. Landsat images from the study area were categorized into four different classes. These are: forest, vegetation, soil, and settlement. Change detection analysis results illustrate that in the face of an explosive demographic shift in the settlement area where the record + 8.99 percent which is equivalent to 51.80 Km2 over a 16-year period and settlement area increasing from 3.87 percent in 2001 to 12.86 percent in 2017. Accuracy assessment model was used to evaluate (LULC) classified images. Accuracy results show an overall accuracy of 78.83% to 90.09% from 2001 to 2017 respectively while convincing results of Kappa coefficient given between substantial and almost perfect agreements. This study will help decision-makers in urban plan for future city development.

Layering Precision Land Leveling and Furrow Irrigated Raised Bed Planting: Productivity and Input Use Efficiency of Irrigated Bread Wheat in Indo-Gangetic Plains

Stagnating yield and declining input use efficiency in irrigated wheat of the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) coupled with diminishing availability of water for agriculture is a major concern of food security in South Asia. The objective of our study was to establish an understanding of how wheat yield and input use efficiency can be improved and how land leveling and crop establishment practices can be modified to be more efficient in water use through layering of precision-conservation crop management techniques. The “precision land leveling with raised bed” planting can be used to improve crop yield, water and nutrient use efficiency over the existing “traditional land leveling with flat” planting practices. We conducted a field experiment during 2002-2004 at Modipuram, India to quantify the benefits of alternate land leveling (precision land leveling) and crop establishment (furrow irrigated raised bed planting) techniques alone or in combination (layering precision-conservation) in terms of crop yield, water savings, and nutrient use efficiency of wheat production in IGP. The wheat yield was about 16.6% higher with nearly 50% less irrigation water with layering precision land leveling and raised bed planting compared to traditional practices (traditional land leveling with flat planting). The agronomic (AE) and uptake efficiency (UE) of N, P and K were significantly improved under precision land leveling with raised bed planting technique compared to other practices.

A Preliminary Study on the Rational Utilization of Land Resources in the Poverty-Stricken Mountainous Areas in the Upper Reaches of the Yangtze River:A Case Study of Xueshan Township

As one of the most fragile alpine plateau and canyon areas in China,the upper reaches of the Yangtze River are the key areas of ecological construction in China.It is also a key area for poverty alleviation in the country.Therefore,it is necessary to take into account the dual goals of poverty reduction and ecological environment construction,and explore a win-win road of ecological construction and poverty alleviation in line with the reality of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.Taking Xueshan Township,Luquan Yi and Miao Autonomous County,Yunnan Province,which is located in the poor mountainous area of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River as an example,based on many field investigations and existing investigation and statistical data,this paper analyzes the current situation and main problems of land use in Xueshan Township,and then puts forward measures and suggestions for rational utilization of land resources in Xueshan Township.This can provide a necessary reference for the next implementation of rural revitalization strategy and ecological construction.

Industrial Poverty Alleviation Model in Deep Poverty-stricken Villages in the Dry-hot Valley of Jinsha River: A Case Study of Poverty Alleviation in the Green Prickleyash Planting Industry in Laopingzi Village,Luquan County

Industrial poverty alleviation is the core of poverty alleviation in rural areas of China,and it is the fundamental way for the rural poor to achieve stable income and poverty alleviation. Laopingzi Village,Jiaopingdu Town,Luquan County,Kunming County,Yunnan Province,located in the dry-hot valley area of Jinsha River,has become a typical deep poverty-stricken village due to its special natural conditions.In recent years,in the battle to win the fight against poverty,the people of Laopingzi Village have achieved a virtuous cycle of the ecological environment and an access to get rid of poverty and get rich through vigorously developing green prickleyash planting industry. By the end of 2018,the incidence of poverty in Laopingzi Village Committee dropped from 45. 62% in 2014 to 1. 11%,and the green prickleyash planting industry had achieved remarkable results in poverty alleviation. This article summarizes the specific practices of developing the green prickleyash planting industry in the village,analyzes the main results and successful experiences of the mode and discusses the inspiration of the implementation of green prickleyash cultivation on industrial poverty alleviation,so as to provide an effective practical example for the development and poverty alleviation of poverty-stricken areas.

北京市延庆县耕地景观特征

本文通过对不同耕地类型区的典型样区调查从较小尺度研究延庆县耕地景观特征。选用斑块面积、斑块周长、斑块密度、边界密度等指标来描述耕地景观的斑块特征;采用全部廊道占耕地景观面积的比例、廊道类型、各类型廊道的密度、各类型廊道网络的连通度、环状网络的环通度来表达耕地景观中的廊道特征。研究结果表明,延庆县耕地斑块规模较小、零碎,斑块不规整;景观破碎化程度比较严重;耕地景观被边界分割的程度比较高;景观粒度较小;上述情况在坡耕地区域尤为严重。廊道占耕地景观面积的比例大,廊道类型主要包括道路、沟渠,坡耕地区还包括田坎。道路的密度较大,但道路网络连通性和环通性差,为耕地生态系统中的物流和能流提供的连通的、可选择的线路比较少。沟渠密度较小,有的样区根本没有沟渠分布,其网络连通性更差,沟渠廊道体系不健全,耕地的灌溉保证程度和排洪能力比较低。坡耕地中田坎占地面积比较大,加剧了坡耕地景观中廊道占耕地面积比例大的程度。