extended abstract 1. introduction after industrial revolution, complex economic and technical developments led to wide changes in the size of cities, the proportion of the population in urban areas, and the growth rate of urbanization (johnson, 1998). more than half of the world population currently lives in urban areas and the uncontrolled expansion of cities is becoming a global concern. it i...

Degraded lands have often been suggested as a solution to issues of land scarcity and as an ideal way to meet mounting global demands for agricultural goods, but their locations and conditions are not well known. Four approaches have been used to assess degraded lands at the global scale: expert opinion, satellite observation, biophysical models, and taking inventory of abandoned agricultural l...

The land management practices of pastoralist Maasai communities have a major bearing on landscapes and wildlife habitats in northern Tanzania and play a key role in maintaining habitat for one of the world's most spectacular assemblages of terrestrial large mammals. Pastoralists manage lands according to locally devised rules designed to manage and conserve key resources such as pastures and wa...

Cultivated land in China has faced severe challenges in recent years due to rapid urbanization. In 1997, the “cultivated land requisition-compensation balance” policy was implemented by the government to maintain the quantity and quality of cultivated land. Previous studies mainly focused on the quantity changes of cultivated land. In this study, from a quality perspective, we characterized the...

International efforts to mitigate human-caused changes in the Earth's climate are considering a system of incentives (debits and credits) that would encourage specific changes in land use that can help to reduce the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide. The two primary land-based activities that would help to minimize atmospheric carbon dioxide are carbon storage in the terrestrial biosp...

Extensive flood damages all over the world necessitate its control and operation. Hydrologic impacts of land use change appear in many ways such as total runoff, and flood peak flow. This study was performed in 2014 and aimed to investigate the impacts of land use changes on the occurrence of floods in the catchment of Boostan dam in Golestan province, Iran. For this purpose, Watershed Modeling...

Coastal lands and nearshore marine areas are productive and rapidly changing places. However, these areas face many environmental challenges related to climate change and human-induced impacts. Space-borne remote sensing systems may be restricted in monitoring these areas because of their spatial and temporal resolutions. In situ measurements are also constrained from accessing the area and obt...

Efforts to curb elephant poaching have focused on reducing demand, confiscating ivory and boosting security patrols in elephant range. Where land is under multiple uses and ownership, determining the local poaching dynamics is important for identifying successful conservation models. Using 2,403 verified elephant, Loxodonta africana, mortality records collected from 2002 to 2012 and the results...

Land use change may influence many natural phenomena and ecological processes, including runoff, soil erosion, sedimentation and soil conditions. Decreasing of forest area in the North of Iran is one of the critical problems in recent years. The aims of this study are to detect land use changes between 1967 to 2002 using satellite images of Land Sat 7 ETM (2002), aerial photos and digital topog...

The importance of sea-level rise in shaping coastal landscapes is well recognized within the earth science community, but as with many natural hazards, communicating the risks associated with sea-level rise remains a challenge. Topography is a key parameter that influences many of the processes involved in coastal change, and thus, up-to-date, high-resolution, high-accuracy elevation data are r...