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The effort to meet the community's need for space is to change the function of land which was originally used as agricultural activity to become a space for other community activities and is non-agricultural in nature, which we will later call the conversion of agricultural land. Generally, uncontrolled conversion of agricultural land functions, if not addressed, can lead to serious problems, among others, can threaten the capacity of food supply and environmental sustainability. The trend of increasing demand for land makes conversion of agricultural land difficult to avoid. The loss of agricultural land and the conversion of agricultural land to non-agricultural functions regardless of its form are indicators for the development of modern cities. The modern city which is synonymous with industrialization and the splendor of buildings will gradually remove agricultural areas and change the environmental ecosystem further. If viewed from an ecological point of view, of course this problem causes environmental imbalance which will have a negative impact on food security. But what about the conversion of agricultural land from the viewpoint of spatial politics?Keywords: Agricultural land, land use changes, political spatial

We developed an uneven-aged forest economic decision-making framework that combines: (i) a size-structured matrix model, based on growth and mortality predictions of a dynamic process-based forest landscape model, (ii) an optimal control model that determines the dynamics of control and state variables, which in turn are defined by tree harvesting and forest stock, respectively, and (iii) a water yield function that depends on changes in the leaf area index (LAI), the latter being affected by forest management. This framework was used to simulate the effects of economic-driven harvesting decisions on water yields on a catchment of South-Western Swiss Alps when both timber and water benefits are considered. Water benefits are estimated as environmental prices considering current water demands for drinking, irrigation and hydropower production. We simulated optimal harvesting decisions given the initial forest structure at each 200 m × 200 m grid cells, a set of restrictions to harvesting, and specific species survival, recruitment and growth probabilities, all of which are affected by the stand’s LAI. We applied this model using different harvesting restriction levels over a period of 20 to 40-years, and accounting for single and joint timber and water benefits. The results suggested that at the environmental prices estimated at the catchment area, water benefits have a slight influence on harvesting decisions, but when water is accounted for, harvesting decisions would include more tree species and different diameter classes, which, in principle, is expected to favor more diverse forest structures. Paola Ovando developed the model and the earlier stages of the paper while she was working at the Swiss Federal Institute for Aquatic Science and Technology (eawag). She acknowledges the additional financial support of the Macaulay Development Trust for finishing this work Peer reviewed

The traditional agricultural activities need digitized transformation to feed the ever-increasing human population of this world. The digitized transformation of agriculture makes it smart and eases the farmers from the heavy physical agricultural activities. This paper aims to review the application of IoT in various agricultural activities and to make agriculture smart, this paper also suggests the development of an Integrated System, S -AGRO using Internet of Things technology, which can remotely monitor the agricultural activities and make smart decisions to improve the agricultural productivity. Besides, this paper extensively studied the IoT system for agricultural activities based on IoT platform, sensors used, power supply used, communication technology, information storage and processing and information alert/control techniques. The various methodologies used globally are also reviewed and it was observed that are no single system, which addresses all the agricultural activities. The development of an integrated system, S-AGRO which comprises of soil analysis, irrigation, weather forecasting, field monitoring, energy management, data analytics and reporting subsystems have been proposed. The S-AGRO system would help the farmers to improve the agricultural productivity without much physical effort.

Abstract Lakes provide significant ecological and economic benefits to society. However, they are prone to over-exploitation and degradation. In this paper, we address the challenge of protecting Chilika Lake in India from heavy siltation caused by land degradation in its catchment areas. Community led afforestation is explored as a management tool for reducing soil erosion and improving fish yields in the lake. Optimal afforestation by a forestry-dependent community is compared to that from the perspective of a manager who maximizes the joint utility of the forestry and fishery-based communities. Additionally, a payment for ecosystem services (PES) mechanism is designed, which pays the forest community on the basis of reduced siltation loading in the lake while also allowing it to benefit from fuelwood harvesting in the newly restored forests. Through relating the impact of fuelwood harvesting by the forestry-based communities on fish yields of the fishing community, a dynamic optimization model evaluates the various trade-offs between environmental services provided by the forest and lake ecosystems. Findings indicate that paying the forestry-based communities for restoration can help improve the lake's lifespan in absence of other interventions. Increasing afforestation levels in the lake's catchment region to 1000 km2 can result in additional fish yield of half a million tonnes over the next hundred years, generating more than a billion dollars in revenues for the fishing communities.

Urbanization towards the expansion of the city area causes urban sprawl and changes in space use. Furthermore, urban agglomeration towards urban spatial integration causes a decrease in environmental quality. This study aims to analyze (1) land-use change and urban sprawl work as determinants of environmental quality degradation in suburban areas. (2) The effect of urban sprawl, urban agglomeration, land-use change, urban activity systems, and transportation systems on environmental quality degradation in suburban areas. A combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches is used sequentially in this study. Data obtained through observation, surveys, and documentation. The results showed that the expansion of the Makassar City area to the suburbs had an impact on spatial dynamics, spatial segregation, and environmental degradation. Furthermore, urban sprawl, land-use change, urban agglomeration, activity systems, and transportation systems have a positive correlation to environmental quality degradation with a determination coefficient of 85.9%. This study recommends the handling of urban sprawl, land-use change, and urban agglomeration to be considered in the formulation of development policies towards the sustainability of natural resources and the environment of Makassar City, Indonesia.

r. Average A. dealbata tree size was a significant predictor of forest basal area in 24 plots (12% deviance explained) and, when combined with average distance between trees, explained 29.1% variance in E. obliqua biomass. However, static patterns of local nitrogen concentration were unrelated to the presence or size of A. dealbata, despite our experiments showing that A. dealbata leaf litter controls decomposition rates in the soil (due to three times higher N). Such results are important for forest management in the context of understanding the timing and turnover of shorter-lived species like acacias, where higher N (through either litter or soil) might be better detected early in community establishment (when growth is faster and intraspecific competition more intense) but with that early signal subsequently dissipated. The relative abundance of nitrogen-fixing species has been hypothesised to influence tree biomass, decomposition, and nitrogen availability in eucalypt forests. This prediction has been demonstrated in experimental settings (two-species mixtures) but is yet to be observed in the field with more realistically complex communities. We used a combination of (a) field measurements of tree-community composition, (b) sampling of soil from a subset of these sites (i.e., the local environment), and (c) a decomposition experiment of forest litter to examine whether there is a local-scale effect of the nitrogen-fixing Acacia dealbata Link (presence and abundance) on nitrogen availability, and whether increases in this essential nutrient led to greater biomass of the canopy tree species, Eucalyptus obliqua L&rsquo Hé

The standard deviation of the Horizontal Wind Speed as a proxy of wind turbulence is used to compare the apparent wind turbulence measured by an off-shore floating Doppler lidar to the one measured by a fixed lidar on a metmast. We use statistical analysis based on clustering the horizontal wind speed measured by the floating lidar as well as buoy angular amplitude and period under the approximation of harmonic motion. Three scenarios with different wave and wind conditions are discussed from the IJmuiden's test campaign (North Sea.). This work was supported via Spanish Government–European Regional Development Funds project PGC2018-094132-B-I00 and EU H2020 ACTRIS-2 (GA 654109). The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), KIC InnoEnergy project NEPTUNE (Offshore Metocean Data Measuring Equipment and Wind, Wave and Current Analysis and Forecasting Software, call FP7) supported measurements campaigns. CommSensLab is a María-de-Maeztu Unit of Excellence funded by the Agencia Estatal de Investigacion (Spanish National Science Foundation). Peer Reviewed

Global climate change alters the dynamic of natural ecosystems and directly affects species distributions, persistence and diversity. The impacts of climate change may lead to dramatic changes in biotic interactions, such as pollination and seed dispersal. Life history traits are extremely important to consider the vulnerability of a species to climate change, producing more robust models than those based primarily on species distributions. Here, we hypothesized that rising temperatures and aridity will reduce suitable habitats for the endemic flora of the Caatinga, the most diverse dry tropical forest on Earth. Specifically, species with specialized reproductive traits (e.g. vertebrate pollination, biotic dispersal, obligatory cross-pollination) should be more affected by climate change than those with generalist traits. We performed two ecological niche models (current and future) to simulate the effects of climate change on the distribution area of endemic species in relation to life-history traits. We used the MIROC-ESM and CCSM4 models for both intermediate (RCP4.5) and highest predicted (RCP8.5) GHG emission scenarios, with a resolution of 30' (~1 km2). Habitat with high occurrence probability (>80%) of endemic species will be reduced (up to ~10% for trees, ~13% for non-arboreous, 10–28% for species with any pollination/reproductive system), with the greatest reductions for species with specialized reproductive traits. In addition, the likely concentration of endemic plants in the extreme northeastern portion of the Caatinga, in more mesic areas, coincides with the currently most human-modified areas of the ecosystem, which combined with climate change will further contract suitable habitats of endemic species. In conclusion, plant species endemic to the Caatinga are highly vulnerable to even conservative scenarios of future climate change and may lose much of their climatic envelopes. New protected areas should be located in the northeastern portion of the Caatinga, which hosts a more favorable climate, but is currently exposed to escalating agricultural intensification.

Global demand for conventional petroleum fuels for powering transport vehicles is enormous and is increasing sharply with time. However, depleting petroleum reserves, and negative impacts of vehicular emissions on human health remain the most important concerns, which motivate researchers to look for alternative and eco-friendly fuels for the transport sector. On the other hand, emerging stringent regulations are forcing engine researchers and manufacturers to develop appropriate and newer engine technologies to comply with these emissions regulations in addition to improving the fuel economy. Among different alternative fuel options, biogas certainly can be regarded as one of the most attractive options since it is mainly produced from waste materials such as agricultural wastes, municipal solid wastes, food wastes and vegetable market waste, in addition to human and animal excreta, which are unlimited resources. Though biogas technology is considered as a matured technology, its full potential is yet to be explored globally. Raw biogas contains some impurities hence it cannot be used directly in engines/vehicles, therefore it must be upgraded for these applications. This chapter explores the state-of-the-art technologies associated with the biogas generation, biogas upgradation, storage, and utilization. Biogas-to-useable fuel conversion techniques are also discussed. An estimate of biogas generation potential worldwide is explored, and techno-economic feasibility is addressed. Recent case studies on assessing performance of biogas operated vehicles are reviewed. Finally, the main barriers in biogas adaptation for vehicular applications are identified, and necessary recommendations are made.

A comrehensive model including the visible transmittance, solar transmittance, and mid-infrared emissivity is simulated in this work and discuss the optical spectral characteristics to minimize the total energy consumption of a standard building climate zones.