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Abstract Tropical countries lie at the nexus of three pressing issues for global sustainability: agricultural production, climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation. The forces that drive forest protection do not necessarily oppose those that drive forest clearance for development. This decoupling, enhanced by the stronger economic forces compared to conservation, is detrimental for the social-ecological sustainability of forested tropical landscapes. This paper presents an integrated, and spatially-explicit, Agent-Based Model that examines the future impacts of land-use change scenarios on the sustainability of the Wet Tropics region of tropical Queensland, Australia. In particular, the model integrates Bayesian Belief Networks, Geographical Information Systems, empirical data and expert knowledge, under a land-sharing/land-sparing analysis, to study the impact of different landscape configurations on trade-offs and synergies among biodiversity and two ecosystem services (sugarcane production and carbon sequestration). Contrary to most tropical regions, model simulations show that Business As Usual is helping to reconcile these contrasting goals in the forested landscape of the Wet Tropics. The paper analyses which combination of governance and socio-economic factors is causing these positive results. This is an outstanding achievement for a tropical region, considering that most tropical areas are characterized for having stronger economic-land clearing forces compared to conservation forces, which reduce important ecosystem services for human wellbeing and the health of ecosystems. Highlights • Integrated Agent-Based Model simulates a social-ecological system of the Wet Tropics. • BAU reconciles sugarcane production, carbon sequestration and biodiversity. • Results driven by different socio-economic, governance and environmental factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

2019 Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) had a big impact in Italy, mainly concentrated in the northern part of the Country. All this was mainly due to similarities of this area with Wuhan in Hubei Province, according to geographical, environmental and socio-economic points of view. The basic hypothesis of this research was that the presence of atmospheric pollutants can generate stress on health conditions of the population and determine pre-conditions for the development of diseases of the respiratory system and complications related to them. In most cases the attention on environmental aspects is mainly concentrated on pollution, neglecting issues such as land management which, in some way, can contribute to reducing the impact of pollution. The reduction of land take and the decrease in the loss of ecosystem services can represent an important aspect in improving environmental quality. In order to integrate policies for environmental change and human health, the main factors analyzed in this paper can be summarized in environmental, climatic and land management. The main aim of this paper was to produce three different hazard scenarios respectively related to environmental, climatic and land management-related factors. A Spatial Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method has been applied over thirteen informative layers grouped in aggregation classes of environmental, climatic and land management. The results of the health hazard maps show a disparity in the distribution of territorial responses to the pandemic in Italy. The environmental components play an extremely relevant role in the definition of the red zones of hazard, with a consequent urgent need to renew sustainable development strategies. The comparison of hazard maps related to different scenarios provides decision makers with tools to orient policy choices with a different degree of priority according to a place-based approach. In particular, the geospatial representation of risks could be a tool for legitimizing the measures chosen by decision-makers, proposing a renewed approach that highlights and takes account of the differences between the spatial contexts to be considered - Regions, Provinces, Municipalities - also in terms of climatic and environmental variables. • COVID-19 had a big impact in Italy, mainly in the northern part of the Country. • Reduction of land take and ecosystem services' loss improve environmental quality. • Environmental, climatic and land management can be leveraged for pandemic policies. • Geospatial representation of risks is a useful approach to support decision-makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper identifies new ways of moving from land degradation towards sustainable land management through the development of economic mechanisms. It identifies new mechanisms to tackle land degradation based on retaining critical levels of natural capital whilst basing livelihoods on a wider range of ecosystem services. This is achieved through a case study analysis of the Kalahari rangelands in southwest Botswana. The paper first describes the socio-economic and ecological characteristics of the Kalahari rangelands and the types of land degradation taking place. It then focuses on bush encroachment as a way of exploring new economic instruments (e.g. Payments for Ecosystem Services) designed to enhance the flow of ecosystem services that support livelihoods in rangeland systems. It does this by evaluating the likely impacts of bush encroachment, one of the key forms of rangeland degradation, on a range of ecosystem services in three land tenure types (private fenced ranches, communal grazing areas and Wildlife Management Areas), before considering options for more sustainable land management in these systems. We argue that with adequate policy support, economic mechanisms could help reorient degraded rangelands towards more sustainable land management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shifting societal needs drive and shape landscapes and the provision of their services. This paper presents a modelling approach to visualize the regional spatial and temporal dynamics in landscape service supply as a function of changing landscapes and societal demand. This changing demand can result from different policy targets. In this paper we conceptualise the system in which these dynamics take place by explicitly addressing (i) the multifunctional character of a landscape, (ii) the different spatial levels at which interactions between landscape service supply, demand, and land management occur, and (iii) trade-offs in service supply as a result of land management actions. Next, we translate the resulting conceptual framework into an operational model. As a demonstration, this model is applied to simulate changes in landscape service supply driven by regional policies in a rural region of the Netherlands. This application demonstrates potential trade-offs, which emerge in a spatially explicit way in the region over time. It illustrates the potential relevance of modelling landscape service dynamics for environmental management and decision making. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract Past water resource developments in dryland regions rarely estimated the full suite of environmental and social impacts arising from damming and diverting water for food production. Nowadays there is a greater focus on sustainable resource development which considers the economic, social and environmental costs and benefits. A challenge is to apply tools and methods which can capture the often disparate knowledge and data describing many costs and benefits. This paper describes a proof of concept application of a large Bayesian Decision Net to estimate the total utility of water resource development according to criteria of social, economic and environmental sustainability. We focus on two water-scarce catchments in remote northern Australia which are under investigation for development. The study catchments contain a diverse set of ecosystem services and socio-cultural values, including important Indigenous values and high value freshwater ecosystems. The Bayesian Decision Net was shown to have many properties that made it useful for performing a social, economic and environmental sustainability assessment, in particular its ease of construction; its ability to handle quantitative and qualitative data types; its preservation of system knowledge and; its ease of use in aiding decision making. From the perspective of the sustainability assessment in our case study, the total utility of water resource development for new irrigation is negative in both the studied catchments. The overall utility of water resource development could be positive if irrigation development is highly sensitive to the environment and there are very low environmental impacts, and much higher net economic returns to irrigators eventuate, possibly through higher commodity prices, lower capital costs of irrigation development or some combination of both. Highlights • Development of water resources involves trade-offs between economy and environment. • Integrated social-environment-economy sustainability (SEES) assessments support trade-offs analyses. • Bayesian Decision Networks (BDNs) support SEES assessments with diverse data types. • BDN applied to irrigation development scenarios of two remote catchments in north Australia. • The economic and ecosystem service benefits of the case study irrigation developments are questionable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A variety of tools can be employed in support of environmental policy objectives, but achieving preferred outcomes also requires the cooperation of private landholders and others with vested interests in the land. The Land Stewardship project in the state of Victoria, Australia, is an initiative devoted to exploring the ways in which private landholders could be encouraged towards more sustainable land management. Following the view that the success of policy initiatives is contingent on effective stakeholder engagement, a component of the Land Stewardship project involved a dialogue with landholders about policy tools (e.g., regulation, economic instruments) that might be deployed to encourage improved land management practices. This paper provides an account of the views and attitudes of landholders, as revealed in a series of three workshops, which consisted of discussions about the factors influencing agriculture, participants’ interpretations of sustainability, and policy methods. The focus of the paper is on what landholders believe to be the strengths and limitations of standard policy tools, and the essential requirements for these tools to deliver the best land management outcomes. One of the main findings of the project was a ‘preference hierarchy’ in respect of policy methods, according to which the strongest support was expressed for voluntary and education-based tools, followed by market-based instruments, with command-and-control regulation identified as a measure of ‘last resort’. In the paper we reflect also on how the views and outlook of landholders should be positioned relative to other inputs in the design of policy interventions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Land cover (LC) is one of the most important and easily detectable indicators of change in ecosystem services and livelihood support systems. This paper describes the decadal dynamics in LC changes at national and sub-national level in Bhutan derived by applying object-based image analysis (OBIA) techniques to 1990, 2000, and 2010 Landsat (30 m spatial resolution) data. Ten LC classes were defined in order to give a harmonized legend land cover classification system (LCCS). An accuracy of 83% was achieved for LC-2010 as determined from spot analysis using very high resolution satellite data from Google Earth Pro and limited field verification. At the national level, overall forest increased from 25,558 to 26,732 km 2 between 1990 and 2010, equivalent to an average annual growth rate of 59 km 2 /year (0.22%). There was an overall reduction in grassland, shrubland, and barren area, but the observations were highly dependent on time of acquisition of the satellite data and climatic conditions. The greatest change from non-forest to forest (277 km 2 ) was in Bumthang district, followed by Wangdue Phodrang and Trashigang, with the least (1 km 2 ) in Tsirang. Forest and scrub forest covers close to 75% of the land area of Bhutan, and just over half of the total area (51%) has some form of conservation status. This study indicates that numerous applications and analyses can be carried out to support improved land cover and land use (LCLU) management. It will be possible to replicate this study in the future as comparable new satellite data is scheduled to become available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land degradation is extensive, covering approximately 23% of the globe's terrestrial area, increasing at an annual rate of 5–10 million ha, and affecting about 1.5 billion people globally. Such detrimental processes call for urgent and comprehensive action to halt land degradation. In this paper, we assess the causes and extent of land degradation around the world, followed by an outline of the various challenges in implementing a global Zero Net Land Degradation (ZNLD) policy. The concept of ZNLD proposes a scheme under which the extent of global degraded lands will decrease or at least, remain stable. To enable this type of scenario, the rate of global land degradation should not exceed that of land restoration. Restoration efforts should include not only croplands, rangelands, and woodlands, but also natural and semi-natural lands that do not generate direct economic revenues. The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) envisages achieving this target by 2030. Despite being seemingly ambitious, the target of ZNLD could be achieved if degraded lands are restored to a considerable extent and, at the same time, land-degrading management practices are replaced with ones that conserve soils. To enable effective implementation of these steps, it is necessary to formulate a ZNLD Protocol aimed at managing assessment actions and maintaining of supportive policies and regulations. Restoration projects could be financed through payments for improving ecosystem services, as well as other economic mechanisms. Achieving the target of land degradation neutrality would decrease the environmental footprint of agriculture, while supporting food security and sustaining human wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]