查看更多>>摘要：? 2022 The Authors‘Sustainable palm oil’ aims to eliminate deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions, land conflicts and labour abuses from palm oil global value chains while maintaining palm oil production as a vehicle for development in tropical countries. However, smallholder palm oil growers are a small minority of those who are certified as sustainable and persistently face multiple socio-economic challenges. We analysed 100 journal articles that address smallholders, oil palm and issues related to sustainability in order to critically examine the current state of evidence for sustainability upgrading in smallholder palm oil global value chains. We identify a focus on sustainability certification in the academic research agenda that has left key implementation and knowledge gaps on meeting smallholders’ needs outside of a certification framework. An implication of this is that buyers, policy-makers, and consumers do not recognise both the challenges and advantages of small-scale agriculture for sustainable palm oil. We found that certification standards struggle to resolve persistent smallholder challenges, such as low incomes, low yields and insecure land tenure. Certification appears to be a flawed method to conceptualize and measure the sustainability of smallholders. We, therefore, advocate broadening approaches to studying sustainability and smallholder palm oil production, particularly to target issues that are of immediate concern for smallholder farmers as opposed to prioritising productivity. Future research should take inspiration from diverse established fields of research in defining sustainable practices, such as agroecology or agroforestry.
查看更多>>摘要：? 2022 Elsevier LtdThe long-term viability of United States (US) agriculture and food systems is contingent upon sustainable soil and water conservation. Currently, the majority of conservation practices rely on voluntary adoption by farmers. However, a large and growing proportion of farmland is rented, thereby presenting a conservation decision-making context where tenant farmers have less control over conservation behavior than farmers who own the land they operate. For decades, social science scholarship has examined whether and how land tenure affects farmers’ conservation behavior. The overall effect of tenure on conservation behavior has been found to be inconclusive in quantitative studies, whereas qualitative studies suggest that it hinders conservation behavior. This article draws upon reviews of quantitative and qualitative studies examining conservation adoption in the US between 1982 and 2017 to highlight gaps in and opportunities for understanding the relationship between land tenure and conservation behavior. Highlighting the multidimensional nature of land tenure, we propose that future research on conservation adoption in agriculture use the following eight dimensions: within-farm tenure heterogeneity, tenure stability, market dynamics, type of lease arrangements, lease negotiation timelines, relational aspects, non-operating landowner characteristics, and operator characteristics. We invite scholars to operationalize and measure these dimensions to evaluate their effects on conservation behavior on rented farmland.
查看更多>>摘要：? 2022 The AuthorsAccurate house price indexes allow governments and planners to make more effective decisions with regard to land use policy. We compare different ways of computing house price indexes for Warsaw over the period 2006–2018 using a detailed micro-level dataset of 101,182 transactions. We find that when a hedonic approach is used, the resulting index is reasonably robust to the choice of method. More problematic is the repeat-sales method, which is widely used in the US. We find that repeat-sales price indexes are unreliable, affected by sample-selection bias, and prone to significant revisions when new periods are added to the dataset. Even for the hedonic approach, the choice of method can become important for smaller datasets. In such cases, the hedonic time dummy and rolling time dummy methods tend to perform better than the hedonic repricing, hedonic imputation and average characteristics methods. In comparison with the index produced by the National Bank of Poland (NBP), we find that in 2006–7 prices did not rise as much, while since the end of 2012 prices have risen faster than indicated by the NBP index. We attribute these differences to a combination of the choice of hedonic method (we use time-dummy while the NBP index uses the repricing method) and different datasets (the NBP dataset is smaller, especially in the earlier years of the sample).
查看更多>>摘要：? 2022 Elsevier LtdCropland abandonment is an emerging human-induced land use and is a growing national problem in Nepal. It is a key, current concern for local governance bodies and restoration options for this land are being actively sought. We initiated a systematic review of existing studies to identify the key causes and impacts of cropland abandonment and consider a range of restoration options. Data on the drivers, impacts, and restoration options for abandoned cropland were extracted from current relevant literature retrieved through four databases (Web of Science, Google Scholar, Scopus, and NepJol). Most studies focused on the drivers of cropland abandonment with less focus on the impacts and restoration options. Socio-economic drivers included outmigration, limited availability of labour or high labour cost, easy access to daily supply needs and high education level of the farming family members. Bio-physical factors were also reported as key drivers of cropland abandonment including unsuitable slope and rugged land topography, low soil fertility and low crop productivity. Both positive and negative impacts of cropland abandonment were also reported, principally bio-physical such as secondary vegetation succession as a positive impact and geomorphic damage and low crop production as negative impacts with a consequent decrease in food security. Most current studies focused principally on specific sites and typically lacked restoration options coordinated at a national level. Those studies that did identify restoration options for abandoned land suggested the adoption of short crop cycle, less labour-intensive crops, agro-forestry and conversion to pasture as key options. Most, however, failed to establish linkages between food insecurity, rural livelihoods, and ecosystem services after cropland is abandoned. As prior studies on abandoned land lack a defined study framework, we recommend an integrated research approach for Nepal. The approach suggests the need to adopt an integrated way for studying abandoned cropland restoration through the empirical analysis of local and national land abandonment issues. The proposed approach could also be applied in other areas where cropland abandonment is an issue.
查看更多>>摘要：? 2022 Elsevier LtdThe implementation of China's fallow policy has attracted much attention in the recent years, while its impact on the rural household income in poor areas is rarely known. This study evaluates the impact of fallow policy on the total household income (THI) of farmers in poor areas of China, and further explores their mechanism and heterogeneity. We use a quasi-experimental design and a survey to gather research data from 48 pilot and non-pilot villages of Gansu Province, China, combining with the PSM technique and PSM-QR method to investigate this effect. The results showed that fallow policy has a positive effect on THI, and the finding is robust. Whereas, the effect is different among various income groups, which is characterized by “benefiting the rich but not benefiting the poor”, that is, the fallow policy aggravates income inequality in villages. Mechanism analysis illustrated that fallow policy significantly reduces crop income, but has no impact on livestock income and property income, and it improves THI by providing fallow compensation to increase transfer income, and promoting off-farm employment to increase off-farm income in the meantime. Finally, heterogeneous exist in the income effect in terms of policy characteristics such as participation level, compensation standard and stewardship pattern. This study generates important policy implications for the Chinese government to further improve fallow policy and rural households’ income in poor areas.
Ibrahim A.-S.Abubakari M.Akanbang B.A.A.Kepe T....
12页
查看更多>>摘要：? 2022 Elsevier LtdAlternative Disputes Resolution (ADR) is gaining increasing attention in scholarly and legal circles globally, due to the inherent weaknesses of the statutory court system. Recent studies have focused on ADR processes and their effectiveness over the formal court system. However, the motivations and challenges of using ADR systems by disputants seldom receive attention, particularly within the context of the rising incidences of land disputes in Africa. This study examines the motivations and challenges of using ADR by land litigants under the fragmented land ownership system in the Upper West Region of Ghana. Using a case study research design, the study found reluctance in the enforcement of resolved disputes, perceived discrimination against minority groups, biases in the process of appeal, and inadequate resources as challenges with ADR in the Region. Motivations for the use of ADR included relationship building, perception of fairness and justice, and relatively cheaper and quicker processes of adjudication. The study concludes that ADR committees have strong potential to deal with the rising incidence of land disputes, but their weaknesses must be addressed. ADR committees should work with Customary Land Secretariats (CLS) to educate the public on their functions and dispute resolution processes, in order to help reduce the perception of bias levelled against them.
查看更多>>摘要：? 2022 Elsevier LtdPublic perceptions of ecosystem services and disservices of urban greenery are critical for urban greening policies. However, few studies have explored the association between perceptions and urban-greenery demands. Using questionnaires, we surveyed 467 Hong Kong residents on a range of 68 ecosystem services and 38 disservices. Principal component analysis extracted nine factors for services and six factors for disservices. Respondents most strongly agreed with statements about the role of urban greenery in temperature and air pollution regulation, recreation, and general well-being services. The top-rated disservices were harmful plants, tree failure, and environmental hygiene issues. The perceptions were shaped by several personal background variables (including socio-demographic and environmental-cultural factors). Correlation of two indicators of urban-greenery demands, namely desired minimum greening coverage in the built-up part of the city (City-greening) and willingness-to-pay (WTP) to improve neighbourhood greenery, i.e., greenery of one's living areas (WTP-greening), with greenery perceptions and personal background, were investigated by regression models. The extent of agreement of some services and disservices were significant predictors of City-greening, while socio-demographic factors exerted more influence on WTP-greening. Education level was a robust predictor in all WTP-greening models, while income level did not predict the positive WTP amount. Living environment and residence type were also significant predictors in different models. The linkage of personal background with urban-greenery perceptions and the differential effects of various factors on urban-greenery demands provide policy implications to maximize public benefits and secure public support for urban greening.
查看更多>>摘要：? 2022 Elsevier LtdCities in a monopolistic position or possessing certain advantages within provinces induce the dilemma of aggregate economic growth and intra-provincial inequality in China, which remains controversial and unclear. Given the role of provincial capital administrative power in the formation of monocentricity, we propose and demonstrate how fiscally created one-city monopolies (FOCM) cause intra-provincial inequality. The empirical results, through measuring relative fiscal interventions between the provincial capital and the second-largest city in a province during the period 1990–2020, show that fiscally created one-city monopolies increase intra-provincial inequality. As part of a robustness check, we find an intensified impact of fiscally created one-city monopolies on the central and western regions. Endogeneity tests provide consistent evidence. We also point out that the adverse impact of fiscally created one-city monopolies on intra-provincial inequality primarily originates from local capital accumulation and industrial agglomeration. By contrast, industrial upgrading, urbanization, improvement of transportation, and opening-up help reduce this adverse impact.
查看更多>>摘要：? 2022 Elsevier LtdThe Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim to achieve a more inclusive, resilient, safe and sustainable society. Policy makers, together with entrepreneurs and citizens, are called to a great challenge to optimize land use. This work, through a multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA), aims at comparing the sustainability of 103 Italian cities through the evaluation of 45 SDGs’ indicators, ranking cities on the base of their performance. Results show strong disparities across Italy with three northern cities at the top of the ranking and many southern cities at the bottom. The analysis then creates a framework based on experts’ view composed of 21 criteria that would facilitate the development of a sustainability plan. A hybrid methodology based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and the 10-point scale is used to rank among the criteria. Selected experts underlined how sustainable policy and green investment are enabling factors of sustainable cities, but political stability and streamlined public spending are also essential to achieve this goal. The analysis offers insights for different categories of stakeholders and invites to measure and monitor the progress of cities towards SDGs proposing eight directions (policy, economy, operations, environment, organization, staff, society and human).
查看更多>>摘要：? 2022 Elsevier LtdLimited investments in land degradation neutrality (LDN) are causing environmental degradation and are the main barriers to socioeconomic development worldwide. Therefore, it is crucial to meet the target 15.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals to achieve soil neutrality by 2030 at the national level. Therefore, the primary purpose of this study is to find critical enablers, challenges, and benefits of LDN and develop a new administrative management framework for mobilizing private investments according to local financial market conditions. To achieve this research objective, the authors selected 14 degraded districts in four provinces of Pakistan. The data for this study were collected from 63 institutions that were directly or indirectly involved in land degradation risk prevention and management. The research evaluation process comprises a mixed-method approach to infer institutional survey data analysis. The interpretation of the results was based on two important dimensions, including 12 survey statements. From the perspective of LDN management (LDNM) enablers, the government's long-term vision and strong commitment were validated as top-ranked measures among the six enablers for the implementation of LDN. The development of horizontal and vertical coordination mechanisms for the LDN is the second-most critical enabler. While developing public-private partnership (PPP) policies, procedures and services are perceived as the third most potent enabler. In terms of LDNM challenges and benefits, raising awareness of the LDN concept, capacity development, and LDN market risk assessment are identified as the main challenges. However, developing a green economy, securing social needs, and ensuring ecological sustainability are vital benefits. This study makes theoretical and practical contributions to the field of LDNM. Theoretically, this study contributes to the LDNM framework based on complexity theory by integrating transaction cost logic to execute win-win PPP agreements. Practically, to meet different market conditions, this study suggests three PPP models: special credit lines, risk-sharing facilities, and land protection performance contracts. These inputs will provide insight into what the government needs to develop for land use policy, promote LDN investments, and forge new partnerships between local financial institutions and landscape stakeholders.
NSTL
Elsevier