#landuse — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #landuse, aggregated by home.social.
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”When our rewilding program started, many big corporations offered us huge amounts of money if we certified carbon credits. We consulted with communities. But our answer was that we don’t sell nature.”
#climateFinance #wetlands #rewetting #prevention #deterrence #rewilding #Finland #Karelia #peatland #restoration #landUse #peatlands #nature #carbon #carbonSinks #CDR #wildfires #offsets #carbonOffsets #communities
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Pierce Road in the Harvard Forest is named for the Pierce Farm. 200 years ago, about a mile into the woods, once stood a farmhouse. All that remains now are the stones of the cellar hole, and, if you know where to look, the old well. The cellar is partially obscured by vegetation, but it's there as a reminder of the past land use #history of the area, when much of the surrounding forest was cleared for pasture.
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A status on land use change worldwide:
"The area used for growing crops grew significantly from 2001 to 2024. Temporary crops (such as wheat, rice and maize) increased by 104 million ha, or 11 percent, reaching 1 081 million ha. Permanent crops (such as cocoa, oil palm and coffee) grew by 59 million ha, reaching 194 million ha in 2024, an increase of over 43 percent."
The leaders in cropland expansion were in Africa (+78 million ha) and South America (+35 million ha).
The leaders in cropland contraction were in Northern America (−26 million ha).https://openknowledge.fao.org/items/fbfbe167-5026-4aa1-b985-2468507d5dc1
#FAO #foodSovereignty #agriculture #crops #land #landUse #LULUCF #trade #internationalTrade #cashCrops #exports
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Impact Of Urbanization Driven Land Use And Land Cover Change On Ecological Environmental Quality In Rupandehi Nepal Assessed Using The Remote Sensing Ecological Index
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https://doi.org/10.1007/s44288-026-00650-y <-- shared paper
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https://kathmandupost.com/money/2026/02/18/rupandehi-s-continued-urban-sprawl-comes-at-a-cost-for-agriculture-in-the-periphery <-- shared media article
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H/T@ Gaurav Parajulim
“[The authors] studied how the ecological quality of Nepal's Rupandehi District has changed over three decades (1993–2023), using satellite imagery and the Remote Sensing Ecological Index (RSEI) to track the health of the landscape year by year and to understand how urbanization-driven land use change has reshaped it.
What [they] found tells a nuanced story: as Butwal and Bhairahawa grew and built-up land expanded, ecological quality shifted in ways that a single number can't capture, some areas recovered, others declined, and the patterns rarely moved in a straight line…”
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“Rapid urbanization and population growth are major drivers of land use and land cover (LULC) change and can substantially alter ecological environmental quality (EEQ). This study assessed the spatiotemporal dynamics of LULC and their effect on EEQ in Rupandehi District, Nepal, over a 30-year period (1993–2023). Four ecological indicators representing greenness, wetness, dryness, and heat were derived from Landsat imagery in Google Earth Engine (GEE), and LULC was classified using a Support Vector Machine (SVM). The Remote Sensing Ecological Index (RSEI) was then constructed from these indicators using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) in ArcGIS Pro, and its spatial structure was examined using global and local spatial autocorrelation. The mean RSEI followed a non-linear trajectory, rising from 0.59 in 1993 to 0.635 in 2004, declining to 0.55 in 2013, and recovering to 0.67 in 2023, indicating an overall improvement in EEQ with a temporary mid-period decline. Over the same period, built-up areas expanded substantially and agricultural land declined, whereas forest cover fluctuated but showed a slight net increase by 2023, and barren land decreased markedly. Higher EEQ was concentrated in the forested northern hills, while lower values occurred in the urban centers of Butwal and Bhairahawa, closely matching the spatial pattern of LULC change. The results indicate that ecological quality reflects the combined influence of all land cover classes rather than any single class. This study provides a transferable and reproducible workflow for long-term ecological assessment based on openly available Landsat data, with the analysis code shared in a public repository, offering practical guidance for sustainable land management and environmentally responsible urban development...”
#GIS #spatial #mapping #RemoteSensing #GIS #RSEI #EnvironmentalMonitoring #Nepal #Research #GoogleEarthEngine #ArcGIS #EcologicalQuality #spatialautocorrelation #ecology #environment #earthobservation #RemoteSensingEcologicalIndex #landscape #urbanisation #urban #development #landuse #change #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal -
Adherence to an adapted Planetary Health Diet (more fruits & #legumes; less #dairy, red #meat, animal fats & added #sugar) in China was linked to reduced GHG #emissions, water use & #landuse, as well as lower risk of all-cause mortality: doi.org/10.1007/s003... #environment #health #footprint
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Food consumption is responsible for over 80% of #carbon storage & biodiversity loss from #landuse in global agricultural supply chains—of which animal products drive 60% of carbon & 70% of #biodiversity losses, largely due to high land requirements of #meat. Shifts towards… doi.org/10.1038/s430... +
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Pocatello breaks ground on its first community garden Friday | Local https://www.allforgardening.com/1927786/pocatello-breaks-ground-on-its-first-community-garden-friday-local/ #agriculture #CommunityGardening #FoodActivism #GardenDesign #gardening #GardeningIdaho #idaho #LandUse #NewUrbanism #parks #PlantAgriculture #UrbanAgriculture
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Thousand Oaks Development Activity Report for July 2026
https://toaks.gov/corecode/storage/uber_resource/uploaded_pdfs/2026-07%20DAR_1785941996.pdf
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From Ireland Land Use Review latest report: “sustainable land use requires very significant change”.
Explanations by Caroline O'Doherty:
"Agriculture is the main polluter of waterways, half of which fail to meet minimum environmental standards.
"It is responsible for 38 per cent of national emissions – the largest of any sector.
"It is the number one pressure on wildlife and natural habitats, 90 per cent of which are in poor condition."By subscription: https://www.irishtimes.com/life-style/2026/08/09/how-irelands-land-is-used-and-why-it-has-to-change/
Archived: https://archive.ph/Al4qw#selection-2163.0-2177.107#landUse #viability #property #sustainability #water #publicHealth #biomethane #tillage #forestry #Ireland #emissions #agriculture #footprint #GHG #methane #globalHeating #agribusiness #meat #cattle #climateChange #dairy
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New publication: Digital twins as a tool for #ecosystem research. #digitaltwins #biodiversity #landuse #climatechange
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2026.04.016 -
#SanfordME City Council extends #DatacenterMoratorium 180 days amid resident concerns
by WGME Staff
Tue, August 4, 2026SANFORD (WGME) -- "Sanford city councilors have voted to extend the city's moratorium on new #datacenters for another 180 days.
"The previous moratorium was approved in May and was set to expire.
"The extension comes as a developer proposes building a 1,000-acre data center along the #MousamRiver.
"City leaders and residents have raised concerns about potential impacts on #WaterQuality, #LandUse, #ElectricityDemand and other #Environmental issues.
" 'We have the chance to protect the #community, #wildlife and the legacy of the Mousam River, not diminish its value by allowing harmful projects of this scale to be built along the river,' said Eve Dumont-Wilson, who opposes the project."
#MainePol #MaineResists #SandfordResists #ResistDataCenters #Datacentres #DatacentreMoratorium
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#Google, through its related company #Verrus, tips its hand despite Gov. Tina Kotek's order canceling the sale of one previously secret parcel and Salem's proposed data-center moratorium.
On July 31, Verrus filed a land-use application involving three nearby properties.
Map I created:
https://salemdata.net/CityOfSalem/verrus/img/AssessorMap_Verrus_v1.svg -
Busy Beavers - The Turbidity Signature Of Ecosystem Engineers At Work
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https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.70661 <-- shared paper
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H/T @alan Puttock
“Beavers are the quintessential ecosystem engineers. In slow-flowing streams, they create complex wetlands with ponds by building dams and canals that can positively impact biodiversity, hydrology and water quality. These activities can interchangeably capture or release sediment along the watercourse. To date this has not been quantified at the resolution of rainfall events or beaver activity. This study used 15-min frequency, sustained monitoring upstream and downstream of a newly establishing beaver wetland to measure episodic changes in water turbidity at an event resolution. Monitoring showed no significant differences between upstream and downstream turbidity over 160 days when the first pair of beavers, known not to be building dams or canals, were resident. Shortly after introduction of another beaver pair, however, dam building, burrows and canal excavations were quickly observed, resulting in the creation of a complex beaver wetland between 2021 and 2024. Monitoring over 375 days during this period showed significant differences. Downstream turbidity was significantly higher overall than upstream: 13.1 Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTU) compared to 4.2 NTU. Stochastic spikes in downstream turbidity during the study period not recorded upstream were associated with dam building and burrowing. Overall, there was no significant difference in turbidity loads, which was at least partially explained by a reduction in discharge downstream, particularly in higher flows, during the dam building period. This demonstrates a complex system with the trapping of influent sediment, the storing of water and the periodic release of beaver wetland sediment leading to net balance in loads. These results help provide context for other studies which have used temporally discrete sampling campaigns rather than continuous high-frequency monitoring. They provide a unique insight into the downstream impacts of a rapidly developing beaver wetland over its first three and a half years in a landscape that hasn't had beavers for over 400 years…"
#hydromorphic #water #hydrology #dam #beaverdam #waterquality #biodiversity #ecology #benefits #NatureBasedSolutions #Wetlands #Ecology #Biodiversity #EnvironmentalScience #Wildlife #Ecosystem #bioviversity #conservation #restoration #landscaperecovery #floodmanagement #FloodMitigation #flooding #energy #floodrisk #sustainability #wetlands #hydrography #dams #impoundment #deadwood #waterresources #landscapeengineer #benefits #vegetation #ecology #ecosystem #riversystemsstabilisation #naturalwaterregulation #resilience #valleysreborn #fisheries #invertebrates #extremeweather #floodflows #sediment #baseflow #drought #landmanagement #naturalsystems #landuse #monitoring #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal -
#Mining sub-Saharan Africa is expanding rapidly. This poses a key threat to tropical forests.
"For every hectare of direct deforestation due to the mine footprint, mining triggers, on average, 34 hectares of additional offsite loss within five years through ancillary activities, including agriculture and settlements. Mines extracting cobalt and copper—key energy transition minerals—caused the highest amount of additional deforestation."
Morton et al. (2026). "Mining triggers extensive additional deforestation in sub-Saharan Africa" https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10551-2 🧩 🧵
#extraction #landscape #pollution #cobalt #copper #gold #climateChange #rivers #deforestation #soil #carbon #causality #land #footprint #forests #landLoss #landUse #Africa #Congo #DRC #Centrafrique #Zambia #ZA #SouthAfrica
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Lehigh County Controller Mark Pinsley recommends requiring new data centers to cover their eventual decommissioning costs. That makes absolute sense: taxpayers should not inherit the cost of dismantling abandoned industrial infrastructure.
Video:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DbOMvv0jlAt/Provision text:
https://salemdata.net/CityOfSalem/other/BradfordCounty_Decommissioning_Provision_Corrected.txt#DataCenter #DataCenters #Decommissioning #TaxpayerProtection #LocalGovernment #PublicPolicy #LandUse #EnergyPolicy #Accountability #SalemOR
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#Livestock contributes substantially to GHG #emissions, #landuse change & #biodiversity pressures. Impacts are often obscured by global #supplychains. Demand within producer countries and demand from consumer countries in the Global North share responsibility: doi.org/10.1016/j.jc... #trade
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#Sugar is produced in high volumes and often consumed as empty calories in #confectionery products—40% of which in Europe, where related GHG #emissions are 3m tons CO₂eq and #landuse is 250k ha. Reallocation of land from sugar crops could improve #environment & human health: doi.org/10.1007/s410...
Land Use and Greenhouse Gas Em... -
New publication: #Soil Microbial Diversity and Network Organization Respond to #LandUse and Agricultural Inputs Worldwide. #agriculture #sustainability #microbiome #pesticides
https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.70984 -
… Related land-use changes (less agricultural use, more forests) can offer sizeable climate change & biodiversity benefits, while fewer ruminants reduce direct GHG emissions.
#FoodSystems #PlantBased #Diets #Health #Costs #LandUse #ClimateChange #Biodiversity #Emissions -
#Siskiyou County could retire large water well on #MountShasta instead of approving #AIDataCenter
The inland #NorthernCalifornia site at the edge of town was former Coca Cola bottling plant, sold then expanded to produce flavored drinks, that market shrinking so now sold again.
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Mapping Multifunctionality In Remote Patagonian Forest Landscapes Reveals High-Value Ecosystems Beyond Protected Areas
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https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-026-03515-x <-- shared paper
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H/T @Peter Potapov | Researcher at the World Resources Institute (WRI)
“This paper is] a strong example of multifunctionality analysis applied to conservation planning. The study mapped six ecosystem functions, including carbon storage, nutrient availability, water regulation, erosion control, habitat quality, and ecological connectivity. [The author] combined satellite data, field soil sampling, and spatial modeling for this comprehensive analysis.
Two findings stand out.
1. Old-growth forests had the highest multifunctionality index of any land cover type.
2. 78.5% of the top multifunctionality hotspots fall outside the region's protected areas, even though PAs already cover more than 54% of the territory.
Together, these results make a clear case for expanding conservation of the remaining Intact Forest Landscapes and primary forests in Patagonia and elsewhere…”
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“Remote forest landscapes provide critical references for understanding ecosystem functions (EFs) under low anthropogenic pressure, yet their capacity to sustain multiple EFs simultaneously remains poorly understood. [They] assessed landscape multifunctionality in western Patagonia by integrating satellite indicators, field data, and spatial modeling. Six EFs (carbon storage, nutrient availability, water regulation, erosion control, habitat quality, and ecological connectivity) were mapped, and their spatial relationships and hotspot distribution within and outside protected areas (PAs) were analyzed. Old-growth and secondary forests showed the highest functional performance. Strong synergies (ρ ≥ 0.6) between carbon storage and nutrient availability covered >50% of the landscape, whereas strong trade-offs (ρ ≤ –0.6) were spatially limited ( < 6%). Notably, 78% of multifunctionality hotspots occurred outside PAs, indicating that high-functional-value areas extend beyond formal conservation boundaries. These findings reveal spatial mismatches between multifunctionality and protection status and provide a replicable framework for integrating multifunctionality into conservation planning under global change…”
#Patagonia #chile #aysen #coyhaique #landcover #mapping #spatial #spatialpatterns #spatiotemporal #spatialanalysis #forest #vegetation #oldgrowth #secondgrowth #shrubland #grassland #steppe #ecosystem #habitat #nutrients #water #hydrology #erosion #multifunctionality #multifunctionalityanalysis #protectedareas #landuse #conservationplanning #conservation #ecology #carbonstorage #nutrientavailability #waterregulation #erosioncontrol #habitatquality #ecologicalconnectivity #remotesensing #satellite #earthobservation #modeling -
Eager Beavers - Rodents Engineer Czech Wetland Project After Years Of Human Delay [ecosystem engineers]
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/11/beavers-save-czech-taxpayers-by-flooding-ex-army-training-site <-- shared technical media article
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaver-engineered_dam_in_the_Czech_Republic <-- shared wiki technical page
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https://phys.org/news/2025-02-fine-beavers-czech-treasury-million.html <-- shared technical article
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https://youtu.be/GSTw8qmBP4Y?si=XK2Iy2pAltW91flj <-- shared video (Czech)
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H/T @ScienceGirl
"We don't expect any conflict with the beaver in the next 10 years," ~ Bohumil Fiser from the Czech Nature Conservation Agency
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“For seven years, planners struggled to complete a $1.2 million wetland restoration project in the Brdy region of the Czech Republic. The goal was to build a dam that would improve water management and bring back valuable wetland habitat, but the project remained trapped in a maze of permits and approvals.
Then a family of eight Eurasian beavers did what engineers had planned… without permits, machinery, or a budget.
The beavers built a network of dams in almost the exact area chosen for the proposed project, naturally restoring the wetland system officials had spent years trying to create. After seeing the results, authorities decided there was little point continuing with the original human-built dam.
Although some reports suggested the beavers completed the work overnight, experts say their construction likely took several weeks. The reason it seemed sudden is that the animals quietly worked away until their finished dams became impossible to miss.
Beavers are known as “ecosystem engineers” because their behaviour can reshape entire environments. By cutting trees and blocking streams, they create ponds and wetlands that support countless species, including fish, amphibians, insects, birds, and mammals.
Their wetlands also act as natural water reservoirs, helping during droughts, reducing flood risks, filtering water, storing carbon, and keeping landscapes wetter during wildfires…
Once heavily hunted across Europe, beaver populations have been recovering thanks to conservation efforts, proving that sometimes nature can solve problems humans spend years trying to fix…"
#water #hydrology #KlabavaRiver #Czech #BrdyRegion #protected #CzechRepublic #armytraining #military #beaver #Eurasianbeavers #dam #beaverdam #waterquality #restoration #biodiversity #crayfish #wetland #ecology #benefits #Beavers #NatureBasedSolutions #Wetlands #Ecology #Biodiversity #Agroforestry #EnvironmentalScience #Conservation #Wildlife #Ecosystem #bioviversity #conservation #restoration #landscaperecovery #EcosystemEngineers #nature #floodmanagement #FloodMitigation #flood #flooding #energy #floodrisk #sustainability #wetlands #hydrography #dams #impoundment #deadwood #waterresources #landscapeengineer #agriculture #benefits #vegetation #ecology #ecosystem #riversystemsstabilisation #naturalwaterregulation #resilience #drought #wildfire #valleysreborn #slowdetermination #fisheries #invertebrates #extremeweather #floodflows #sediment #baseflow #drought #landmanagement #naturalsystems #landuse #ecosystemengineers #watermanagement -
With 17 Mha of UK land used for #agriculture and 11 Mha agricultural land abroad linked to food & feed #imports, the land #footprint of these imports should be an important focus when evaluating #environment consequences of UK food consumption: doi.org/10.1371/jour... #FoodSecurity #Trade #LandUse
Global land footprint of UK fo... -
Such a fascinating episode from The War on Cars here. “Sidewalk Nation”
💡
Why do we neglect sidewalks but patch the pothole on a road? Why don’t sidewalks in most places have a *network* like motor vehicle traffic does, when they are much more cost effective? These questions and more.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-war-on-cars/id1437755068
Hope you enjoy!
#business #climate #gov #greenInfrastructure #landUse #planning #transportation
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Optical, Radar, And Hybrid Indices To Detect Farming Practices In Europe
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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2026.115553 <-- shared paper
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“HIGHLIGHTS:
• [they] compare[d] Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 time series to detect farming practices.
• HyBRIS index is introduced, temporally weighting BSI and VH/VV into a daily index.
• Time-series minima and maxima are used to predict sowing, harvest, and tillage.
• Validation is performed across several years, crop types, and European locations.
• Phenology detection is improved compared to HRL-Cropland.
ABSTRACT: Arable farming practices dictate both crop cycles and soil dynamics, and are central to agriculture's environmental impact and its mitigation. Sowing and harvesting mark the beginning and end of the growing season, while tillage modifies soil structure during the dormant period. Although well-established methods exist for delineating the growing season using phenology and optical data, the detection of farming practices, particularly tillage, remains underexplored. This study investigates the strengths of radar and optical data to retrieve sowing, harvest, and tillage dates at the field level, and proposes a novel Hybrid Bare Soil Radar Index (HyBRIS). Based on Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2, HyBRIS merges optical and radar data into a single index using a temporally weighted mean. Local minima and maxima of the time series are used to detect farming practices across European sites. Validation is carried out against a reference dataset comprising 238 fields in 11 EU countries, including 462 sowing, 374 harvest, and 388 tillage events covering more than 40 crop types over 8 years. Compared to the Copernicus High Resolution Layer Croplands product (HRL-Cropland), the proposed method based on HyBRIS time series improved sowing and harvest dates detection (MAE 26 and 23 days, respectively). Additionally, this method enabled tillage dates estimation during dormant periods (MAE = 28 days), but tended to overestimate the number of tillage events (producer's accuracy = 97%, user's accuracy = 70%). Incorporating soil moisture data is advised for reducing false positives. The results highlight the potential of optical, radar, and hybrid indices for monitoring agricultural management and supporting environmental stewardship…”
#Sowing #Harvest #tillage #tillagedetection #cropland #CroplandManagement #remotesensing #earthobservation #sentinel #Copernicus #cropland #satellite #optical #radar #sensor #landuse #landcover #landsurface #phenology #agricultural #monitoring #GIS #spatial #mapping #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #arable #farming #agriculture #soil #substrate #environment #sustainability #environmentalstewardship #growingseason #Europe #region #model #modeling