Malaysia deforested 6.3 million hectares since independence; 91% of which occurred before Malaysia pledged, at the Earth Summit in 1992, to maintain a minimum 50% of its terrestrial area under forest cover. However, under economic and population pressure, Sarawak—the largest contributing state to the country’s current forest cover of 54.8%—shows continuing deforestation even after 1992.

Using Zhijiang City, Hubei Province as an example, this study constructed an ecological risk assessment model based on land use data from the three phases of 2000, 2010, and 2020. We then determined the ecological compensation priority sequence based on the ecosystem services value (ESV) and the economic status of the research area. The findings revealed that there was a significant spatial differentiation in ESV during the study period, with the ESV being higher south of the Yangtze River than north.

This study assesses the impact of insecure land tenure on sustainable agricultural development in Africa to demonstrate how the economic profitability of agriculture strongly depends on land tenure security. The Republic of Benin is used as the case study following the country’s recent enactment of land law 2013-01 that focuses on reorganizing the land sector, which has suffered from inappropriate management since the colonial era.