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In the Land of the Dammed: Assessing Governance in Resettlement of Ghana’s Bui Dam Project

Peer-reviewed publication
December, 2017
Ghana

Resettlement resulting from dam construction has raised several concerns due to the negative aftermath impacts. In Ghana, the construction of three hydroelectric dams resulted in large-scale resettlements. Given the little experience that Ghana has in resettlements, it is necessary for a robust monitoring structure for resettlements. However, this was not available in the last resettlement undertaken for the Bui Dam Project. This paper aims at developing an assessment framework for monitoring resettlement activities on customary lands from a good governance perspective.

3D Geo-Information Innovation in Europe’s Public Mapping Agencies: A Public Value Perspective

Peer-reviewed publication
June, 2018
Europe

Intensifying and increasingly complex physical developments under, on, and above ground, as well as the speed and accessibility of digital innovation, is resulting in growing interest in public sector investment in 3D geo-information. In Europe, a consortium of 11 public mapping agencies (PMAs) recently undertook a cost-benefit analysis for pursuing adoption of 3D geo-information.

A Minimum Cross-Entropy Approach to Disaggregate Agricultural Data at the Field Level

Peer-reviewed publication
June, 2018
Global

Agricultural policies have impacts on land use, the economy, and the environment and their analysis requires disaggregated data at the local level with geographical references. Thus, this study proposes a model for disaggregating agricultural data, which develops a supervised classification of satellite images by using a survey and empirical knowledge. To ensure the consistency with multiple sources of information, a minimum cross-entropy process was used. The proposed model was applied using two supervised classification algorithms and a more informative set of biophysical information.

Making Sense of Past, Present and Future. Images of Modern and Past Pastoralism among Nyangatom Herders in South Omo, Ethiopia

Peer-reviewed publication
June, 2018
Ethiopia

This article asks how Nyangatom pastoralists currently make sense of the past, present and future of their pastoralist livelihood. Nyangatom pastoralists, like all agro-pastoralist groups in southern Ethiopia, are faced with enormous structural changes in their immediate surroundings, primarily due to large-scale industrial agriculture and a government policy encouraging them to be sedentary. While the impacts have been discussed elsewhere, thus far little focus has been placed on what images of the past, present and future these changes create among the Nyangatom.

Merging Small Scattered Pastures into Large Pasture-Forest Mosaics Can Improve Profitability in Swedish Suckler-Based Beef Production

Peer-reviewed publication
June, 2018
Global

A scattered structure of small pastures has negative effects on profitability in beef enterprises because small enclosures result in high labor costs per livestock unit. Moreover, larger enterprises distribute the costs across more livestock units and hence achieve lower operating costs. Creating larger coherent pastures makes it easier to increase herd size and yields positive effects due to economies of scale. This study on five Swedish organic cow-calf enterprises examined how profitability is affected by creating larger pastures from small scattered pastures and adjacent forest land.

Forest Cover Changes and Trajectories in a Typical Middle Mountain Watershed of Western Nepal

Peer-reviewed publication
June, 2018
Nepal

There have been drastic changes in resource use practices and land-use patterns in the middle mountains of Nepal as a result of human transformation processes of the environment. This study aimed at assessing land-use and land-cover changes, especially those related to forest cover changes, in Phewa Lake watershed—a typical middle mountain watershed of western Nepal—using multi-temporal Landsat images from 1995, 2005 and 2017.

Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis for an Abandoned Quarry in the Evros Region (NE Greece)

Peer-reviewed publication
June, 2018
Global

The purpose of this study is to identify the impacts of abandoned quarries and to examine scenarios for their restoration. Two quarries were selected as case studies, which are located in the Evros Region (NE Greece). Initially, the current state of the abandoned quarries was recorded and evaluated, including slopes, landscape, land use, as well as cultural elements. Four alterative scenarios for the exploitation of each quarry were proposed, taking into account the specifics of each site. Financial, environmental, and socioeconomic criteria were then used to evaluate these scenarios.

Watery Entanglements in the Cypriot Hinterland

Peer-reviewed publication
September, 2018
Cyprus

This paper examines how water shaped people’s interaction with the landscape in Cyprus during the Bronze Age. The theoretical approach is drawn from the new materialisms, effectively a ‘turn to matter’, which emphasises the very materiality of the world and challenges the privileged position of human agents over the rest of the environment.

From Town to Countryside: Middle-Byzantine Bath-Houses in Eastern Crete and Their Changing Functions

Peer-reviewed publication
September, 2018
Global

The article examines the context of a recently discovered double bath-house complex in Loutres, a site near Mochlos on the north shore of eastern Crete. The excavators explore the broader questions posed by the finding, in connection to both its immediate surroundings and its wider periphery. Its relation to the site’s geography, a ravine on the shore, forms the starting point to address issues regarding its original use as well as its later transformations.

Residents’ Perception of Informal Green Space—A Case Study of Ichikawa City, Japan

Peer-reviewed publication
September, 2018
Japan
Asia

Urban green space (UGS) has been proven to be essential for improving the health of residents. Local governments thus need to provide attractive UGS to enhance residents’ wellbeing. However, cities face spatial and finanical limitations in creating and managing UGS. As a result, greening plans often fail or are postponed indefinitely. To evaluate whether informal urban green space (IGS) can supplement existing UGS, we conducted a questionnaire survey of 567 residents in Ichikawa (Japan), a city currently providing only 3.43 m2 green space per capita.

The Uneven Influence of Climate Trends and Agricultural Policies on Maize Production in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

Peer-reviewed publication
September, 2018
Mexico

Maize is an important staple crop in Mexico, and the recent intensification of climate variability, in combination with non-climatic forces, has hindered increases in production, especially for smallholder farmers. This article demonstrates the influence of these drivers on maize production trends in the three states of the Yucatan Peninsula using a mixed methods approach of climatic analysis and semi-structured interviews.