Volume 4, Issue 1

Forest and agricultural landscapes are vital in relation to biodiversity. Protection policies in such areas should include incentives to enable the common landuse practices. Conservation cannot be addressed in the short term because these landscapes have evolved as socio-ecological systems and provide optimal conditions for biodiversity maintenance. They occur in areas where agriculture has not changed significantly as in the eastern Galician mountains. The landscape dynamics has been shaped by human involvement during centuries. We analyzed how the landscape has evolved according to environmental, socioeconomic and historical changes with the aim of proposing actions for its conservation. The study focused on the recovery of natural hardwood forests which have been intensively exploited since ancient times. Over the past few centuries, these forests have been transformed to agricultural land, felled for use in the naval, metallurgical and railway industries, expropriated from the Church, and affected by wildfire; more recently, have been replaced by fast growing species. Today, broadleaved forests cover small areas of rugged land where the topography often precludes other land uses. In conclusion, although the landscape in the study area has undergone a major transformation, now this land is a priority for biodiversity conservation.

Since the 1990’s, the groundwater quality along the southern coast of the Western Cape Province of South Africa has been affected by increasing land use activities. Groundwater resources have become increasingly important in terms of providing good quality water. Polluted coastal groundwater as a source of submarine groundwater discharge also affects the quality of coastal water. For this study, land use activities causing groundwater pollution and areas at particular risk were identified. An assessment approach linking land use/land cover, groundwater and submarine groundwater discharge on a meso-scale was developed and the methods applied to two study regions along the southern coastal area. Dryland and irrigated crop cultivation, and urbanized areas are subject to a “high” and “very high” risk of groundwater nitrogen pollution. Application of fertilizer must be revised to ensure minimal effects on groundwater. Practice of agricultural activities at locations which are not suited to the environment’s physical conditions must be reconsidered. Informal urban development may contribute to groundwater nitrogen pollution due to poor waste water disposal. Groundwater monitoring in areas at risk of nitrogen pollution is recommended. Land use activities in the submarine groundwater discharge contribution areas was not found to have major effects on coastal water.

Urban expansion in Latin-American cities is faster than urban planning. In order to implement sustainable planning the capacity of peri-urban areas to provide ecosystem services must be evaluated in the context of competing urbanization and conservation pressures. In this study we analyzed the effect of urban expansion on peri-urban vegetation of the Metropolitan Area of Santiago and what ecosystem services are provided by El Panul, land rich in biodiversity embedded in the fringe of the city. The city has lost vegetation while urbanized areas grow. Under this context, we evaluated the multi-functionality of El Panul through the quantification of three ecosystem services (ES): sense of place through the interviews of 60 residents, recreation via GIS analyses, and local climate regulation determined with air temperature measurements. El Panul increased the provision of urban green spaces, where inhabitants recognize and appreciate ES, and it plays a significant role in mitigating the urban heat island on summer nights. ES have emerged as a concept and framework for evaluating competing urban development alternatives.

Transformation, transition and regime shift are increasingly applied concepts in the academic literature to describe changes in society and the environment. Ecosystem services represent one framework that includes the implicit aim of supporting transformation towards a more sustainable system. Nevertheless, knowledge and systematic reviews on the use of these concepts within ecosystem services research are so far lacking. Therefore, we present a systematic literature review to analyse the interlinkages between these concepts and ecosystem services. Using a search string we identified 258 papers that we analysed based on 40 review criteria. Our results show that transformation was mentioned most often (197 articles), followed by transition (183 articles) and regime shifts (43 articles). Moreover, there is no consolidation of these concepts. Only 13% of all articles gave definitions for the three concepts. These definitions strongly overlapped in their use. Moreover, most papers described changes that happened in the past (73%). We conclude that research would benefit from being directed towards the future rather than evaluating what has happened in the past. Based on our results, we present: i) clear definitions for the three concepts; and ii) a framework highlighting the interlinkages between the ecosystem services cascade and the concepts of change.

The relationship between urban green, urban form and health remains unclear. This research explores health and urban green as well as urban structure as constituents of urban form. The objective was to develop a novel indicator (Neighbourhood Environmental Contribution, NEC) to analyse the spatial relationship between urban green and health (diabetes, mental health and self-rated health) on the neighbourhood scale. NEC performs more stably when regression models are adjusted for confounders. This suggests that better representations of urban form including the built-up structure of urban areas are promising.