Peri-urban ecosystems are often managed as recreation areas or to enhance aesthetic value on the urban fringe. Scholars and land-use practitioners lack a current understanding of the supply of and the demands for these peri-urban ecosystem services (ES). In this study, we analysed the perceptions of 500 users and interest groups regarding the ES provided by the Bilbao Metropolitan Greenbelt (BMG) ecosystems in northern Spain, and we compared these perceptions to the demands for ES. The objective of this study is to understand user preferences and to thereby better orient land use planning.

Global changes in climate today present hostile weather conditions which pose considerable threats to the rich and poor alike. The capacity for developing countries to cope with these impacts is weak and a development concern. The post-conflict West African nation of Sierra Leone is no exception. In fact, rural areas are exposed to high degrees of vulnerability, livelihood insecurity and hostile environments. This paper explores the experiences of rural people and identifies impacts and coping mechanisms used in response to these changes.

The study assessed poverty in rural areas of Ogun State, Nigeria through the food energy (calorie) intake approach. A sample of 60 households (comprising of 346 members) were selected using a multistage sampling technique and were interviewed with the aid of well‐structured questionnaire. Data were analysed using nutrient estimation techniques, cost of calorie method and poverty index. The estimated food poverty line was 64.72 naira.

In the conditions of the Republic of Belarus there was shown the necessity of detection and recording of socially-significant sights and brand objects in the process of managing land resources. There was examined the classification of land plots and objects of real estate, which appear to be territory brands. There were determined the main approaches to the formation of the system of such objects on the basic level of state management.

The migration of young people from rural areas is common in all agricultural regions of Russia, and Altai Krai, located in southwestern Siberia, is no exception. Out-migration, aversion to working in agriculture and the aging of farmers and farm managers are serious problems that raise questions about who will work in agriculture in the future. This paper aims to investigate factors that affect the decisions of agricultural students from Altai Krai to out-migrate or to return to their rural parental municipalities after finishing their university studies.

Multifunctional land use has become a widely supported pathway for Europe's countryside. Brussels and the national governments stimulate farmers to integrate primary production with non-agricultural practices from which they can also benefit. In favour of this development different stakeholders are encouraged to collaborate to produce the so-called farmer-managed public goods. This paper explores critical success factors for the production and maintenance of these public goods.

Property regimes shape the social relations, in particular, social settings, and represent an important element for external intervention and sustainable rural development. The introduction recalls common aspects and specific conceptualisations of property analysis in the field of economics, sociology and social anthropology and summarises main academic discourses about property rights in order to develop a differentiated understanding of property. In Section 1, general trends in property relations characterising modern rural societies are outlined.

The implementation of land reform has influenced the formation of property structure. The main procedures of land reform activities are stated in Estonian legislation. However, the provisions for determining the area and the boundaries for properties to be formed in the course of land reform are stated in legal acts in an unsystematic way. The aim of this study is to systematize the parcel area and the boundaries determination procedures that are used in the course of land reform for property formation.

The most prominent factors inducing landscape change in the rural regions of south west Europe are depopulation and the associated socio-ecological modifications. The aim of this work was to assess the future implications of these processes on land use/land cover and biodiversity in northwest Iberia. To achieve our goal, we developed a virtual spatially explicit dynamic model to simulate regional socio-ecological dynamics.

Turkey (Türkiye) lies at the nexus of Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa. Turkey’s location, mountains, and its encirclement by three seas have resulted in high terrestrial, fresh water, and marine biodiversity. Most of Turkey’s land area is covered by one of three biodiversity hotspots (Caucasus, Irano-Anatolian, and Mediterranean). Of over 9000 known native vascular plant species, one third are endemic.