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Showing items 1 through 9 of 13.
  1. Library Resource
    Journal Articles & Books
    December, 2014
    Spain, Europe

    Knowledge of the factors determining species distributions is essential for developing conservation strategies. Sandgrouse Pterocles alchata and P. orientalis are threatened in Spain, the stronghold of European populations. Spatial modelling was used to: (1) assess the relative importance of abiotic, anthropogenic and geographical factors in the distribution of both sandgrouse species, (2) determine the most important anthropogenic predictors for each species occurrence, and (3) identify areas where conservation efforts should be prioritized.

  2. Library Resource
    Journal Articles & Books
    December, 2014
    France

    The classification of land usage in mountain grassland bovine areas is important for the management of forage production and grazing in grass-based livestock systems. The present paper proposes a novel, hierarchical neural network-based approach towards the classification of land usage in these areas. A survey of 72 farms was conducted in the Massif Central (France). Information was gathered on geographical characteristics and cutting and/or grazing practices on three general groups of fields: cut only, cut and grazed and grazed only fields.

  3. Library Resource
    Journal Articles & Books
    December, 2014

    Protected areas are regarded as the most important tool in the conservation toolbox. They cover > 12% of the Earth's terrestrial area, with over half of this designated since 1970, and are thus a unique example of governments and other stakeholders consciously changing management of land and water at a significant scale. The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has a global programme to complete ecologically-representative protected area networks, and this is driving the creation of large numbers of new protected areas.

  4. Library Resource
    Journal Articles & Books
    December, 2014

    Urbanization represents the most extreme form of land cover transformation and is expected to restrict dispersal of animals, both because of the structural unsuitability of the novel habitat, as well as through mechanisms associated with human activity, such as disturbance. Fragmentation of populations by urbanization is considered to be a significant threat to several endangered bird populations, although isolation has seldom been demonstrated genetically.

  5. Library Resource
    Journal Articles & Books
    December, 2014

    In developing countries, the landscape surrounding agricultural land is important for maintaining biodiversity and providing ecosystem services. Forests provide a full suite of goods and services to subsistence farmers in the Himalayan agro-ecological system. The effects of biomass outtake on woody species richness and composition were analysed in forests under communal and government management. Interviews on forest use and perception of forest condition and ecosystem service delivery were conducted in farmer households bordering the forests.

  6. Library Resource
    Journal Articles & Books
    December, 2014

    The agricultural land classification (ALC) of England and Wales is a formal method of assessing the quality of agricultural land and guiding future land use. It assesses several soil, site and climate criteria and classifies land according to whichever is the most limiting. A common approach is required for calculating the necessary agroclimatic parameters over time in order to determine the effects of changes in the climate on land grading.

  7. Library Resource
    Journal Articles & Books
    December, 2014

    The distribution of subterranean copepods may reflect the persistence of cave assemblages in relation to the environmental health of the overlying landscape. Areas supporting groundwater fauna were established by modelling the persistence of seven copepod species using a geographical information system (GIS). Environmental drivers were found to influence subterranean copepod distribution in the caves of the Romanian Carpathians.

  8. Library Resource
    Journal Articles & Books
    December, 2014
    Tanzania

    Population growth near protected areas threatens the capacity of such areas for biodiversity conservation. Protected areas may even encourage growth by providing economic benefits that attract migrants. Consequently, understanding the relationships between human demographics and biodiversity is important for conservation. We studied a community-governed Wildlife Management Area bordering the Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania, set up to benefit local people and the subsistence rural economy. Annual population growth in this area is 5%.

  9. Library Resource
    Journal Articles & Books
    December, 2014
    South Africa, Southern Africa

    Local land-use planning procedures are increasingly recognized as potentially crucial to ensure off-reserve biodiversity protection. Mainstreaming systematic conservation planning maps in these decision-making procedures has been proposed as a mechanism to achieve this. However, research is lacking on how to convince officials and politicians to change their behaviour and include the maps in their decision-making. Social marketing is a tool commonly used to effect behaviour change in many sectors but its application in conservation is limited.

  10. Library Resource
    Journal Articles & Books
    December, 2014
    Solomon Islands, Melanesia

    Understanding the local socioeconomic context is important for the design of appropriate conservation initiatives and associated monitoring strategies, especially in areas with high degrees of inequality, to ensure conservation interventions do not inadvertently further disadvantage vulnerable people. Typical assessments of wealth inequality in remote rural areas are constrained by limited engagement with a cash economy, complex family and tribal ties, and an absence of basic infrastructure.

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