Abstract: The article presents the development trends of farms, estimates on the optimal scope of farming, as well as the experience of local and foreign countries in this area. As well, the advantages of small and large farms are discussed; herewith, the scales of farms are compared to the local reality. The study analyzes the results of farm operations and the possibilities of diversification of farms. The indicators of an effective use of land resources and land fragmentation are measured; also, a comparative analysis with other countries is presented, in particular, the measurements of agricultural lands for farming, as well as the indicators of population ensuring. The conducted research shows that most of the farms in Georgia are small and their development is at the initial stage, which outlines that the country has a high resource potential to increase the scale of the farming industry and its full integration into market relations. On the basis of the obtained results, according to the research on the scale of farming in Georgia and the identification of hampering factors of farming development, the conclusions are presented and the relevant recommendations are suggested.
Abstract: The concept of urban metabolism has increasingly been employed in a diverse range of disciplines as a mean to analyze and theorize the city. Urban ecology has a particular focus on the implications of applying the metabolism concept to the urban realm. This approach has been developed by a few researchers, though it has rarely if ever been used in policy development for city planning. The aim of this research is to use ecologically informed urban planning interventions to increase the sustainability of urban metabolism; with special focus on land stock as a most important city resource by developing a system dynamic based DSS. This model identifies two critical management strategy variables for the Strategic Urban Plan Alexandria SUP 2032. As a result, this comprehensive and precise quantitative approach is needed to monitor, measure, evaluate and observe dynamic urban changes working as a decision support system (DSS) for policy making.
Abstract: Expansionism and ever-increasing population menace all different resources worldwide. The issue, hence, is critical in developing countries like Iran where new technologies are rapidly luxuriated and unguardedly applied, resulting in unexpected outcomes. However, uncommon and comprehensive approaches are introduced to take all the different aspects involved into consideration. In the last decade, few approaches such as community-based, stakeholders-oriented, adaptive and ultimately integrated management, have emerged and are developing for efficient, Co-management or best management, economic and sustainable development and management of watershed resources in Iran. In the present paper, an attempt has been made to focus on state-of-the-art approaches for the management of watershed resources applied in Iran. The study has been then supported by reports of some case studies conducted throughout the country involving previously mentioned approaches. Scrutinizing results of the researches verified a progressive tendency of the managerial approaches in watershed management strategies leading to a general approaching balance situation. The approaches are firmly rooted in educational, research, executive, legal and policy-making sectors leading to some recuperation at different levels. However, there is a long way ahead to naturalize detrimental effects of unscientific, illegal and over exploitation of the watershed resources in Iran.
Abstract: By size and volume of water, Ganges River basin is the biggest among the fourteen major river basins in India. By Hindu’s faith, it is the main ‘holy river’ in this nation. But, of late, the pollution load, both domestic and industrial sources are deteriorating the surface and groundwater as well as land resources and hence the environment of the Ganges River basin is under threat. Seeing this scenario, the Indian government began to reclaim this river by two Ganges Action Plans I and II since 1986 by spending Rs. 2,747.52 crores ($457.92 million). But the result was no improvement in the water quality of the river and groundwater and environment even after almost three decades of reclamation, and hence now the New Indian Government is taking extra care to rejuvenate this river and allotted Rs. 2,037 cores ($339.50 million) in 2014 and Rs. 20,000 crores ($3,333.33 million) in 2015. The reasons for the poor water quality and stinking environment even after three decades of reclamation of the river are either no treatment/partial treatment of the sewage. Hence, now the authors are suggesting a tertiary level treatment standard of sewages of all sources and origins of the Ganges River basin and recycling the entire treated water for nondomestic uses. At 20million litres per day (MLD) capacity of each sewage treatment plant (STP), this basin needs about 2020 plants to treat the entire sewage load. Cost of the STPs is Rs. 3,43,400 million ($5,723.33 million) and the annual maintenance cost is Rs. 15,352 million ($255.87 million). The advantages of the proposed exercise are: we can produce a volume of 1,769.52 million m3 of biogas. Since biogas is energy, can be used as a fuel, for any heating purpose, such as cooking. It can also be used in a gas engine to convert the energy in the gas into electricity and heat. It is possible to generate about 3,539.04 million kilowatt electricity per annum from the biogas generated in the process of wastewater treatment in Ganges basin. The income generation from electricity works out to Rs 10,617.12million ($176.95million). This power can be used to bridge the supply and demand gap of energy in the power hungry villages where 300million people are without electricity in India even today, and to run these STPs as well. The 664.18 million tonnes of sludge generated by the treatment plants per annum can be used in agriculture as manure with suitable amendments. By arresting the pollution load the 187.42 cubic kilometer (km3) of groundwater potential of the Ganges River basin could be protected from deterioration. Since we can recycle the sewage for non-domestic purposes, about 14.75km3 of fresh water per annum can be conserved for future use. The total value of the water saving per annum is Rs.22,11,916million ($36,865.27million) and each citizen of Ganges River basin can save Rs. 4,423.83/ ($73.73) per annum and Rs. 12.12 ($0.202) per day by recycling the treated water for nondomestic uses. Further the environment of this basin could be kept clean by arresting the foul smell as well as the 3% of greenhouse gages emission from the stinking waterways and land. These are the ways to reclaim the waterways of Ganges River basin from deterioration.
Abstract: In recent years, most of the regions in the world are
exposed to degradation and erosion caused by increasing
population and over use of land resources. The understanding of
the most important factors on soil erosion and sediment yield are
the main keys for decision making and planning. In this study, the
sediment yield and soil erosion were estimated and the priority of
different soil erosion factors used in the MPSIAC method of soil
erosion estimation is evaluated in AliAbad watershed in southwest
of Isfahan Province, Iran. Different information layers of the
parameters were created using a GIS technique. Then, a
multivariate procedure was applied to estimate sediment yield and
to find the most important factors of soil erosion in the model. The
results showed that land use, geology, land and soil cover are the
most important factors describing the soil erosion estimated by
MPSIAC model.
Abstract: This evaluation of land supply system performance in
China shall examine the combination of government functions and
national goals in order to perform a cost-benefit analysis of system
results. From the author's point of view, it is most productive to
evaluate land supply system performance at moments of system
transformation for the following reasons. The behavior and
input-output change of beneficial results at different times can be
observed when the system or policy changes and system performance
can be evaluated through a cost-benefit analysis during the process of
system transformation. Moreover, this evaluation method can avoid
the influence of land resource endowment. Different land resource
endowment methods and different economy development periods
result in different systems. This essay studies the contents, principles
and methods of land supply system performance evaluation. Taking
Beijing as an example, this essay optimizes and classifies the land
supply index, makes a quantitative evaluation of land supply system
performance through principal component analysis (PCA), and finally
analyzes the factors that influence land supply system performance at
times of system transformation.
Abstract: There is increasing pressure on, and decline of
mopane woodlands due to increasing use and competition for
mopane resources in Zimbabwe in Namibia. Community management strategies, based largely on local knowledge are
evidently unable to cope. Research has generated potentially useful
information for mopane woodland management, but this information
has not been utilized. The work reported in this paper sought to add value to research work conducted on mopane woodlands by
developing effective community-based mopane woodland
management regimes that were based on both local and scientific
knowledge in Zimbabwe and Namibia. The conditions under which research findings were likely to be adopted for mopane woodland management by communities were investigated. The study was conducted at two sites each in Matobo and Omusati Districts in Zimbabwe and Namibia respectively. The mopane woodland
resources in the two study areas were assessed using scientific
ecological methods. A range of participatory methods was used to collect information on use of mopane woodland resources by communities, institutional arrangements governing access to and use
of these resources and to evaluate scientific knowledge for
applicability in local management regimes. Coppicing, thinning and
pollarding were the research generated management methods evaluated. Realities such as availability of woodland resources and
social roles and responsibilities influenced preferences for woodland
management interventions