ПОЛНОМОЧИЯ ОРГАНОВ МЕСТНОГО САМОУПРАВЛЕНИЯ ПО УСТАНОВЛЕНИЮ ЦЕЛЕВОГО НАЗНАЧЕНИЯ ЗЕМЕЛЬ И ЕГО РАЗРЕШЕННОГО ИСПОЛЬЗОВАНИЯ: АНАЛИЗ ТЕОРЕТИЧЕСКИХ ПРОБЛЕМ

Urban planning and popular participation: A diagnosis of the effectiveness of participatory processes applied to the revision of São Paulo master plan

It is a hot issue of current research that how to strengthen the land use management, so that resources and environmental capacity, land development costs and industrial construction and agricultural production would be spatial balanced to promote regional sustainable development in rapid urbanization and industrialization process. A Case Study in Langfang city of Hebei province was made. Based on equilibrium theory, the evaluation index system of land ecological and land development were made. According to the four principles of the unique highest ecological protection degree, low-benefit subject to high efficiency, land ecological protection would be considered under the higher conditions, land development would be considered under the general conditions, the two-dimensional correlation matrix of the land use ecological protection and development degree was built up in order to realize the land use guide regionalization. Then, in ArcGIS, 100 meters * 100 meters as a unit, land use development and ecological protection index were measured by grid computing and the land use guide regionalization was implemented through index rating-reassignment - grid computing - reclassification process in the study area. The study area was divided into four districts: key development areas, appropriate development areas, appropriate protective areas and key protective areas. Besides, different development strategies were provided for respective development areas. In key development areas, spots - axis development model was choused. In appropriate protective areas, intensive use pattern of development, which means protection of priority and appropriate development, is more reasonable. While key protective areas should adopt the ease with protected mode to strictly control the constructive land development for protecting the ecological services function. The study results show that: 1) the matrix of land use ecological protection-development degree is an effective method of land use guide classification. 2) the calculation results of the land use ecological protection and land use development degree directly affect the classification results. 3) the thinking and contents of the regionalization indices system can be extended.

In the article the legal regime of coastal territories — territories adjacent to water bodies, the use of which directly affects the state of water bodies and / or is associated with the use of the water bodies themselves is analysed. The public importance of coastal territories is shown, the factors that determine the content of the legal regime of lands and land plots in coastal territories are highlighted. The features of zoning of coastal territories depending on the goals and objectives of the legal regulation of relations connected with various types of water use and ensuring public interests are considered. The cross-cutting nature of the legal regulation of the use and protection of lands and land plots in the coastal territories is shown, the actual problems of establishing and implementing their legal regime are identified. Particular attention is paid to the legal regime of the foreshore, as well as changes in the sanitary and epidemiological legislation in terms of legal protection of water bodies that are sources of drinking water supply.Trends in water, transport, environmental, sanitary-epidemiological and other related branches of legislation that establish requirements for the use of coastal territories are analyzed. Based on the analysis of the current legislation and materials of judicial practice, conclusions about the need to improve the legal regulation of the use and protection of coastal territories by specification of the existing legal mechanisms and harmonizing water and related legislation were drawn.

Within the framework of a Geographical Information System (GIS) study applied to the landscapes of the Qlibya and Beja regions of Northern Tunisia, the author investigates the programme of Roman agricultural colonisation (146 B.C.–A.D. 439): the expropriation of land, the re-structuring of the countryside into ager (arable), saltus (pasture), and bad lands put under cultivation (olive, vine, wheat, and fruit trees) by the distribution of plots of land to army veterans regulated by agrarian laws promulgated by the Antonines and Severi and engraved on stelae uncovered near imperial estates in the Beja region. The Roman villa was integrated into a commercial system of distribution of agricultural produce linking the cities to their 'territorial zones'. The European colonists who settled in Tunisia during the French Protectorate (1881–1956) used the Roman precedent as a model, in particular deliberately establishing farms on the same locations as the villae. The agricultural regime thrived under Roman and French occupation, but with such intensity that the environment was ultimately degraded by soil impoverishment, particularly by erosion on unterraced steep slopes: the ultimate perverse gifts of colonialism.

Legitimate land interests and prospects of their implementation in the conditions of digitalization of land relations

Purpose. The aim of the article is to define land plots as an object of accounting, outline (substantiation, etc.) directions of rational use of agricultural land and formation of financial and economic incentives for land users. Methodology of research. General scientific and special methods were used to achieve the goal: the dialectical method of scientific knowledge – for considering land plots as objects of accounting, researching measures for the rational use of land; analysis – to assess incentives for encouraging land users to conduct effective activities; graphic – for visual display of the obtained results; abstract and logical method – for forming research conclusions and proposals. Findings. Peculiarities of land plots as objects of accounting are studied. The categories of land are separated by economic purpose. The method of accounting of land plots at enterprises is described. The normative legal acts that regulate operations on the accounting of land plots are considered. Directions for improving the accounting of land plots and rational land use are proposed. The main ways of financial and economic encouragement of land users to conduct efficient farming have been determined. Originality. It is proposed to add additional indicators to the form of statistical reporting No. 50-сг “Main economic indicators of the work of agricultural enterprises”. It was determined that the main areas of rational land use should be: development and implementation of national and regional soil protection programs and soil fertility improvement; improvement of the principles of implementation of ecological and landscape land management; improvement of the legislative framework regarding the protection of agricultural lands; efficient use of land by implementing crop rotation and scientifically based land management. Financial and economic incentives for land users are offered, namely: payments for anti-erosion works per 1 ha of agricultural land; reimbursement of costs incurred in the process of carrying out reclamation works; exemption from payment of land tax or rent of land that is under improvement; compensation for lost income from agricultural land due to low productivity; periodic payments for increasing fertility organically; partial exemption from taxes of agricultural producers who are effectively engaged in solving environmental problems; provision of preferential loans to land users for the purchase of special equipment: anti-erosion, land reclamation and other restoration equipment. Practical value. It has been proven that compliance with the above measures of rational use of agricultural land will lead to efficient land use. The results of the research can be used by agricultural enterprises during their economic activities. Key words: accounting of land plots, agricultural land, rational use of land, land ownership, land use, agricultural enterprises.

This paper reports on the indoor and outdoor air quality in informal urban and rural settlements in Kenya. The study is motivated by the need to improve consciousness and to understand the harmful health effects of air quality to vulnerable people, especially in poor communities. Ng’ando urban informal settlement and Leshau Pondo rural village in Kenya are selected as representative poor neighborhoods where unclean energy sources are used indoor for cooking, lighting and heating. Filter based sampling for gravimetrical, elemental composition and black carbon (BC) analysis of particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 µm (PM2.5) is performed. findings from Ng’ando and Leshau Pondo showed levels exceeding the limit suggested by the world health organization (WHO), with rare exceptions. Significantly higher levels of PM2.5 and black carbon are observed in indoors than outdoor samples, with a differences in the orders of magnitudes and up to 1000 µg/m3 for PM2.5 in rural settlements. The elemental composition reveals the presence of potentially toxic elements, in addition to characterization, emission sources were also identified. Levels of Pb exceeding the WHO limit are found in the majority of samples collected in the urban locations near major roads with heavy traffic. Our results demonstrate that most of the households live in deplorable air quality conditions for more than 12 h a day and women and children are more affected. Air quality condition is much worse in rural settlements where wood and kerosene are the only available fuels for their energy needs.

Keraniganj Upazila, adjacent to Dhaka city, has experienced significant land use and land cover (LULC) changes over the past three decades due to rapid urbanization and socio-economic transformation. This study aims to investigate the spatial and temporal dynamics of LULC in Keraniganj from 1989 to 2023 and assess the driving factors and environmental implications of these changes. To achieve this, multi-temporal Lands at imagery, remote sensing (RS), and geographic information systems (GIS) techniques were applied, complemented by socio-economic data. Supervised classification algorithms were used to generate accurate LULC maps, and the results were validated using confusion matrices and Kappa statistics. The analysis covered six major LULC categories: bare land/sand fill, urban settlements, cultivated land, rural settlement/homestead vegetation, water bodies, and wetlands/lowlands. The results reveal a substantial increase of 1,738.62 hectares in urban settlements, particularly between 2009 and 2023, primarily at the expense of cultivated land, rural settlements, and natural ecosystems. During the study period, Keraniganj lost 476.46 hectares of cultivated land, 480.51 hectares of rural settlement areas, 1,087.83 hectares of water bodies, and 166.68 hectares of wetlands. These trends indicate extensive land reclamation, unplanned urban growth, and environmental degradation, driven by the area’s proximity to Dhaka, improved transportation infrastructure, and lower living costs. The findings underscore the urgency of implementing sustainable land use policies and integrated urban planning to address the negative impacts of urban expansion, including habitat destruction, reduced biodiversity, heightened flood risks, and declining agricultural productivity. This research contributes valuable insights into LULC dynamics and provides a replicable framework for monitoring and managing land transformation in rapidly urbanizing regions globally. Jagannath University Journal of Life and Earth Sciences, 10(1) 91-122

El tratamiento antihipertensivo en la población muy anciana: respuesta a una pregunta formulada hace más de 50 años

Lassa Fever is endemic to the eastern region of Sierra Leone. It is a haemorrhagic disease that is often transmitted from rats to humans and then human to humans. Ecological disturbances such as changes in land use involving conversion of natural ecosystems to agriculture, mining or for urban expansion are reported to bring humans into close contact with animals such as the Mastomys rat that carries the Lassa Fever virus thereby posing health problems.The nature and extent of such ecological disturbances or land use changes within areas known to be endemic to Lassa Fever are not clearly understood from a research context in Sierra Leone. This study was therefore undertaken to identify the pattern of changes in land use and cropping practices and their potential to bring humans into close interactions with the Mastomys rat that is the host for the Lassa Fever virus. Four communities were chosen for the study, two rural (Lalehun and Majihun) and two urban (Lambayama section in Kenema City and Largo Square section in Segbwema Town). Different vegetation and land use/cropping practices were identified and observations were made on the pattern of changes at different times in the cropping year. There were four common vegetation and cropping practices found in all communities: upland rice intercropping, old fallow, young fallow, and swamp rice cultivation. The study revealed the variations in land use patterns and cropping practices between urban and rural settlements. Agro-forestry practices such as perennial cash crops cacao and rubber plantations were more common in rural communities. The study also revealed that while fallow vegetation persisted in rural areas there had been expansion of settlements into old fallow vegetation indicating a greater threat to the persistence of natural ecosystem in urban than in rural settlements. These disturbances resulted in habitat fragmentation and increased the likelihood of contact between humans and animal species (e.g. Mastomys rat) associated with various habitats.

Acid bogs, one of the rare plant communities, are on the brink of extinction in the southeastern United States. This study uncovers what issues are at stake in land use, land development, and regulations of two specific areas in south Louisiana that contain this type of wetland. This is an educational project oriented toward development of methods and information related to planning and design for the use of wetland sites while still protecting them. A hypothesis is presented that a combination of education with land use guidelines, helpful resources and regulatory incentives may help slow the eradication of bogs in the southern United States and increase the awareness of the importance of these small isolated wetlands. Although small in size, acid bogs function in important ways to help society and surrounding natural ecosystems. Land use practices and attitudes towards building on sensitive inland wetland sites were investigated to discover what role developers and homeowners play in their destruction. Case studies of several Louisiana home sites found homeowner awareness of the wetland, but not of its value and consequently little effort being put into acid bog preservation. Property rights issues, plus the complete lack of market value recognition for the benefits of small inland wetland sites, were found to be at the root of the conservation problem. Likewise, a survey of developers in south Louisiana uncovered a disinterest in plant community preservation. Results point towards attitudes that seem to be governed by short-term monetary gain from wetland land use. Outdated development practices (draining and filling) in sensitive sites contribute heavily to acid bog destruction. More importantly, wetlands are being destroyed due to a slow and confusing regulatory process as the regulations for them are being followed. Guidelines and helpful resources are presented in order to lower development costs and facilitate acid bog conservation on individual sites. Moreover, findings indicate that an area wide effort is needed due to the unique connections that acid bogs have with underground water systems. Not only can improved design opportunities and higher property values be enjoyed through acid bog conservation, but cleaner and more available water for communities can also be achieved by developing properties in such a way as to protect the unique acid bog habitat.

Examines land availability and use in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) as well as the trade-offs among competing uses, by introducing the land cover databases mobilized for this study before describing land use patterns, their determinants, and their evolution over time. The severe scarcity of land in the MENA region remains the critical issue emerging from the analysis. The demographic and climatic trends indicate increasing land demand, and yet land remains under growing stress from climate change. Increasing land scarcity leads to strategic trade-offs about the best use of land to meet competing economic, social, sustainability, and sovereignty objectives. Degradation and desertification, stemming from both climatic and anthropological factors—especially in Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Morocco, and Syria—have high economic costs. If climatic and population trends continue as predicted, agricultural land will become significantly scarcer in the MENA region, falling to a level that could lead to a major crisis if not addressed.

In China, the rural human settlement system (RHSS) reflects the relationship between rural people and land but is affected by land use and land cover change (LUCC). Maintaining a harmonious development between RHSS resilience (RHSSR) and LUCC is an important rural development issue. However, the spatial association between LUCC and RHSSR remains unclear, constraining effective land use and rural policymaking. The association between RHSSR and LUCC was assessed from a spatial perspective. Using county-level spatial panel data for Hunan Province, China (2000–2020), an evaluation indicator system was established to measure RHSS and analyze the spatiotemporal evolution of RHSSR using a geospatial analysis and geodetector model. The average RHSSR level increased from 0.158 to 1.406. The RHSSR generally presented a three-level stepped spatial distribution feature of high in the east and low in the west, with a belt-like distribution. Additionally, the RHSSR was consistent with land use intensity (LUI), but there was significant spatial heterogeneity in the spatial relationship between LUI and RHSSR. The evolution of RHSSR occurred through industrial development, medical service improvement, increased income, and environmental protection. This has important implications for future rural development strategies, the sustainable development of rural land, and the integration of RHSS into regional planning.

Research that connects the effects of urbanization on biodiversity and ecosystem services is lacking. Ants perform multifarious ecological functions that stabilize ecosystems and contribute to a number of ecosystem services. We studied responses of ant communities to urbanization in the Lake Tahoe basin by sampling sites along a gradient of urban land development. We sampled ant communities, measured vegetation characteristics, quantified human activities, and evaluated ant-community responses by grouping ants into service-providing units (SPUs), defined as a group of organisms and their populations that perform specific ecosystem services, to provide an understanding of urbanization impacts on biodiversity and their delivery of ecosystem services. Species richness and abundance peaked at intermediate levels of urban development, as did the richness of 3 types of ant SPUs (aerators, decomposers, and compilers). With increasing land development aerator and decomposer ants significantly declined in abundance, whereas compiler ants significantly increased in abundance. Competing models demonstrated that precipitation was frequently among the strongest influences on ant community structure; however, urban development and human activities also had a strong, negative influence on ants, appearing in most models with DeltaAIC(c) < 2 for species richness and abundance patterns of SPUs and generalists. Response diversity was observed within SPUs, which suggests that the corresponding ecosystem services were maintained until development reached 30-40%. Our data provide evidence that ecosystem functions, such as water infiltration and soil productivity, may be diminished at sites subject to greater levels of urbanization and that conserving ant communities and the ecosystem services they provide could be an important target in land-use planning and conservation efforts.

In March 2015, signifi cant amendments were made to the land legislation, including the acquisition of private property rights to agricultural land plots. So, tenants of land plots had the right, after a three-year lease term, to acquire ownership of land plots intended for agricultural production, and without bidding (paragraph 9 of part 2 of Article 39.3 of the Land Code of the Russian Federation), that is, in preferential treatment. The main task of the state in this case was to support a conscientious tenant of the land and agricultural production at the same time. However, as practice shows, the authorized authorities commit violations when alienating land plots from public ownership on the indicated basis, thereby violating the interests of the state. The article considers the prosecutors assessment of the legality of the actions of authorized authorities during the privatization of a land plot (on the basis indicated above), provided that the permitted use of the plot contained in the public register of real estate does not correspond to the types of use provided for by the general plan of the settlement and land use and development rules; the subject of prosecutorial response has been identified; the necessity of using the means of prosecutorial supervision is justified in the event that the authorized authorities conclude contracts for the sale of agricultural land, when this use is not allowed by the town-planning regulations of the territorial zone in which the land is located. In the work, the author comes to the conclusion that the Land Code of the Russian Federation allows cases of changing the type of permitted use of land without a statement from the copyright holder of this plot, which should be taken into account by prosecutors, requiring the supervised entities to properly comply with the requirements of the law.