Land Use Systems

Landscape adaptation to climate change requires policies that facilitate species dispersal, to counteract the effects of fragmentation and allow tracking of a species' 'climatic niche'. Expanding existing ecological networks is often proposed as a measure to maintain functional connectivity for forest species in multifunctional landscapes.

The land capability approach (sometimes also re-ferred to as 'land suitability') identifies the potential to use an area of land for different purposes or manage-ment practices. Although the original system was devised for farm planning in the USA (Klingebiel & Montgomery 1961), land ...

... loamy sands) although conductivity is adequate when near or at field capacity, it decreases rapidly as the soil dries because there are few medium or fine pores through which moisture can be transmitted, meaning that plants in these soils are particularly susceptible to drought. ...

A large-scale, strategic-level method has been developed to facilitate dialogue with policymakers on future coastal land-use management, in the context of climate change and the implications of sea-level rise for floodplain areas. Impacts from different management policies are explored through their influence on patterns of flooding and consequent landscape change. The method is based upon a series of transition rules

Classification and mapping of land capability represents an established format for summarising spatial information on land quality and land-use potential. By convention, this information incorporates bioclimatic constraints through the use of a long-term average. However, climate change means that land capability classification should also have a dynamic temporal component. Using an analysis based upon Land Capability for Agriculture in Scotland, it is shown that this dynamism not only involves the long-term average but also shorter term spatiotemporal patterns, particularly through changes in interannual variability. Interannual and interdecadal variations occur both in the likelihood of land being in prime condition (top three capability class divisions) and in class volatility from year to year. These changing patterns are most apparent in relation to the west-east climatic gradient which is mainly a function of precipitation regime and soil moisture. Analysis is also extended into the future using climate results for the 2050s from a weather generator which show a complex interaction between climate interannual variability and different soil types for land quality. In some locations, variability of land capability is more likely to decrease because the variable climatic constraints are relaxed and the dominant constraint becomes intrinsic soil properties. Elsewhere, climatic constraints will continue to be influential. Changing climate variability has important implications for land-use planning and agricultural management because it modifies local risk profiles in combination with the current trend towards agricultural intensification and specialisation.

A diverse range of response options is available for decision-makers to manage environmental change and meet sustainability objectives. These can include inter alia: top-down statutory regulation and levies; bottom-up initiatives including quality assurance networks or community-based partnerships; formal incentives; and voluntary market-based schemes such as ‘payments for ecosystem services’ or offsetting. Each type of response option has a distinct set of characteristics, which suggests that they may be best suited to different contexts rather than presumed to be effective in all circumstances. These attributes are used to develop a working typology to help understand the strengths and weaknesses of different response types, particularly regarding adaptation to long-term change and handling of uncertainty. To facilitate this, response types are referenced from a socio-ecological systems perspective using a refined version of the DPSIR integrated assessment framework to incorporate...

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The UK uplands are highly sensitive and significant cultural landscapes that have been created by woodland clearance for agriculture and are at threat from fire, over-grazing, mineral extraction, land drainage, air pollution and recreation. Some of these activities increase upland sensitivity to climate change, contributing to increased flood risk, or soil carbon losses. Many distinct areas of public policy impinge on the uplands, but most have yet to integrate climate change protection within their objectives. Placed within the emerging ecosystems services perspective, policies could be modified to deliver land management services to secure soil carbon stocks, and to protect the goods, services and functions that uplands deliver. There are, therefore, both new opportunities and threats to tackle. The present paper outlines climate sensitivity and change in the uplands; reviews adaptation and mitigation options; and considers available policy, information and management tools. Within an ecosystems framework, emphasis is placed on safeguarding key regulatory services. We offer a research agenda to support adaptation and outline measures that could be developed within existing regulatory frameworks, or signal where policies may need revision. Research priorities include better quantification of carbon fluxes under different soils and land management practices, techniques for up-scaling local interventions to quantify landscape-scale benefits, and the evaluation of adaptive responses in the context of sustainable land use. Potential adaptation strategies include improved spatial planning for land and water, the creation of networked habitats to enable species migration, and practical guidance on appropriate locations for intensification and extensification of land use.