Burghard C. Meyer

Multicriteria optimization of landscapes using GIS-based functional assessments

Abstract This paper introduces a new way of using GIS to support decision making in the planning process and to develop regional guidelines. The method of `multicriteria optimization helps new methodological standards to be established for integrating the various results of functional landscape ecology assessments of the type usually carried out in ecological planning, and enables the overall comparison of competing aims. This technique allows different aims in a geographical region to be quantified and takes into account different weightings of scenarios. Different functional assessments (soil erosion hazards caused by water flow, groundwater regeneration, water discharge regulation) and an assessment of the agricultural production function were carried out using GIS for a test site measuring 48xa0km2 in a glacial end moraine area to the north of Leipzig (Saxony, Germany). The results were presented in the form of ordinal assessment classes which express tendencies. On the basis of these assessment results, aims for the calculation of an optimal land-use pattern were defined and weighted in different scenarios. Multicriteria optimization calculates optimal compromises with regard to these aims which can be measured and compared with goal function values. Although the method cannot replace decision making by the planner, which is often difficult and can generally not be quantitatively verified, it can help to make the planning process more objective.

MULBO: Model framework for multicriteria landscape assessment and optimisation. A support system for spatial land use decisions

Abstract The model framework MULBO (Multicriteria Landscape Assessment and Optimisation) is a spatially explicit decision support method on the basis of risk evaluations for landscape functions. Its principal purpose is the establishment of optimal land use patterns as scenarios, which are balanced compromises between conflicting goals for the reduction of assessed risks. A user manual for MULBO has been developed which contains the individual assessment tools, the landscape optimisation method LNOPT 2.0, a multiplicity of applications, as well as information about data and techniques. After an introductory discussion of fundamentals for spatial decision-making, the methods and contents of MULBO are presented and discussed on basis of applications in a rural area in the southern part of Saxony-Anhalt (Germany). An applied project converts the scenario results recently into possible practices.

Farm models and economic valuation in the context of multifunctionality: a review of approaches from France, Germany, The Netherlands and Portugal

Multifunctionality of Agriculture (MFA) is a concept that supports the recognition of complex interdependencies between different resources, production processes and outputs of agricultural land use. Political decision making within a sustainable development frame requires extensive information about these interrelationships in order to analyse the impact of implemented policies and to assess future policy effects. This paper presents selected results of the EU FP6 supported MultAgri project, such as a comparative overview of models, techniques and tools that have been applied to the assessment of various agricultural outputs. In detail, multidimensional modelling tools and economic valuation instruments have been inspected and valuated. Examples from France, Germany, The Netherlands and Portugal – the countries reviewed within the MultAgri workpackage 3 – are used to highlight specific instrumental strengths and weaknesses. Conclusions are drawn with respect to further methodological research needs on multifunctionality of agriculture.

Comparison of Two Spatial Optimization Techniques: A Framework to Solve Multiobjective Land Use Distribution Problems

Two spatial optimization approaches, developed from the opposing perspectives of ecological economics and landscape planning and aimed at the definition of new distributions of farming systems and of land use elements, are compared and integrated into a general framework. The first approach, applied to a small river catchment in southwestern France, uses SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) and a weighted goal programming model in combination with a geographical information system (GIS) for the determination of optimal farming system patterns, based on selected objective functions to minimize deviations from the goals of reducing nitrogen and maintaining income. The second approach, demonstrated in a suburban landscape near Leipzig, Germany, defines a GIS-based predictive habitat model for the search of unfragmented regions suitable for hare populations (Lepus europaeus), followed by compromise optimization with the aim of planning a new habitat structure distribution for the hare. The multifunctional problem is solved by the integration of the three landscape functions (“production of cereals,” “resistance to soil erosion by water,” and “landscape water retention”). Through the comparison, we propose a framework for the definition of optimal land use patterns based on optimization techniques. The framework includes the main aspects to solve land use distribution problems with the aim of finding the optimal or best land use decisions. It integrates indicators, goals of spatial developments and stakeholders, including weighting, and model tools for the prediction of objective functions and risk assessments. Methodological limits of the uncertainty of data and model outcomes are stressed. The framework clarifies the use of optimization techniques in spatial planning.

Indicators of desertification in the Kulunda Steppe in the south of Western Siberia

Due to climatic change, the prognosticated shift of agricultural land into dry steppes in the south of Western Siberia by 200–300 km in the next 25 years forebodes that wide ranges of steppes will be affected by desertification. The steppes taken under culture in the 1950s in the districts of Novosibirsk and Altai were protected around 1968 by a high number of hedges. Following the economic decline of Siberian agriculture, the risk of recurrence of active morphological and other unwanted processes grows, which constitutes an early stage of desertification. In this study, special emphasis has been taken on the description of the desertification indicators and land use basics in the Kulunda Steppe, through the example of a detailed pedological investigation of the farm Ivanovskoe (ca. 20,000 ha) near Bagan in the northern Kulunda Steppe. Desertification is analysed and evaluated in detail, especially by the proportion of rough material on agriculturally used Chernozem which has increased significantly since cultivation. Deflation damage is still proven on most of these soils. The saline lakes in the area are already drying up slowly. The river Bagan carries much less water than before steppe cultivation.

Decision support for land use changes — A combination of methods for policy advising and planning

The cultural landscape is the result of the anthropogenic usage of the natural environment. According to Leser et al. (1984), “The cultural landscape ensues from human groups and societies permanently influencing the natural landscape and in particular using it for economic purposes and settlement as they exercise their basic functions of existence.” Whereas geofactors such as the climate, soil and topography are affected by mankind only indirectly and apparently very slowly (e.g. by means of climatic change or soil erosion), mankind shapes the landscape within much shorter spaces of time by means of land use. Consequently, land use neEds. to be planned responsibly. In particular, the various groups responsible must anticipate the various effects land use will have, and then only choose those forms which will have the ‘best impact’ from among the possible usage options. This article deals with methods which can be used for decision support for land uses changes.

Measurement and regionalization of nitrogen deposition for the risk assessment of nitrogen leaching in agricultural landscapes

The connection between the emission of atmospheric nitrogen (N) and the risk of groundwater pollution is significant for protection of the landscape with respect to the resources. The usually unknown amount of atmospheric nitrogen deposition has a high impact on N balances and on the leaching of nitrogen into the groundwater. Therefore, the present paper deals with the correlation between N emission and scenarios of potential risk assessment on N leaching into groundwater. The airborne N input into an agricultural landscape between the Saxon towns Taucha and Eilenburg (near Leipzig, Saxony) was measured by using the bulk N deposition method, the total atmospheric N deposition method with the ITNI system, and the bark sampling method, by focusing the results on the measurement of N input (punctual and regionalized) and on extrapolations to the risk of N leaching for planning purposes. On the forest measurement point the airborne N input is approximately twice as high as that on the ‘open land’ measurement point (about 15 kg N ha−1 yr−1). Two scenarios were calculated using different results of N deposition measurements; the measurement methods are described in the paper. For scenario 1, an annual potential N leaching of up to 11.5 kg/ha−1yr−1 could be modelled by using regionalized nitrate-N deposition and ammonium-N deposition data for open land. For scenario 2, because of the much higher measured inputs of 59.7 kg N ha−1yr−1 following the results of the ITNI system, the N discharge is excessively higher with up to 25 kg N ha−1yr−1. Both scenarios have been produced on the basis of a regional N balance with a surplus of 28.8 kg ha−1yr−1 (period 1998–2003) including original data from farms. The regionalization of the total atmospheric N deposition offers a new way to integrate the nowadays-unknown components of the N deposition into the estimation of potential risks of N leaching into the groundwater. The results are of high importance for groundwater protection.