The way forward confronting eco-environmental challenges during land-use practices: a bibliometric analysis

Abstract

With rapid urbanisation and industrialisation, land-use practice, while satisfying the ever-increasing desires of our material civilisation in the short term, may undermine natural ecosystems on a local, regional and global scale in the long run. Innovative and sustainable land-use practices should be developed in response, so that eco-environmental problems can assessed and dealt with during the whole process of land-use planning, construction, operation, maintenance and management. Using a bibliometric analysis, this study has traced global trends in land-use research from 1992 to 2016, as indexed in the Science Citation Index EXPANDED (SCI-EXPANDED) and the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI). A novel method called 'word cluster analysis' has revealed that hotspot analysis is one of the emerging techniques, tools and strategies used to respond to, improve, and protect deteriorating ecosystems during land use. Based on involving various elements, the emerging analytical techniques and tools, including geographical information systems (GIS) and remote sensing, have attracted attention for their ability to assess and solve increasingly serious eco-environmental problems, such as climate change, deforestation, soil erosion, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and eutrophication. Ecosystem services, biodiversity conservation, protected areas, and sustainable development are also potential resilience strategies used to confront eco-environmental destruction. The maximum benefits that can be derived from natural ecosystems should be pursued to achieve environmentally sustainable land-use development, strengthening the socio-economy and eco-environment, as well as enhancing the well-being of people and nature.

Gaps, biases, and future directions in research on the impacts of anthropogenic land-use change on aquatic ecosystems: a topic-based bibliometric analysis

“…On the other hand, Ouyang et al (2018) reviewed research about heavy metal loss from agricultural basins to aquatic ecosystems, noting that the attention was mainly concentrated in North America, Europe, and Asia (mainly China). Similar trends are also found on other reviews that, although not directly focused on ALUC impact on aquatic ecosystems, are intimately linked with the subject, such as Liu et al (2020), who presented a review of global status and trends of research on watershed phosphorus, or Wu et al (2018) who reviewed the ecoenvironmental challenges during land use practices, where water is one of the main elements affected. Most of these reviews agree on the bias toward specific regions; however, none of them address the impact of ALUC on aquatic ecosystems from a broader perspective.…”

Analysis of Land-Use Change between 2012–2018 in Europe in Terms of Sustainable Development

“…The development of urban greenery and the improvement of the quality of natural areas contributes to the preservation of biodiversity and can significantly reduce climate change [63,64]. Observing the direction and intensity of changes in this respect [65,66] can be considered not as an intellectual adventure, but rather as a duty of all actors shaping the future of spatial units, including local communities and other groups inhabiting them.…”

The Role of Organic Fertilizers in Transition to Sustainable Agriculture in the MENA Region

“…In view of the imminent threat to planetary life systems posed by climate change [20,56,62], research has in recent years accelerated on potentials for carbon offsetting and impacts on GHG emissions of different land use and management systems [63][64][65][66][67], as well as with respect to climate adaptation [68] and food security [69,70]. Large areas of the MENA-region are exposed to desertification, including relatively water rich countries.…”