Sustainable development is a multi-faceted and complex proposition, investigating such a goal required a grounded study capable of analysing real world issues. Managing such a highly diverse region as Western Sydney with its multiple demands is complicated by the plethora of government administration agencies. Contemporary land use planning policies and decisions appear frequently at odds with community values and aspirations for the region. Evidence presented in this research suggests a declining natural resource base that manifests itself in an insidious cost impost to the public sector while the benefits accrue to the private sector.Eventual developments in the resolution and maintenance of the functional integrity of the natural systems in Western Sydney may demand a major paradigm shift in economic and social policy. This research suggests that a precautionary based approach to thresholds of harm in the Western Sydney region is long overdue. Tools developed in this study appear capable of clarifying the evident land use planning paradoxes and may assist in negotiating sustainable outcomes by fostering a collaborative learning process between decision makers, experts and the community. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

Accurate and current land use information for urban areas is important for effective management and planning. Over the years, researchers/planners have relied heavily on aerial photographs for land use information of urban areas because of the limitations of deriving more accurate land use estimates from satellite remote sensing data. The main problem involved in producing accurate land use maps of cities and towns from satellite images is that urban areas consist of a complex assemblage of different land cover types, many of which have very similar spectral reflectance characteristics. This is because land use is an abstract concept- n amalgam of economic, social and cultural factors-that is defined in terms of functions rather than forms. The relationship between land use and the multispectral signals detected by a satellite sensor is therefore both complex and indirect. In many European cities, residential areas are characterized by a complex spatial assemblage of tile roof, slate roof, glass roof buildings, as well as tarmac, concrete and pitch roads, and gardens (comprised of grass lawns, trees and plants). In North American cities, roofing materials are more commonly composed of wood and shingles. In both settings all these "objects" together form the residential areas or residential districts of town or city, but each of them has a different spectral reflectance. So, in generating a land use map from remotely sensed image, buildings, roads, gardens, open spaces will be identified separately. Keeping this in mind, this thesis evaluates eight selected land use classification methods for the Vancouver metropolitan area, identifies the most accurate and suitable method for urban land use classification, and produces a land use map of the study area based on the most suitable method. The study area is a part of Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD). It includes Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond, Delta, and parts of seven other municipalities. The whole area is highly urbanized and commercialized. Agricultural lands are present in the southern part of the study area (which includes parts of Richmond, Delta and Surrey). For this study four sources of data have been used. The 1996 Greater Vancouver regional District (GVRD) land use map is the basic source of land use information. A remotely sensed image of May 1999 (Landsat 7) has been used for the identification of land cover data, Vancouver and Fraser valley orthophotos (May/July 1995) have been used to locate sample sites, and aerial photos of May 1999 (1:30,000) have been used for ground verification.

Replacement of traditional land administration institutions with modern institutions has been one of the strategies used by the Lesotho Government to solve land management problems. This thesis uses a case study approach to analyze the effectiveness of one modern institution, the Village Land Allocation Committees (VLAC), at the community level in Lesotho. Customarily, land in Lesotho was allocated by traditional chiefs who could for various purposes revoke it. The system was allegedly open to abuse and under the Land Act 1979, the authority to allocate land was shifted from traditional chiefs to the VLAC, which is partly elected and partly nominated by the government. The thinking behind this change was that VLAC would be more democratic and efficient, representing local as well as national interests. The study consists of three stages: a) review of background literature on Lesotho; b) a comparison of land tenure reforms in Tanzania, Kenya and Botswana; and c) field research carried out through questionnaires administered to VLAC members, community members and government officials responsible for land administration at the community level in Lesotho. Conclusions drawn from this study are that lack of clear policy guidelines, lack of connection between land allocation and the overall planning and lack of meaningful community participation in the land allocation process, are among the major problems in the operation of VLAC. The study's major recommendations are: a) integrating land allocation with the overall land use planning; b) recognizing the continuing influence of traditional institutions and incorporating them into VLAC activities; c) providing VLAC with clearer goals and necessary resources; and d) building a planning and evaluation component into VLAC procedures. The need for further research on the composition and election process of VLAC is identified. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

Accurate and current land use information for urban areas is important for effective management and planning. Over the years, researchers/planners have relied heavily on aerial photographs for land use information of urban areas because of the limitations of deriving more accurate land use estimates from satellite remote sensing data. The main problem involved in producing accurate land use maps of cities and towns from satellite images is that urban areas consist of a complex assemblage of different land cover types, many of which have very similar spectral reflectance characteristics. This is because land use is an abstract concept- n amalgam of economic, social and cultural factors-that is defined in terms of functions rather than forms. The relationship between land use and the multispectral signals detected by a satellite sensor is therefore both complex and indirect. In many European cities, residential areas are characterized by a complex spatial assemblage of tile roof, slate roof, glass roof buildings, as well as tarmac, concrete and pitch roads, and gardens (comprised of grass lawns, trees and plants). In North American cities, roofing materials are more commonly composed of wood and shingles. In both settings all these "objects" together form the residential areas or residential districts of town or city, but each of them has a different spectral reflectance. So, in generating a land use map from remotely sensed image, buildings, roads, gardens, open spaces will be identified separately. Keeping this in mind, this thesis evaluates eight selected land use classification methods for the Vancouver metropolitan area, identifies the most accurate and suitable method for urban land use classification, and produces a land use map of the study area based on the most suitable method. The study area is a part of Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD). It includes Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond, Delta, and parts of seven other municipalities. The whole area is highly urbanized and commercialized. Agricultural lands are present in the southern part of the study area (which includes parts of Richmond, Delta and Surrey). For this study four sources of data have been used. The 1996 Greater Vancouver regional District (GVRD) land use map is the basic source of land use information. A remotely sensed image of May 1999 (Landsat 7) has been used for the identification of land cover data, Vancouver and Fraser valley orthophotos (May/July 1995) have been used to locate sample sites, and aerial photos of May 1999 (1:30,000) have been used for ground verification. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate

Investment and trade flows across East Asia during the last three decades have fostered the development of production networks and economic integration. However, only since the turn of the century, have East Asian countries begun to institutionalize such integration through free trade agreements (FTAs). With the exception of Japan, the literature portrays East Asian FTAs as driven by political elites on primarily foreign policy motivations and with marginal participation of businesses in their formulation and utilization. Most of these narratives have, however, overlooked endogenous sources of trade preferences, shortcoming that this Thesis attempted to correct by analyzing how FTAs fit within the strategies of states and firms. The project investigated the mutual interaction between evolving trends within East Asian production networks and states’ and firms’ preferences on FTA liberalization using as case studies the bilateral FTAs negotiated by Thailand and Malaysia within the context of key production networks, particularly the automotive industry. Research involved extensive process-tracing through semi-structured interviews and trade data analyses. The main findings of this dissertation were: 1) Compared to multilateral liberalization, greater technical complexity and easier assessment of impacts in bilateral FTA negotiations resulted in more intense government-business consultations and corporate lobbying. Successive FTA negotiations strengthened the technical capacities of bureaucrats and firms and prompted the emergence of new institutional structures for intermediation and coordination among all actors; 2) Sectors that had successfully lobbied ex-ante for FTA liberalization and/or benefited from unilateral liberalization schemes have made extensive utilization of FTAs; 3) Governments and firms in both countries sought and extracted selective rents in FTAs to improve their relative position not only with respect to states and firms outside the bloc but also inside, and; 4) The interplay between overlapping FTA areas and the investment sunk in them shaped governments’ and firms’ positions on further FTA liberalization.

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Photocopy of typescript. / Digitized by Kansas State University Libraries

Published Article / Along the path of water flowing in a river basin are many water-related human interventions that modify the natural systems. Rainwater harvesting is one such intervention that involves abstraction of water in the upstream catchment. Increased water withdrawal at upstream level is an issue of concern for downstream water availability to sustain ecosystem services. The Modder River basin, located in the central South Africa, is experiencing intermittent meteorological droughts causing water shortages for agriculture, livestock and domestic purpose. To address this problem a technique was developed for small scale farmers with objective of harnessing rainwater for crop production. However, the impact of a wider adoption of this technique by farmers on the water resources has not been quantified. In this regard, the SWAT hydrological model was used to simulate the impact of such practice on the water resources of the river basin. The scenarios studied were: pasture (PAST), conventional agriculture (Agri-CON) and agriculture using rainwater harvesting (Agri-IRWH). The result showed that the highest mean monthly direct flow was obtained on Agri-CON land use (18 mm), followed by PAST (12 mm) and Agri-IRWH land use (10 mm). The Agri-IRWH scenario reduced runoff by 38% compared to Agri-CON, which justifies its intended purpose. On the other hand, it was found that the Agri-IRWH contributed to more groundwater recharge (40 mm) compared to PAST (32 mm) and Agri-CON (19 mm) scenarios. Although, there was a visible impact of the rainwater harvesting technique on the water yield when considered on a monthly time frame, the overall result showed that there was a substantial benefit of using the rainwater harvesting technique for agricultural production (Agr-IRWH) without impacting significantly on the mean annual water yield.

Agricultural areas represent around 40% of the earth surface and provide a variety of products and services essential to human societies. However, with policy reforms, market liberalisation and climate change issues, continuous land use and cover change (LUCC) brings uncertainty in the quantity and quality of ecosystem services supplied for the future generations. The processes of LUCC have been explored using top-down approaches at global and regional level but more recent methods have focused on agents’ interactions at smaller scale. This approach is better suited to understanding and modelling complex socio-ecological systems, which emerge from individual actions, and therefore for developing tools which improve policy effectiveness. In recent years, there has also been increasing interest in gaining more detailed understanding of the impacts of LUCC on the range of ecosystem services associated with different landscapes and farming practices. The objectives of this thesis are: 1/ to understand and model the internal processes of LUCC at local scale, i.e. farmer behaviour, 2/ to explore heterogeneous farmer decision making and the impacts it has on LUCC and on ecosystem services and 3/ to inform policy makers for improving the effectiveness of land-related policies. This thesis presents an agent-based modelling framework which integrates psycho-social models of heterogeneous farmer decisions and an ecological model of skylark breeding population. The model is applied to the Lunan, a small Scottish arable catchment, and is empirically-grounded using social surveys, i.e. phone interviews and choice-based conjoint experiments. Based on ecological attitudes and farming goals, three main types of farmer agents were generated: profit-oriented, multifunctionalist, traditionalist. The proportion of farmer types found within the survey was used to scale-up respondent results to the agent population, spatially distributed within a GIS-based representation of the catchment. Under three socio-economic scenarios, based on the IPCC-SRES framework, the three types of farmers maximise an utility function, which is disaggregated into economic, environmental and social preferences, and apply the farm strategy (i.e. land uses, management style, agri-environmental measures) that best satisfies them. Each type of agents demonstrates different reactions to market and policy pressures though farmers seem to be constrained by lack of financial opportunities and are therefore unable to fully comply with environmental and social goals. At the landscape level, the impacts on ecosystem services, in particular the skylark local population, depend strongly on policy objectives, which can be antagonist and create trade-offs in the provision of different services, and on farmer socio-environmental values. A set of policy recommendations is offered that encompasses the heterogeneity of farmer decision-making with the aim of meeting sustainable targets. Finally, further improvements of the conceptual and methodological framework are discussed.