Rural and Agricultural Land Use Planning

Land use planning can be defined as the systematic assessment of land and water potential, alternative systems of land use and other physical, social and economic conditions. The purpose is to select and adopt land use options which are the most beneficial to land users without degrading the resources or the environment, together with the selection of measures most likely to encourage such land uses.

In the broadest meaning of the term, land use planning deals with planning for all types of land use (rural, urban, industrial, recreational, etc.). Land use planning involves many aspects of planning such as designing planning options, evaluation of feasibility (economic, environmental, social impact assessment), and providing assistance to decision maker, implementation and monitoring of plans.

Rural land use planning is concerned with all (economic) activities in rural areas, such as agriculture, pastoralism, forestry, wildlife conservation and tourism. Besides evaluation of the potential of different activities, rural land use planning assists in resolving conflicts of interests between groups of land users.

Some of the key aspects of agricultural land use planning are physical and socio-economic ones. Physical aspects involve land evaluation (mapping, analysis, suitability matching), identification of opportunities for change (improve existing land use system, suggest new land use systems), natural resources management (sustainable land use systems).

The objectives of socio – economic aspects include identification of target groups, weighting options and connection with other administration/planning. Such land legislation as access to land, ownership of resources, land reforms are also included in socio-economic aspects as well as training technical staff, farmers and financial framework like credit schemes and products marketing.

Land is a limited resource and the misuse of land can lead to such problem as non – sustainable land use: processes of overexploitation (overgrazing, deforestation, erosion hazard).

We need to conserve land resources for future use through sustainable land uses. For successful land use planning it is important to determine the best use of the land. It is necessary to take into consideration efficiency, equity, acceptability and sustainability of the land.

2. Найдите синонимы среди следующих слов:

Local, start, benefit, advantage, option, vantage, choice, begin, regional, income.

3. Найдите антонимы среди следующих слов:

Satisfied, find, high, popular, encourage, low, unpopular, lose, narrow, wide, discourage, unsatisfied.

4. Переведите следующие сочетания слов с русского на английский язык:

Человек, принимающий решение; сельскохозяйственное землеустройство; оценка возможности; сохранять земельные ресурсы; опасность эрозии; ограниченный ресурс; "нисходящее" землеустройство (инициатива сверху); "восходящее" землеустройство (инициатива снизу); стратегия планирования; большие преимущества; региональный уровень; вариант землеустройства; большие площади; полагаться только на одну стратегию.

5. Переведите следующие предложения с русского на английский язык:

1. Землеустроители никогда не должны полагаться только на одну стратегию. 2. Мы нуждаемся в консервации земельных ресурсов. 3. Землеустройство осуществляется на государственном, региональном и местном уровнях. 4. Процесс планирования основан на кадастровой съёмке земельных ресурсов. 5. Водоснабжение является одной из основных проблем человека. 6. Существуют разные стратегии планирования.

6. Преобразуйте следующие предложения в Past Simple Tense:

1. Land is a limited resource. 2. There are different land use issues. 3. Misuse of land leads to several problems. 4. The advantage includes people's benefit. 5. Bottom – up planning means active participation of land users. 6. Land use policy depends upon the competing demands for land. 7. Physical aspects involve natural resource management.

7. Составьте предложения, используя следующие слова:

1. Option, best, which, the, is? 2. Are, legislations, many, there, land, for, planning, use. 3. Highest, there, year, crop, last, was, the. 4. Now, working, are, we. 5. Is, limited, land, resource, a. 6. Need, conserve, resources, we, to, land. 7. Are, strategies, there, different, two, planning.

8. Поставьте вопросы к выделенным словам:

1. I am a land use planning engineer. 2. Land is a limited resource. 3. The land legislation decided financial problems last month. 4. The land use planners will discuss the best options tomorrow. 5. Bottom – up land use planning includes both advantages and disadvantages.

9. Заполните пропуски соответствующей формой глагола to have:

1. Each planning strategy ____ its own advantages. 2. We ____ many friends. 3. Bottom – up land use planning ____ some disadvantages. 4. Next year this student will ____ a diploma of a land use planner. 5. Last year students ____ many interesting subjects.

10. Ответьте на следующие вопросы:

1. How can land use planning be defined? What is the purpose of land use planning? 3. What does land use planning deal with? 4. Does land use planning include many aspects? 5. What are the key aspects of agricultural land use planning? 6. Is land a limited resource? 7. Do we need to conserve land resources for future use? 8. What is important for successful land use planning?