IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v12y2023i10p1853-d1250111.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Opportunities for Monitoring Soil and Land Development to Support United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): A Case Study of the United States of America (USA)

Author

Listed:
  • Elena A. Mikhailova

    (Department of Forestry and Environmental Conservation, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634, USA)

  • Hamdi A. Zurqani

    (Arkansas Forest Resources Center, University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture, University of Arkansas System, Monticello, AR 71656, USA
    College of Forestry, Agriculture, and Natural Resources, University of Arkansas at Monticello, Monticello, AR 71656, USA)

  • Lili Lin

    (Department of Biological Science and Biotechnology, Minnan Normal University, Zhangzhou 363000, China)

  • Zhenbang Hao

    (University Key Lab for Geomatics Technology and Optimized Resources Utilization in Fujian Province, Fuzhou 350002, China)

  • Christopher J. Post

    (Department of Forestry and Environmental Conservation, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634, USA)

  • Mark A. Schlautman

    (Department of Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences, Clemson University, Anderson, SC 29625, USA)

  • George B. Shepherd

    (School of Law, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA)

Abstract

Land, including soil resources, makes important contributions to the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, there are challenges in identifying land/soil measurable information (e.g., indicators, metrics, etc.) to monitor the progress toward achieving these goals. This study examines the role of land/soil in selected SDGs (SDG 2: Zero Hunger; SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production; SDG 13: Climate Action; SDG 15: Life on Land) and provides practical examples on how to use geospatial analysis to track relevant qualitative and quantitative land/soil data using the contiguous United States of America (USA) as a case study. The innovative aspect of this study leverages geospatial technologies to track the intersection of land use/land cover (LULC) change and soil resources to quantify development trends within the overall land cover matrix to evaluate if these trends are sustainable. Classified land cover data derived from satellite-based remote sensing were used to identify the extent of developed areas in 2016 and the change in development areas since 2011. Most land development through time in the USA has caused losses (area loss of nearly 355,600 km 2 , with projected midpoint losses of about 5.7 × 10 12 kg total soil carbon (TSC) and about $969B (where B = billion = 10 9 , USD) in social costs of carbon dioxide emissions, SC-CO 2 ). All ten soil orders present in the contiguous USA experienced losses from developments, which represents a loss for both biodiversity and soil diversity (pedodiversity). The contiguous USA experienced an increase in land/soil consumption between 2001 and 2016 at the expense of deciduous forest (−3.1%), evergreen forest (−3.0%), emergent herbaceous wetlands (−0.6%), and hay/pasture (−7.9%). These “new” land developments (24,292.2 km 2 ) caused a complete projected midpoint loss of 4.0 × 10 11 kg TSC, equivalent to $76.1B SC-CO 2 . States with the largest developed areas and the highest TSC losses with associated SC-CO 2 were Texas and Florida. The proposed methodology used in this study can be applied worldwide, at various spatial scales, to help monitor SDGs over time. With improved tools to monitor SDGs, progress on these SDGs may require linking the SDGs to existing or future international and national legal frameworks.

Suggested Citation

  • Elena A. Mikhailova & Hamdi A. Zurqani & Lili Lin & Zhenbang Hao & Christopher J. Post & Mark A. Schlautman & George B. Shepherd, 2023. "Opportunities for Monitoring Soil and Land Development to Support United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): A Case Study of the United States of America (USA)," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-23, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:12:y:2023:i:10:p:1853-:d:1250111
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/10/1853/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/10/1853/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Garth R. Groshans & Elena A. Mikhailova & Christopher J. Post & Mark A. Schlautman & Lisha Zhang, 2019. "Determining the Value of Soil Inorganic Carbon Stocks in the Contiguous United States Based on the Avoided Social Cost of Carbon Emissions," Resources, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-15, June.
    2. Batunacun, & Wieland, Ralf & Lakes, Tobia & Yunfeng, Hu & Nendel, Claas, 2019. "Identifying drivers of land degradation in Xilingol, China, between 1975 and 2015," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 543-559.
    3. Elena A. Mikhailova & Hamdi A. Zurqani & Lili Lin & Zhenbang Hao & Christopher J. Post & Mark A. Schlautman & Gregory C. Post & George B. Shepherd & Renee M. Dixon, 2023. "Quantifying Damages to Soil Health and Emissions from Land Development in the State of Illinois (USA)," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-21, August.
    4. United Nations UN, 2015. "Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development," Working Papers id:7559, eSocialSciences.
    5. Elena A. Mikhailova & Lili Lin & Zhenbang Hao & Hamdi A. Zurqani & Christopher J. Post & Mark A. Schlautman & Gregory C. Post & George B. Shepherd, 2022. "Delaware’s Climate Action Plan: Omission of Source Attribution from Land Conversion Emissions," Laws, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-16, May.
    6. Elena A. Mikhailova & Hamdi A. Zurqani & Christopher J. Post & Mark A. Schlautman & Gregory C. Post, 2021. "Soil Diversity (Pedodiversity) and Ecosystem Services," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-34, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Elena A. Mikhailova & Hamdi A. Zurqani & Lili Lin & Zhenbang Hao & Christopher J. Post & Mark A. Schlautman & Gregory C. Post, 2024. "Spatiotemporal Analysis of Soil Quality Degradation and Emissions in the State of Iowa (USA)," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-22, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Philip C. Hutton & Elena A. Mikhailova & Lili Lin & Zhenbang Hao & Hamdi A. Zurqani & Christopher J. Post & Mark A. Schlautman & George B. Shepherd, 2022. "Net-Zero Target and Emissions from Land Conversions: A Case Study of Maryland’s Climate Solutions Now Act," Geographies, MDPI, vol. 3(1), pages 1-20, December.
    2. Elena A. Mikhailova & Lili Lin & Zhenbang Hao & Hamdi A. Zurqani & Christopher J. Post & Mark A. Schlautman & Gregory C. Post & George B. Shepherd, 2022. "Conflicts of Interest and Emissions from Land Conversions: State of New Jersey as a Case Study," Geographies, MDPI, vol. 2(4), pages 1-22, November.
    3. Elena A. Mikhailova & Hamdi A. Zurqani & Lili Lin & Zhenbang Hao & Christopher J. Post & Mark A. Schlautman & Gregory C. Post & George B. Shepherd & Renee M. Dixon, 2023. "Quantifying Damages to Soil Health and Emissions from Land Development in the State of Illinois (USA)," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-21, August.
    4. Paulina Schiappacasse & Bernhard Müller & Le Thuy Linh, 2019. "Towards Responsible Aggregate Mining in Vietnam," Resources, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-15, August.
    5. Pina Puntillo, 2023. "Circular economy business models: Towards achieving sustainable development goals in the waste management sector—Empirical evidence and theoretical implications," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(2), pages 941-954, March.
    6. R. Ebrahimi & S. Choobchian & H. Farhadian & I. Goli & E. Farmandeh & H. Azadi, 2022. "Investigating the effect of vocational education and training on rural women’s empowerment," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-11, December.
    7. Lampros Lamprinidis, 2025. "Socially Responsible Public Procurement and the Social Economy: European and Global Institutional Approaches," Journal of Public Policy and Administration, IPRJB, vol. 10(1), pages 46-62.
    8. Bárbara Galleli & Elder Semprebon & Joyce Aparecida Ramos dos Santos & Noah Emanuel Brito Teles & Mateus Santos de Freitas-Martins & Raquel Teodoro da Silva Onevetch, 2021. "Institutional Pressures, Sustainable Development Goals and COVID-19: How Are Organisations Engaging?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-21, November.
    9. Sagarika Dey & Priyanka Devi, 2019. "Impact of TVET on Labour Market Outcomes and Women’s Empowerment in Rural Areas: A Case Study from Cachar District, Assam," Indian Journal of Human Development, , vol. 13(3), pages 357-371, December.
    10. Maria Sassi, 2020. "A SEM Approach to the Direct and Indirect Links between WaSH Services and Access to Food in Countries in Protracted Crises: The Case of Western Bahr-el-Ghazal State, South Sudan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-13, November.
    11. Olga Stepanova & Magdalena Romanov, 2021. "Urban Planning as a Strategy to Implement Social Sustainability Policy Goals? The Case of Temporary Housing for Immigrants in Gothenburg, Sweden," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-17, February.
    12. Michel, Hanno, 2020. "From local to global: The role of knowledge, transfer, and capacity building for successful energy transitions," Discussion Papers, Research Group Digital Mobility and Social Differentiation SP III 2020-603, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    13. Hervé Corvellec & Johan Hultman & Anne Jerneck & Susanne Arvidsson & Johan Ekroos & Niklas Wahlberg & Timothy W. Luke, 2021. "Resourcification: A non‐essentialist theory of resources for sustainable development," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(6), pages 1249-1256, November.
    14. Wilson Charles Wilson & Maja Slingerland & Frederick P. Baijukya & Hannah Zanten & Simon Oosting & Ken E. Giller, 2021. "Integrating the soybean-maize-chicken value chains to attain nutritious diets in Tanzania," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 13(6), pages 1595-1612, December.
    15. Jones, Lindsey & d'Errico, Marco, 2019. "Whose resilience matters? Like-for-like comparison of objective and subjective evaluations of resilience," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 1-1.
    16. Bin Xue & Bingsheng Liu & Tao Liang & Dong Zhao & Tao Wang & Xingbin Chen, 2022. "A heterogeneous decision criteria system evaluating sustainable infrastructure development: From the lens of multidisciplinary stakeholder engagement," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(4), pages 556-579, August.
    17. Sudheesh Ramapurath Chemmencheri, 2016. "Social Protection as a Human Right in South Asia," Indian Journal of Human Development, , vol. 10(2), pages 236-252, August.
    18. Ingrid Boas & Frank Biermann & Norichika Kanie, 2016. "Cross-sectoral strategies in global sustainability governance: towards a nexus approach," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 449-464, June.
    19. Joyeeta Gupta & Louis Lebel, 0. "Access and allocation in earth system governance: lessons learnt in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-18.
    20. Guo, Jiaqi & Wang, Qiang & Li, Rongrong, 2024. "Can official development assistance promote renewable energy in sub-Saharan Africa countries? A matter of institutional transparency of recipient countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:12:y:2023:i:10:p:1853-:d:1250111. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.