Cross-scale monitoring and assessment of land degradation and sustainable land management: A methodological framework for knowledge management

Discussions of land degradation often display a disconnect between global and local scales. Although global-scale discussions often focus on measuring and reversing land degradation through metrics and policy measures, local-scale discussions can highlight a diversity of viewpoints and the importance of local knowledge and context-specific strategies for sustainable land management. Similarly, although scientific studies clearly link anthropogenic climate change to land degradation as both cause and consequence, the connection may not be so clear for local rangelands communities due to the complex temporal and spatial scales of change and management in such environments. In research conducted in October 2015, we interviewed 18 stakeholders in the far west of New South Wales about their perspectives on sustainable land management. The results revealed highly variable views on what constitutes land degradation, its causes and appropriate responses. For the pastoral land managers, the most important sign of good land management was the maintenance of groundcover, through the management of total grazing pressure. Participants viewed overgrazing as a contributor to land degradation in some cases and they identified episodes of land degradation in the region. However, other more contentious factors were also highlighted, such as wind erosion, grazing by goats and kangaroos and the spread of undesired ‘invasive native scrub’ at the expense of more desirable pasture, and alternative views that these can offer productive benefits. Although few participants were concerned about anthropogenic climate change, many described their rangeland management styles as adaptive to the fluctuations of the climate, regardless of the reasons for these variations. Rather than focusing on whether landholders ‘believe in’ climate change or agree on common definitions or measurement approaches for land degradation, these results suggest that their culture of adaptation may provide a strong basis for coping with an uncertain future. The culture of adaption developed through managing land in a highly variable climate may help even if the specific conditions that landholders need to adapt to are unlike those experienced in living memory. Such an approach requires scientific and expert knowledge to be integrated alongside the context-specific knowledge, values and existing management strategies of local stakeholders.

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Land Degradation and Desertification: Problems of Sustainable Land Management and Adaptation

10.29003/m1664.978-5-317-06490-7 ◽

2020 ◽

Keyword(s):

Land Management ◽

Land Degradation ◽

Sustainable Land Management ◽

Land Degradation And Desertification

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LAND USE AND LAND DEGRADATION ISSUES IN THE CONTEXT OF THE UNESCO “MAN & BIOSPHERE” PROGRAMME

Problems of Geography ◽

10.24057/probl.geogr.152.8 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

G.S. KUST ◽

◽

O.V. ANDREEVA ◽

V.A. LOBKOVSKIY ◽

V.D. SLAVKO

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Protected Areas ◽

Land Management ◽

Land Degradation ◽

Management Practices ◽

Action Plan ◽

Biosphere Reserve ◽

Sustainable Land Management ◽

Biosphere Reserves ◽

Aichi Biodiversity Targets

A brief historical overview of approaches to study the problem of land use and land degradation in the MAB UNESCO program is provided. Over the past 50 years these issues remain important although the general strategic approach to their research and solving has changed from a multilateral study of land management and land degradation in different geographic and socio-economic conditions with an emphasis on natural diversity, to practices and approaches of sustainable land management in biosphere reserves, as reflected in MAB Strategy (2015-2025) and Lima Action Plan (2016-2025). Many of the MAB initiatives in the field of sustainable land management and combating land degradation have been further reflected and revised in different international programs and conventions. The development of these approaches and the integration of the MAB program with other modern activities can significantly increase the effectiveness of the results of Strategic Direction “A” of the Lima Action Plan on the use of UNESCO Biosphere Reserves as models for sustainable development. Five objectives are proposed for closer cooperation of the MAB program and its network of biosphere reserves with other international and national measures for promoting sustainable land management practices and combating land degradation: 1) using biosphere reserves as priority sites and observatories for comparative assessments of indicators of land degradation neutrality (LDN) for protected areas and adjacent territories in similar bioclimatic conditions; 2) use of data obtained through the series of observations in the territory of protected areas as the most important additional or alternative indicators and measures for the LDN interpretation; 3) biosphere reserves as models for selecting effective solutions reflecting the triad of adaptive actions to avoid degradation, reduce the rate of degradation and restore previously degraded lands; 4) achieving LDN on the territory of biosphere reserves through the implementation of the Aichi biodiversity targets; 5) the use of LDN as a criterion for evaluating the effectiveness of the activities of biosphere reserves. Preliminary results of the LDN assessment for Central Chernozem State Natural Biosphere Reserve and Middle Volga Integrated Biosphere Reserve and their adjacent territories provided to demonstrate the possibility of performing some of the objectives listed.

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10th Anniversary Review: Addressing land degradation and climate change in dryland agroecosystems through sustainable land management

Journal of Environmental Monitoring ◽

10.1039/b801649f ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 10 (5) ◽

pp. 595 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

Richard James Thomas

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Land Management ◽

Land Degradation ◽

Sustainable Land Management ◽

10Th Anniversary

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Social-Ecological Archetypes of Land Degradation in the Nigerian Guinea Savannah: Insights for Sustainable Land Management

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs13010032 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 32

Author(s):

Ademola A. Adenle ◽

Chinwe Ifejika Speranza

Keyword(s):

Land Management ◽

Land Degradation ◽

Major Road ◽

High Poverty ◽

Sustainable Land Management ◽

Poverty Level ◽

Social Ecological ◽

Density Population ◽

Very High ◽

High Information

The Nigerian Guinea Savannah is the most extensive ecoregion in Nigeria, a major food production area, and contains many biodiversity protection areas. However, there is limited understanding of the social-ecological features of its degraded lands and potential insights for sustainable land management and governance. To fill this gap, the self-organizing map method was applied to identify the archetypes of both proximal and underlying drivers of land degradation in this region. Using 12 freely available spatial datasets of drivers of land degradation—4 environmental; 3 socio-economic; and 5 land-use management practices, the identified archetypes were intersected with the Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)-derived land-degradation status of the region, and the state administrative boundaries. Nine archetypes were identified. Archetypes are dominated by: (1) protected areas; (2) very high-density population; (3) moderately high information/knowledge access; (4) low literacy levels and moderate–high poverty levels; (5) rural remoteness; (6) remoteness from a major road; (7) very high livestock density; (8) moderate poverty level and nearly level terrain; and (9) very rugged terrain and remote from a major road. Four archetypes characterized by very high-density population, moderate–high information/knowledge access, and moderate–high poverty level, as well as remoteness from a major town, were associated with 61.3% large-area degradation; and the other five archetypes, covering 38.7% of the area, were responsible for small-area degradation. While different combinations of archetypes exist in all the states, the five states of Niger (40.5%), Oyo (29.6%), Kwara (24.4%), Nassarawa (18.6%), and Ekiti (17.6%), have the largest shares of the archetypes. To deal with these archetypical features, policies and practices that address increasing population in combination with poverty reduction; and that create awareness about land degradation and promote sustainable practices and various forms of land restoration, such as tree planting, are necessary for progressing towards land-degradation neutrality in the Nigerian Guinea Savannah.

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