Land users’ perceptions of land degradation and implications for sustainable land management and governance in Niger State, Nigeria 

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adenle Ademola ◽  
Sébastien Boillat ◽  
Chinwe Ifejika Speranza
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Land Management ◽  
Land Degradation ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Land Productivity ◽  
Sustainable Land Management ◽  
Environmentally Sustainable ◽  
Management Measures ◽  
Questionnaire Surveys

<p>Declining land productivity remains a challenge for agricultural-based livelihoods and for achieving food security. This is particularly the case in social-ecological contexts where people are largely dependent on local food production for their livelihoods and food security, such as among rural communities in the Nigeria Guinea Savannah. Yet how land users perceive the problem of land degradation and their capacity to manage land in an environmentally sustainable manner, can influence the measures they can initiate to address land degradation. Using a case study of Niger state, Nigeria, this study examines land users’ experiences and land management measures to address land degradation in the Nigeria Guinea Savannah. 30 communities were purposively selected based on the validated mapping of the hotspots of degraded areas. We adapted the World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies Sustainable Land Management questionnaires to also capture perceptions and administered 225 questionnaires to land users. Through, key informant interviews further insights and data on perspectives and motivations of land users and communities were collected to understand the land degradation situation and interpret the questionnaire surveys. Through qualitative and statistical analysis of differences in perceptions between socio-cultural strata, we show the relations between socio-demographic, socio-economic factors, and land degradation. We discuss land governance and sustainable land management practices for improving land productivity in the region.</p><p> </p><p> </p>

scholarly journals Analysis of Farmers’ Perception on the Impact of Land Degradation Hazard on Agricultural Land Productivity in Jeldu District in West Shewa Zone, Oromia, Ethiopia

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 20
Author(s):  
Tesfaye Samuel Saguye
Keyword(s):  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Land Management ◽  
Land Degradation ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Land Productivity ◽  
Community Knowledge ◽  
Process Indicators ◽  
The Impact

Land degradation is increasing in severity and extent in many parts of the world. Success in arresting land degradation entails an improved understanding of its causes, process, indicators and impacts. Various scientific methodologies have been employed to assess land degradation globally. However, the use of local community knowledge in elucidating the causes, process, indicators and effects of land degradation has seen little application by scientists and policy makers. Land degradation may be a physical process, but its underlying causes are firmly rooted in the socio-economic, political and cultural environment in which land users operate. Analyzing the root causes and effects of land degradation from local community knowledge, perception and adapting strategies perspective will provide information that is essential for designing and promoting sustainable land management practices. The main objective of this study was to analyze the perceptions of farmers’ on the impact of land degradation hazard on agricultural land productivity decline associated with soil erosion and fertility loss. The study used a multistage sampling procedure to select sample respondent households. The sample size of the study was 120 household heads and 226 farm plots managed by these farmers. The primary data of the study were collected by using semi-structured Interview, focus group discussions and field observation. Both descriptive statistics and econometric techniques were used for data analysis. Descriptive results show that 57percent of the respondents were perceived the severity and its consequence on agricultural land productivity. The following indicators of soil erosion and fertility loss were generally perceived and observed by farmers’ in the study area: gullies formations, soil accumulation around clumps of vegetation, soil deposits on gentle slopes, exposed roots, muddy water, sedimentation in streams and rivers, change in vegetation species, increased runoff, and reduced rooting depth. The direct human activities which were perceived to be causing land degradation in the study area include: deforestation and clearing of vegetation, overgrazing, steep slope cultivation and continuous cropping. The farmers’ possibility of perceiving the impact of land degradation hazard on agricultural land productivity was primarily determined by institutional, psychological, demographic and by bio-physical factors. Farmers who perceive their land as deteriorating and producing less than desired, tend to adopt improved land management practices. On the other hand, farmers who perceive their land to be fertile tend to have low adoption of conservation practices. In order to overcome this land degradation and its consequent effects, the study recommended a need for the government to enforce effective policies to control and prevent land degradation and these policies should be community inclusive /participatory founded up on indigenous and age-honored knowledge and tradition of farmers' natural resource management as well as introduced scientific practices.

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

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.

Land management within capability: a new scheme to guide sustainable land management in New South Wales, Australia

Soil Research ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 53 (6) ◽  
pp. 683 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan M. Gray ◽  
Greg A. Chapman ◽  
Brian W. Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Land Management ◽  
Land Degradation ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Sustainable Land Management ◽  
Management Actions ◽  
Evaluation Scheme ◽  
Management Regime ◽  
South Wales

A new evaluation scheme, land management within capability (LMwC), used to guide sustainable land management in New South Wales (NSW), is presented. The scheme semi-quantitatively categorises the potential impacts of specific land-management actions and compares these with the inherent physical capability of the land in relation to a range of land-degradation hazards. This leads to the derivation of LMwC indices, which signify the sustainability of land-management practices at the scale of individual sites up to broader regions. The LMwC scheme can be used to identify lands at greatest risk from various land-degradation hazards. It can help to guide natural resource agencies at local, regional and state levels to target priorities and promote sustainable land management across their lands. Few other schemes that assess the sustainability of a given land-management regime in a semi-quantitative yet pragmatic manner are found in the literature. The scheme has particular application for regional soil-monitoring programs and it was applied in such a program over NSW in 2008–09. The results suggested that the hazards most poorly managed across the state are wind erosion, soil acidification and soil organic carbon decline. The LMwC scheme, or at least its underlying concepts, could be readily applied to other jurisdictions.

scholarly journals The global problem of land degradation: A review

2021 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 216-231
Author(s):  
Sangita Mahata ◽  
◽  
Vishwambhar Nath Sharma ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Land Management ◽  
Land Degradation ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Climatic Factors ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Sustainable Land Management ◽  
The World ◽  
Major Factors

Land degradation has been a subject of academic research all across the world and still an important global issue in the twenty-first century. Land is an essential resource that is degraded day by day through some major factors like natural, anthropogenic and climatic factors. It is the principal basis for human well-being and livelihood as it provides us food, shelter, and multiple other ecosystem services. Land degradation has become a severe environmental problem. It is observed that a complex interplay between a variety of interrelated processes leads to what we defined as land degradation. It occurs in the form of deforestation, desertification, rapid changes in climatic conditions, waterlogging, salinization, erosion, and loss of organic matter components, etc. But we can save our land or manage our land from degradation by identifying sustainable land management practices and by adopting a precise methodology for assessing land degradation. The major objectives of this study are to address the problems of land degradation and to explore sustainable land management practices through different researches. This paper surveys the research works done on this theme and points out the key drivers of land degradation across the world, the social, economic and environmental costs of land degradation, the extent and severity of global land degradation and the appropriate methods for assessment of land degradation at global level and opportunities for improvement.

scholarly journals The Effect of Participation in Farmer Groups on Household Adoption of Sustainable Land Management Practices in Kenyan Drylands

2020 ◽  
pp. 66-80
Author(s):  
Rebecca N. Karaya ◽  
Christopher A. Onyango ◽  
George M. Ogendi
Keyword(s):  
Land Management ◽  
Land Degradation ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Sustainable Land Management ◽  
Extension Services ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Farmer Groups ◽  
Extension Agencies

Land degradation is a major cause of declining yields and loss of dryland ecosystems resilience in the Lake Baringo Basin in Kenya. One of the solutions to land degradation in drylands is the application of Sustainable Land Management (SLM) technologies. Improving farmers’ capacity to adopt SLM technologies has been an important strategy of the Kenyan government and her development partners to addressing land degradation. State agricultural extension services are charged with the role of building this capacity. Unfortunately, such extension services have had little impact in the Kenyan drylands. To counter this inadequacy in extension services, farmers have formed grass-root organisations to foster networks of support and information sharing. In this paper, we analysed the effect of participation in farmers organisation in promoting adoption of SLM practices by agropastoralists in the Lake Baringo Basin. Data were collected through in-depth household interviews with 150 farmers, 79 of them group members and 71 non-group members. Level of knowledge, sources of information and challenges of SLM adoption were studied. The study revealed significant and positive association between group participation and adoption of SLM practices at X2 (3, N=150=63.209, P=0.000). Additionally, group partnering with development agencies like Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and government departments was reported to have significant influence on household adoption of SLM practices at X2 (3, N=79=13.147, P=0.004). The results indicated that farmer groups can effectively be used to leverage farmers' adoption of SLM innovations and potentially improve household income and food security in the Kenyan drylands. We recommended organizational and resource capacity building for farmer groups to promote their effectiveness in provision of resources and services to their members. In addition, government research and extension agencies and academia should consider forming collaborations with farmer groups in generation of SLM technologies that are suited to the farmers location and prevailing context.

scholarly journals Land Degradation Neutrality Assessment Using Geospatial Techniques in North Wello Zone, Northern Ethiopia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Getnet Zeleke Tessera ◽  
Menberu Teshome Zeleke ◽  
Linger Ayele Mersha
Keyword(s):  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Soil Organic Carbon ◽  
Land Management ◽  
Land Degradation ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Remote Sensing Data ◽  
Organic Content ◽  
Northern Ethiopia ◽  
Land Productivity ◽  
Increasing Trend

Abstract Background: Land degradation is increasingly recognized as a serious, nationwide environmental concern in Ethiopia. The key concern is the iterative relationship between land degradation, climate change and agriculture, exacerbating one another via negative and positive feedback loops. Due to the need for an efficient response to land degradation in the country, different sustainable land management practices have been implemented since the late 1980s. In Ethiopia, most of the previous researches were conducted on analyzing the determinants of decisions to implement land management practices. The objective of this study was to analyze land degradation neutrality status using remote sensing data in the study area. Results: We have studied the land degradation neutrality conditions of North Wello Zone by using indicators data, namely land cover change, land productivity dynamics and soil organic carbon stock. The areas of settlement consistently expanded at the fifth speed (2010-2018) from 1995 to 2010. Between 1995 and 2010, forestland declined by 18 percent, while it indicated an increasing trend of 26.8 percent from 2010 to 2018. The wetlands declined by 21.98 percent from 1995 to 2010; whereas zero net degradation was observed from 2010 to 2020. In addition, between 1995 and 2010, cropland and grassland showed an increasing trend but decreasing trends were detected between 2010 and 2018. Land productivity potential assessment results indicate that 52.8 percent of the total area is stable and characterized by a less stressed land productivity status. Approximately 22.7 percent of the land showed an increase in land productivity status from 2001 to 2018. The results also indicated that 19.64 percent of the land shows an early sign of decline or actual land productivity decline. 3.5 percent of land also shows a decline in productivity. The soil organic carbon is comparatively abundant in the high and midland vegetation areas but very thin in lowland areas.Conclusion: Most of the highland and midland parts of the study areas are stable and increasing land productivity condition with high biomass and soil organic content. However, most lowland areas showed a decline land productivity condition.

scholarly journals Determinants of farmers' tree-planting investment decisions as a degraded landscape management strategy in the central highlands of Ethiopia

Solid Earth ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 639-650 ◽  
Author(s):  
Berhan Gessesse ◽  
Woldeamlak Bewket ◽  
Achim Bräuning
Keyword(s):  
Land Management ◽  
Land Tenure ◽  
Land Degradation ◽  
Management Strategy ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Investment Decisions ◽  
Tree Planting ◽  
Management Policy ◽  
Sustainable Land Management ◽  
Wide Range

Abstract. Land degradation due to lack of sustainable land management practices is one of the critical challenges in many developing countries including Ethiopia. This study explored the major determinants of farm-level tree-planting decisions as a land management strategy in a typical farming and degraded landscape of the Modjo watershed, Ethiopia. The main data were generated from household surveys and analysed using descriptive statistics and a binary logistic regression model. The model significantly predicted farmers' tree-planting decisions (χ2 =  37.29, df  =  15, P < 0.001). Besides, the computed significant value of the model revealed that all the considered predictor variables jointly influenced the farmers' decisions to plant trees as a land management strategy. The findings of the study demonstrated that the adoption of tree-growing decisions by local land users was a function of a wide range of biophysical, institutional, socioeconomic and household-level factors. In this regard, the likelihood of household size, productive labour force availability, the disparity of schooling age, level of perception of the process of deforestation and the current land tenure system had a critical influence on tree-growing investment decisions in the study watershed. Eventually, the processes of land-use conversion and land degradation were serious, which in turn have had adverse effects on agricultural productivity, local food security and poverty trap nexus. Hence, the study recommended that devising and implementing sustainable land management policy options would enhance ecological restoration and livelihood sustainability in the study watershed.

Assessing land degradation and identifying potential sustainable land management practices at the subnational level in Lebanon

2019 ◽  
Vol 191 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
George Mitri ◽  
Georgy Nasrallah ◽  
Karen Gebrael ◽  
Maria Bou Nassar ◽  
Manale Abou Dagher ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Management ◽  
Land Degradation ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Sustainable Land Management
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