scholarly journals Innovativity in Legislative, Political and Organizational Frameworks of Sustainable Land Management in Benin

Author(s):  
Faridah Dosso ◽  
Latifou Idrissou ◽  
Ismail Moumouni Moussa

Agricultural lands are increasingly degraded due to various human actions (overgrazing, intensive use of chemical inputs) and the consequences of climate change. In Benin, 62% of agricultural land were degraded in 2017. In this regard, Sustainable Land Management measures are highlighted by various public decisions. This study analyzed the political, legislative, and organizational frameworks of Sustainable Land Management in Benin. It was carried out through content analysis of laws, decrees, and Sustainable Land Management policy documents to highlight the place of innovativity in institutional and organizational framework in Sustainable Land Management in Benin. Results reveal that the various frameworks analyzed are oriented towards developing practice-based innovations through the implementation of Sustainable Land Management measures, support to actors in the implementation of Sustainable Land Management innovations and the monitoring and evaluation of Sustainable Land Management strategies. The capacity to innovate is also promoted through the strengthening of the technical, institutional, material, and financial capacities of the actors. On the other hand, the propensity to innovate component of Innovativity is hardly addressed in Sustainable Land Management public policies in Benin. It is therefore necessary to direct agricultural policies towards an institutionalization of the strengthening of the propensity to innovate of agricultural producers for a long-term appropriation of Sustainable Land Management measures in Benin.

CATENA ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 118 ◽  
pp. 91-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juma Wickama ◽  
Barrack Okoba ◽  
Geert Sterk

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 832 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maggie G. Munthali ◽  
Nerhene Davis ◽  
Abiodun M. Adeola ◽  
Joel O. Botai ◽  
Jonathan M. Kamwi ◽  
...  

Research on Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) dynamics, and an understanding of the drivers responsible for these changes, are very crucial for modelling future LULC changes and the formulation of sustainable and robust land-management strategies and policy decisions. This study adopted a mixed method consisting of remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS)-based analysis, focus-group discussions, key informant interviews, and semi-structured interviews covering 586 households to assess LULC dynamics and associated LULC change drivers across the Dedza district, a central region of Malawi. GIS-based analysis of remotely sensed data revealed that barren land and built-up areas extensively increased at the expense of agricultural and forest land between 1991 and 2015. Analysis of the household-survey results revealed that the perceptions of respondents tended to validate the observed patterns during the remotely sensed data-analysis phase of the research, with 57.3% (n = 586) of the respondents reporting a decline in agricultural land use, and 87.4% (n = 586) observing a decline in forest areas in the district. Furthermore, firewood collection, charcoal production, population growth, and poverty were identified as the key drivers of these observed LULC changes in the study area. Undoubtedly, education has emerged as a significant factor influencing respondents’ perceptions of these drivers of LULC changes. However, unsustainable LULC changes observed in this study have negative implications on rural livelihoods and natural-resource management. Owing to the critical role that LULC dynamics play to rural livelihoods and the ecosystem, this study recommends further research to establish the consequences of these changes. The present study and future research will support decision makers and planners in the design of tenable and coherent land-management strategies.


Author(s):  
Claudia KAMMANN ◽  
Jim IPPOLITO ◽  
Nikolas HAGEMANN ◽  
Nils BORCHARD ◽  
Maria Luz CAYUELA ◽  
...  

Agriculture and land use change has significantly increased atmospheric emissions of the non-CO2 green-house gases (GHG) nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4). Since human nutritional and bioenergy needs continue to increase, at a shrinking global land area for production, novel land management strategies are required that reduce the GHG footprint per unit of yield. Here we review the potential of biochar to reduce N2O and CH4 emissions from agricultural practices including potential mechanisms behind observed effects. Furthermore, we investigate alternative uses of biochar in agricultural land management that may significantly reduce the GHG-emissions-per-unit-of-product footprint, such as (i) pyrolysis of manures as hygienic alternative to direct soil application, (ii) using biochar as fertilizer carrier matrix for underfoot fertilization, biochar use (iii) as composting additive or (iv) as feed additive in animal husbandry or for manure treatment. We conclude that the largest future research needs lay in conducting life-cycle GHG assessments when using biochar as an on-farm management tool for nutrient-rich biomass waste streams.


Solid Earth ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 639-650 ◽  
Author(s):  
Berhan Gessesse ◽  
Woldeamlak Bewket ◽  
Achim Bräuning

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.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document