Learning from Non‐Linear Ecosystem Dynamics Is Vital for Achieving Land Degradation Neutrality

Land Degradation Neutrality is one of the Sustainable Development Goal targets, requiring on‐going degradation to be balanced by restoration and sustainable land management. However, restoration and efforts to prevent degradation have often failed to deliver expected benefits, despite enormous investments. Better acknowledging the close relationships between climate, land management and non‐linear ecosystem dynamics can help restoration activities to meet their intended goals, while supporting climate change adaptation and mitigation. This paper is the first to link ecological theory of non‐linear ecosystem dynamics to Land Degradation Neutrality offering essential insights into appropriate timings, climate‐induced windows of opportunities and risks and the financial viability of investments. These novel insights are pre‐requisites for meaningful operationalisation and monitoring of progress towards Land Degradation Neutrality. © 2017 The Authors. Journal of Land Degradation & Development published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

Farmers' perception of land‐cover changes in NE Iceland

Land degradation is considered to be a major environmental problem by scientific and political institutions in Iceland. In past years, land degradation problems related to sheep and horse grazing have gradually come to the fore in public discussion of environmental questions. However, land degradation is often evaluated in different ways by different groups of people. This has led to a lack of consensus regarding rates and severity of land degradation. Therefore, it is important to study differences in environmental perception, and how these differences can be dealt with in the context of sustainable management. This paper aims to highlight farmers' perception of land degradation in Iceland, as perceptions of the environment determine the basis for human activities related to the land. A total of 100 farmers in NE Iceland were questioned and interviewed for their opinions on land degradation, its history, causes and severity. The results indicate that farmers consider land degradation to be a slow process, and not a catastrophic phenomenon. The understanding of the general ecological processes by the users affects their practices and concern for their environment. This feeds back on the land‐use system and ultimately causes changes in land‐cover. Therefore, if we are to increase our understanding of the processes that lead to land‐cover changes we have to integrate the perceptions of land users and technical experts. In this way we may improve conservation practices and land‐resource management policies. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mapping Changes in Land Cover Composition and Pattern for Comparing Mediterranean Rangeland Restoration Alternatives

The limited amount of studies addressing the long‐term effectiveness of restoration actions to combat land degradation is a constraint for current landscape restoration planning and implementation. Remote sensing data provide a unique opportunity for gathering information on the spatial and temporal variability of restoration processes and may contribute to fill this knowledge gap. The aim of this study is to compare different management actions undertaken in Mediterranean degraded rangelands (i.e. dense pine plantations, thinned pine plantations, protection and passive management) by analysing landscape composition and pattern change assessed from object‐based classification of aerial photograph of 1954, 1977 and 2006. Results show a clear link between landscape composition and structure and the different restoration actions, allowing comparison between their spatial and temporal dynamics. All restoration actions promoted an increase in woody vegetation cover compared with non‐restored areas. However, only protection and passive management favoured the restoration of dense, complex and well‐connected patches of native Mediterranean maquis. The proposed methodology is discussed with respect to its applicability for future Mediterranean landscape restoration planning in a wider geographic and ecological perspective. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

RANGELAND DEGRADATION ON THE QINGHAI‐TIBET PLATEAU: IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION

With ever intensifying land use, land degradation is becoming an increasingly important issue around the world, especially in China. This paper evaluates the extent and underlying causes of rangeland degradation on the Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau in China through a comprehensive review of the literature. Diverse forms and differing intensities of rangeland degradation have been reported in several regions of the Plateau. Rangeland degradation is particularly severe in South Qinghai, North Tibet and the Qaidam Basin. Anthropogenic activities, especially changing land use practices, are identified as the primary force driving rangeland degradation. Dissimilar to climate change‐induced degradation, such anthropogenic degradation is a rather short‐term process altering the abiotic properties of the underlying soil. On the basis of these findings, we assessed the prospects of rehabilitating degraded rangeland to productive uses. Different measures are proposed to rehabilitate rangelands that have been degraded by different mechanisms. Reduction in grazing intensity is prescribed to rehabilitate reversibly degraded rangelands. Targeted human intervention in the forms of selective planting of grasses and artificial seeding, in conjunction with ecological and biological control of the plateau rodent population, is recommended to rehabilitate ‘irreversibly’ degraded rangelands. Our studies suggest it is very difficult or even impossible to rehabilitate new assemblage of species which appear as a result of climate change. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Land management policy and practice in a steepland agricultural area: a Malaysian example

The steeplands worked by Malaysian farmers are being severely degraded by loss of fertility, landsliding and soil erosion. Although the need to conserve and carefully manage agricultural land is clearly stated in government policies, the actual outcomes of policy implementation are often not effective, real government action appearing to be concentrated on alleviating urban environmental problems rather than on sustainable use of rural land. Detailed investigations in villages in western Sabah, Malaysia Borneo, found that lack of commitment to ensure the long‐term sustainability of the land farmed by the rural poor was reflected in the types of training programme of the agricultural extension service field workers, and the advice and practices encouraged by the government. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Enhancement of area‐specific land‐use objectives for land development

Maps of land‐use classes and soil series were analysed to identify areas having specific priorities with respect to agricultural land‐use analysis. Remote sensing data supported by field investigations was used to generate land‐use and soil maps. Present relationships between soils and associated land cover/use are analysed and patterns in these relationships are identified using GIS techniques. Relationships observed on the basis of a priori knowledge of the area and the available statistics are compared and these relationships in the field and through interviews with farmers are correlated. This allows three land‐use analysis objectives to be formulated: crop management improvement; crop selection; and conservation. The results can be used to focus the efforts of planning and extension services in the area. The method was tested using a participatory rural appraisal in eighteen villages in which the areas for the three land‐use analysis objectives were identified. The findings are that the areas identified for crop management improvement require knowledge about management practices for a specific crop to optimize yield and water use. Most areas identified for crop selection are occupied by smallholder subsistence farmers with insufficient water for irrigation, and a lack of contact with the extension service. In these areas, identifying suitable crops to minimize risk and allow subsistence for the resource‐poor farmers may be the priority. In areas identified for conservation the question to be addressed is whether to grow a crop at all, or to encourage alternative activities. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Rangeland Use Change to Agriculture Has Different Effects on Soil Organic Matter Fractions Depending on the Type of Cultivation

The agricultural use of natural ecosystem is increasing in the Middle East because of population growth in the most countries. The type of cultivation could affect the content of soil organic matter in the rangeland use changes into agriculture. Therefore, we compared soil organic matter fractions of semi‐arid rangelands with agricultural lands (wheat‐land, pea‐land and orchard) where have been changed from semi‐arid rangelands to agriculture 15 years before. The results showed that in general, total and particulate organic matter (TOM and POM) and total nitrogen (TN) were highest in the rangeland compared with the three‐agricultural lands in intact soil, macro‐aggregates and micro‐aggregates (p < 0·05). Nevertheless, TOM content in orchard (1·45%) was higher than the two other land uses, and there was no significant difference of TN between natural rangeland and orchard in intact soil. The highest values of POM were obtained in the rangeland (0·23%) and orchard (0·22%), and the lowest value of POM was obtained in the pea‐land (0·14%) and wheat‐land (0·08%) in macro‐aggregates. In micro‐aggregates, TOM, POM and TN were highest in the rangeland (1·77%, 0·23% and 0·19%, respectively) and showed similar pattern in the three‐agricultural lands. We discussed that compared with pea‐land and wheat‐land, orchard was received less negative impact on soil qualitative parameters in land use changes projects from rangeland into agriculture. We conclude that orchard could be a better option in rangeland use changes into agriculture compared with the other cultivations. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Changing grazing systems in central north Namibia

Current and historical livestock movement patterns are explored in a semi‐arid communal environment in central–north Namibia, placed in context of increasing population, large‐scale enclosures, increased water supply and changing vegetation. Farmer's knowledge of movements, rangeland potential, vegetation condition and plant indicators was gathered and analysed with various methods such as Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA). Local rangeland units were mapped with Landsat TM imagery and analysed with a Geographical Information System (GIS). The data suggest that good grazing was previously maintained by low herbivore pressure and frequent fires in a management regime controlled by hunter‐gatherers and limited permanent water supply. Population increase in settled areas starts migration to more fertile land units in previous prime grazing areas causing a conflict between grazing and cropping and a decrease in grazing condition triggering further migration and need for new water supply. Recent large‐scale enclosures are targeting predominantly more fertile land units with the most palatable perennial grass species and water, causing further conflict for communal farmers. Having reached the frontier of the traditional land there is no space for further expansion, resulting in the need to adapt to uncertainty with annual grasses more dependent on rainfall. Livestock movement patterns have changed drastically for large herd owners from transhumance and migration to largely permanent cattle posts. Small herd owners face increasing longer movements between kraals , water points, depending on less suitable and decreased unfenced grazing lands. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Farmers' perception of treated paper mill effluent irrigation

The utilization of treated paper mill effluents for irrigation offers many benefits such as conservation of water resources, conversion of barren land into irrigated area, addition of nutrients to the soil and plant and above all the reduction of pollution of inland water bodies. However, the utility of this effluent irrigation programme depends mainly on farmers' acceptability, adoption and management of the scheme. Knowledge about the farmers' perception is thus very much imperative for further advocacy of the effluent irrigation programme. The determinants of farmers' perception of treated paper mill effluent irrigation is a pre‐requisite for the formulation of better programmes and strategies for the support of an unobstructed adoption and for the long‐term sustainability of effluent irrigation schemes. The present study was conducted to assess the farmers' perception and the determinants that influence the adoption of treated paper mill effluent irrigation by interviewing a random sample of 120 farmers, using a well‐structured interview schedule in paper mill effluent irrigated area in Tamil Nadu in India. The study revealed that there exists positive significant correlation between the perception and the characteristics of the farmers viz. educational status, farm size, annual income, mass media exposure, innovativeness and risk orientation. The response analysis of the perception revealed that treated paper mill effluent as alternative assured supply of irrigation water, conversion of elevated dry lands to irrigated land, changing of cropping pattern to sugarcane, increase in socioeconomic status of the farmers, incentives and technical inputs by the paper mill authorities and above all farmers' participation in planning, implementation and management of the effluent irrigation schemes influenced the farmers to form positive perception. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Soil information for agricultural decision making: a New Zealand perspective

Understanding of the soil resource is pivotal to our ability to use, manage and modify soils effectively and responsibly. Yet those who make the most decisions concerning soil use and management – farmers and landholders – rarely have access to reliable soil information at scales suitable for farm decision making. By default, many rely on limited local soil knowledge when making decisions that determine farm performance and environmental impact. Providing detailed nationwide soil information that is appropriate for farm decision making is feasible, as demonstrated by the achievements of several European countries and the USA. For New Zealand, a stratified programme at scales of 1:10 000 for versatile land; 1:25 000 for other agricultural land; and 1:50 000 for non‐domesticated land, would cost NZD $280 million, or NZD $11.2 million per year if spread over the useful life of the information. This investment is small relative to the economic value of agriculture, and necessary if New Zealand is to make meaningful advances in reducing current agri‐environmental trends.     

耕地资源可持续发展的系统动力学仿真分析

[目的]探讨耕地生态修复对粮食产量和土壤重金属含量的影响,为耕地可持续利用提供决策。[方法]以天津市为例,运用系统动力学方法,构建耕地生态修复系统动力学模型(CLERSD),设置绿色发展策略、可持续发展策略、生态修复3种策略下的6种情景,对天津市2016—2030年不同用地模式下的系统发展趋势进行仿真。[结果]从长期趋势看,绿色发展策略中,增加化肥农药的使用虽然可以短期增产,但于长期无益,而且还会有较多的耕地由于受损而需要生态修复。可持续发展策略中,增加投资可以提高粮食产量,促进农业可持续发展;而增加污水灌溉,虽然可在短期内更好地满足作物生长用水需求,但长期使用会导致重金属镉的含量上升,使较多的耕地需要转为生态用地;生态修复策略中,种植具有较强金属富集能力的植物,可以使生态用地在较短时内完成对受损耕地的修复,使土壤重金属含量降低、耕地数量增多。[结论]在农业生产中,可以通过改变农药化肥投入、资金投入、降低污水灌溉和耕地生态修复等措施,维护粮食安全和促进农业绿色可持续发展。     

陕北榆林市土地生态价值及生态风险动态分析

以榆林市的遥感影像资料为依据,运用地学信息图谱的理论和方法,在RS和GIS的支持下,生成了榆林市1985-2000年的土地利用及生态价值变化图谱;在此基础上,对该区土地利用及生态价值的时空变化特征进行了分析,并作了土地生态风险动态评估.研究表明,研究期内,榆林市未利用地及水域面积减少,耕地、林地、草地及建设用地面积增加,其中草地增加最多;未利用地向草地流转及草地与耕地的相互转化占了全区土地利用类型总变动量的79.59%,其中,北6县以未利用地向草地及草地向耕地流转为主,南6县以草地向林地及耕地向草地转变为主;土地利用变化使该区生态价值总量增加了3.11%,其中,北6县占总增量的86.74%;榆林市土地生态风险降低,与土地生态价值的变化情况能够相互印证.     

广西生态移民迁入区的移民效应评估

生态移民是新形势下中国扶贫开发的重要战略举措,研究采用参与性农户评估方法,以广西环江县30个典型移民安置屯为例,开展生态移民背景下移民迁入区人地关系研究,将调查农户划分为迁入农户和原驻地农户,通过对比2组农户的现有耕地面积、经济收入以及对移民政策和环境变化的响应等问题,探讨移民迁入区的移民效应和可持续性.研究表明:生态移民工程受到农户的普遍认可与支持,迁入农户占有的耕地资源质量和经济收入较搬迁前有大幅度提高,土地利用与农业种植业结构进一步优化.但仍需关注迁入区移民较原驻民耕地占有量和经济发展速度偏低、迁入区人口增加对土地资源和生态环境可持续利用造成的冲击等问题.     

Commercial agriculture as creative destruction or destructive creation: a case study of chili cultivation and plant‐pest disease in the southern Yucatán region

Agricultural change encompasses both social and ecological alterations, some negative, some positive. Studies of land change and land degradation treat plant pest and diseases triggered by agricultural change in an inconsistent fashion. A study of the southern Yucatán region of Mexico reveals that the shift to commercial chili cultivation yields both positive and negative consequences, akin to the concepts of creative destruction and destructive creation. The negative consequences are dramatically amplified by persistent plant pest and diseases apparently triggered by the means of cultivation and by the inclusion of the region into a national marketing structure. Thus, while providing economic benefits to some of the farmers of the region the short‐ and long‐term impacts of chili cultivation on farmer households is mixed. Studies of agricultural land‐use change and household economics will benefit by incorporating plant pests and diseases as one of the suite of factors involved in land degradation. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

山西省潞安矿区生态恢复模式研究

在对潞安矿区自然经济条件、环境破坏程度和土地利用现状进行调查与分析的基础上,根据潞安矿区实际,以尽快恢复被破坏土地的原有生产力为出发点,以恢复改善生态环境为目标,提出了稳定塌陷区生态恢复模式、潜在或动态塌陷区生态恢复模式、煤矸石山环境治理模式、废弃地生态恢复模式、环境污染区生态恢复模式、家园服务生态恢复模式等6类适合潞安矿区的生态恢复模式,每类模式里又包含几种子模式.经过对矿区不同区域实施的生态恢复模式成效的调查结果表明,该生态恢复模式系统的建立和空间分布格局是科学合理的,符合潞安矿区的实际情况,并取得了良好的经济效益和生态效益.     

Carbon stocks in Ethiopian soils in relation to land use and soil management

The effect of soil management and land use change are of interest to the sustainable land management for improving the environment and advancing food security in developing countries. Both anthropogenic changes and natural processes affect agriculture primarily by altering soil quality. This paper reviews and synthesizes the available literatures related to the influence of soil management and land use changes on soil carbon (C) stock in Ethiopia. The review shows that topsoil C stock declines approximately 0–63%, 0–23%, and 17–83% upon land use conversion from forest to crop land, to open grazing, and to plantation, respectively. An increase of 1–3% in soil C stock was observed within 10 years of converting open grazed land to protected enclosures. However, there was a little change in soil C stock below 20 cm depth. There is a large potential of increasing SOC pool with adoption of land restorative measures. Total potential of soil C sequestration with the adoption of restoration measures ranges 0·066–2·2 Tg C y⁻¹ on rain‐fed cropland and 4·2–10·5 Tg C y⁻¹ on rangeland. Given large area and diverse ecological conditions in Ethiopia, research data available in published literature are rather scanty. Therefore, researchable priorities identified in this review are important. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Valuing Ecosystem Services in Semi‐arid Rangelands through Stochastic Simulation

Ecosystem services and economic returns from semi‐arid rangelands are threatened by land degradation. Policies to improve ecosystem service delivery often fail to consider uncertainty in economic returns gained through different land uses and management practices. We apply an analytical framework using stochastic simulation to estimate the range of potential monetary outcomes of rangeland ecosystem services under different land uses, including consideration of the uncertainty and variability of model parameters. We assess monetary and non‐monetary dimensions, including those ecosystem services with uncertain and missing information, for communal rangelands, commercial ranches, game farms and Wildlife Management Areas in southern Kgalagadi District, Botswana. Public land uses (communal grazing areas and protected conservation land in Wildlife Management Areas) provide higher economic value than private land uses (commercial ranches and game farms), despite private land uses being more profitable in their returns from meat production. Communal rangelands and protected areas are important for a broader range of ecosystem services (cultural/spiritual services, recreation, firewood, construction material and wild food), which play a key role in sustaining the livelihoods of the largest share of society. The full range of ecosystem services should therefore be considered in economic assessments, while policies targeting sustainable land management should value and support their provision and utilisation. By forecasting the range of plausible ecosystem values of different rangeland land uses in monetary terms, our analysis provides policymakers with a tool to assess outcomes of land use and management decisions and policies. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于耗散结构理论的四川省耕地生态安全测度分析

耕地生态安全直接关系到粮食生产,粮食生产是关系到社会和谐发展的重大政策问题,研究四川省耕地生态安全状况,为保护区域粮食安全、促进社会协调发展提供理论指导和决策参考。以我国西部重要商品粮基地四川省为研究区,基于耗散结构理论,运用数学量化模型分析了该省2000—2013年耕地生态安全级别和演变趋势,并探讨其影响因素。结果表明:（1）四川省近14 a间耕地生态安全级别总体较安全;（2）2000—2008年四川省耕地生态安全逐年得以改善,2008—2013年四川省耕地生态状况略呈下降趋势;（3）影响四川省耕地生态安全状况的因素是社会经济压力因素、农业科技因素和生态环境因素。因此提出继续加强耕地保护宣传力度,提高农民生态保护意识;实施耕地生态安全恢复工程;结合“互联网+”建立覆盖全省的耕地生态安全监控网络体系的对策建议。     

我国农牧交错区土地退化研究——以宁夏盐池县为例

 从荒漠化发展历史角度出发,通过收集历史资料和固定样地观测,采用数学分析方法,利用马尔可夫链(Markov)模型和模糊模式识别方法对盐池荒漠化现状、动态变化以及荒漠化治理措施效益进行分析。结果表明:1)盐池县近半个世纪以来土地荒漠化呈急剧扩大趋势,荒漠化土地面积平均年增长率4.03％。2)盐池县荒漠化主要原因是在脆弱生态环境基础上,人为不合理经济活动所致。3)如果能做到严格执法,全面落实禁牧政策并加强防沙治沙工程管理,盐池县荒漠化土地将得到全面治理,否则盐池县荒漠化形势将继续恶化。认为能否全面落实禁牧和退耕还林政策,将直接影响盐池县荒漠化防治。     

Effects of spatial heterogeneity and subsample pooling on the measurement of abiotic and biotic soil properties in rainforest,pasture and reforested sites

Spatial variability presents a challenge for effective measurement of ecological processes in soil ecosystems. This study characterized the heterogeneity of seven different biotic and abiotic soil properties at three ecological scales: land‐use type (vegetation type), site (scale of km to tens of km, and subplot (10–30 m). We addressed three questions about soil properties: (i) Do they differ more at any ecological scale when compared with other scales? (ii) Does physically combining samples from replicate subplots affect their measurement? (iii) What are the implications of this variation for the detection of differences caused by changing land‐use? There were five land‐use types: remnant rainforest, pasture, ecological restoration plantings 10–15 yrs old, 40–50 yrs regrowth dominated by the non‐native tree camphor laurel (Cinnamomum camphora) and rainforest regrowth 3–6 yrs after poisoning of camphor trees within older regrowth. Sites were interspersed within a 750 km² region of subtropical Eastern Australia. In general, variability was greatest at the site and subplot levels. Soil water content, soil organic matter and pH were less variable than total organic carbon, microbial biomass, nitrate and nitrification. Power analyses using total organic carbon and nitrate showed that adequate replication at both site and subplot levels was important for detecting effects of land‐use type, although increased replication was slightly more effective for subplots than for sites. Subplot spacing was relatively unimportant. Physically combining subplot samples to yield one aggregate measurement per site was successful in reducing analytical effort without sacrificing accuracy for all soil properties except total organic carbon and nitrification.