ESBN Working Group on Land Degradation

Is it feasible?

Is it needed?

Who should participate?

What could be the outputs and deliverables?

Who needs them?

How to use them?

Proposed by:Pandi Zdruli, Selim Kapur and Luca Montanarella

Land/soil degradation

Land degradatio

n

Soil degradation

Resource base:

Natural processes

Human-induced processes

- Climate- Biosphere

- Water- Soil

- other

- Inefficiency to maintain economic and ecological functions of land - Reduction capacity of the land to perform its functions and produce goods and services

Physical, chemical, and/or biological degradation of

the SOIL loss of its ability to fulfil its functions

(productivity and environmental)

quantitative and qualitative

changes

(i.e. climate change, volcanoes, earthquakes)

Could mitigate (+) BUT could accelerate (-) effects on natural processes

Land degradation

• Has received widespread debate at global level

• Many definitions, often with distinctive disciplinary-oriented meaning

• Few assessments, scattered data, some exclude important socio-economic considerations

• Lack of monitoring systems

Past assessments

• Used different definitions of land degradation• Have been carried out with different methods -

often considering only one aspect of land degradation (e.g. only soil degradation)

• Often based on the risks of degradation rather than the actual state of the land

• Use different scales and parameters to quantify the extent of degradation

• Results are often not comparable

?• What is the real magnitude/rate of land

degradation (not only the risk of degradation)?

• Where are the biggest problems: what do we need to manage, how, by whom, for how long?

• How much does it cost to solve/prevent problems?

• What are the benefits of acting or not?

• How do we know if we are improving?

Therefore we still don’t know…

Need for assessments that:• Use harmonised definitions and methods• Consider biophysical and socio-economic

aspects • Use several disciplines to address the

complexity of land degradation• Address different scales• Allow for data comparability• Make best use of information already available

Need for a new generation of Land Degradation assessments

What for?

• Identify a baseline to:– Establish priorities based on cost-benefit

analyses– Decide on best actions for conservation,

rehabilitation/reclamation–Monitor success of new land management

practices–Monitor success of actions from NAPs-

Conventions

What for?

• Make use of funds in the best possible way

• Explore the potential for resolving common problems at regional level

• Stop the trend of assessing forever using different parameters…

Some concepts of land degradation in the past

FAO 1979: Land degradation is a process which lowers the current and/or potential capability of soils to produce

Houghton and Charman 1986: Aspects of physical, chemical, and/or biological deterioration including loss of organic matter, decline in soil fertility, decline in structural condition, erosion, adverse changes in salinity, acidity or alkalinity, and the effects of toxic chemicals, pollutants or excessive flooding

UNEP 1992: Land degradation implies reduction of resource potential by one or a combination of processes acting on land

Some concepts of land degradation in the past

Some focused in single compartments (e.g. only soils)Some considered a limited number of processes Do not help to understand the complexity of land degradation, since they consider only biophysical aspects

LADA definition, 2005

Land degradation is the reduction in the capacity of the land to perform ecosystem functions and services (including those of agro-ecosystems and urban systems) that support society and development

Definition adopted by the Land Degradation Assessment in Drylands (LADA) project:

Evolving concepts of land degradation (II)

land1992

land- ecosystem functions and services

2005

soils1979

Land degradation (I)

• Includes damage/change to one or more components:

– Soil– Water bodies (surface, groundwater)– Vegetation cover– Fauna (micro/macrolevel)

Land degradation (II)

– Physical: crusting, compaction, erosion, waterlogging, depletion of underground water, etc.

– Chemical: acidification, leaching, salinisation, changes in cation exchange capacity, fertility depletion, pollution, etc.

– Biological: reduction in total biomass carbon sequestration, changes in biodiversity (micro/macro), eutrophication…

Through different processes (isolated or combined):

Land degradation (III)

These processes are driven by different factors:

• Inappropriate land use/land management • Natural disasters• Socio-economic: land tenure, market,

population growth, institutional support, income, education, human health…

• Political:incentives, political stability or instability…

Aspects to consider

• Land degradation:– is complex, includes physical, chemical,

biological and socio-economic factors, therefore it needs a multidisciplinary approach

– impacts on economic growth– concerns different stakeholders - from the

farmer to the national/regional authorities– Recovering degraded land may be

expensive/not feasible - early action is desirable– Early warning systems are necessary to avoid

further losses

Is it feasible? Yes: ESBN has plenty of internal human resources

Is it needed for Europe? Yes International Working Group on LD and Desertification of IUSS started as a Task Force in 1996 and converted to WG in World Congress of Soil Science in

Montpellier in 1998

howeverThe focus remain in developing countries

But Land Degradation is a problem affecting both poor and rich countries including Europe (i.e. UNCCD Annex 4 European countries )

Who should participate? Scientists of different backgroundsWhat could be the outputs deliverables? Atlas of Land Degradation

for Europe (????) But first we MUST agree on the methodology;

Who needs them? A wide range of stakeholders from policy/decision makers (in Malta many of them do not consider LD a problem) down to the farming community

How to use and disseminate them? All available forms of communication including media, conferences, etc

ESBN Working Group on Land Degradation

European Soil Geographical Database 1:1M

Land Degradation Atlas of Europe

Main topics of the 5th ICLD      Multidisciplinary assessment of land degradation and desertification at local, national, regional and global scales;     Interaction between natural ecosystem components (land, water, biodiversity) and socio-economic indicators and their overall impact on land degradation;     Impacts of human mismanagement on natural resources and examples of best management practices in reducing land degradation effects;     Promotion of income-generating activities that alleviate poverty through enhancement of sustainable crop production systems and valorisation of indigenous knowledge in sustainable ecosystem management;     Participatory management of natural resources as a mean to sustain both productivity and environmental sustainability;      Establishing of the role and responsibilities of various stakeholders in reducing the negative effects of land degradation and enhancing soil conservation measures;     State and development of policy options, management strategies, and guidelines for sustainable natural resources use and management;     Development of economically sustainable measures that match with environmental quality.

Comments/suggestions are most welcomeSend them to:

Pandi@iamb.it

kapur@mail.cu.edu.tr

Luca.montanarella@jrc.it