Sustainable Land Use and Agricultural Soil

Abstract

Sustainable land use is the management of the natural environment and the built environment to conserve the resources that help to sustain the current local human population and that of future generations. This review serves three purposes. First, it gives an introduction to the concept of sustainability in relation to land use, assessing what is “unsustainable” and what is “sustainable.” The environmental, historical, and social context is described for understanding current land-use practices. But this will not suppress the demand for viable developmental processes and the potential collateral effects in order to avoid resource depletion. Where natural resources exist, exploitation needs to be adjusted to carrying capacity – that is, it must be determined to what degree the environment is capable of absorbing the impact of the development. As agricultural soil is the foundation for nearly all land uses, soil quality stands as a key indicator of sustainable land use. Second, land use and its mismanagement of arable areas by farmers and grazing areas by livestock is addressed as one of the major causes of soil degradation. This result from erosion, decline in fertility, changes in aeration and soil-water content, salinization, or a change in soil flora or fauna. By reflecting the basic functioning capacity of the soil, it is the measure of many potential uses. On the other hand, management policy will have to adapt agriculture to climate change by encouraging flexibility in land use, crop production, and farming systems. In doing so, it is necessary to consider the multifunctional role of agriculture and to strike a versatile balance between economic, environmental, and social functions in different regions and sectors. Also, attention needs to be paid to all issues concerning agricultural strategies in order to mitigate climate change through a reduction in emissions of greenhouse gases, by increasing carbon sequestration in agricultural soils and mediating the growth of energy crops as substitutes for fossil fuels. Third, it concludes that sustainable land use in agricultural systems involves readjusting unsuitable land use and promoting the appropriate use of land for sustainable systems. This review discusses some of the fundamental tasks and examines why sustainable land-use practices and innovations need to be adopted, providing a perspective of close ­collaboration among scientists, land managers, and policymakers.