Level Of Land Degradation Research Articles

Regional convergence of environmental variables: Empirical evidences from land degradation

Studies on regional convergence in environmental variables may provide useful information to drive policies regarding complex processes featured by the interaction of ecological and economic factors. In order to provide empirically observed evidences on regional convergence in environmental phenomena, we chose Land Degradation (LD) as the study variable because it represents a key topic in both environmental projections and policy strategies. This paper explores the temporal variation (1990–2000) of a synthetic index of vulnerability to LD, called ESAI (Environmental Sensitive Area Index), calculated on the whole Italian territory. Convergence in land vulnerability was analysed on three different geographical scales: NUTS-2 regions, NUTS-3 provinces, and local labour systems (LLSs). Different convergence patterns were identified and discussed according to the level of LD estimated over the national territory and the economic characteristics of these areas.

Soil erosion in the Swartland, Western Cape Province, South Africa: implications of past and present policy and practice

Abstract The Western Cape Province of South Africa has a long history of human occupation and utilisation; the impact of colonial settlement (late 17th century onwards) on agriculture has been especially prominent. The Mediterranean-type climate of the Western Cape results in landscapes which are potentially susceptible to land degradation, perhaps even desertification. The Swartland is a gently undulating inland plateau underlain largely by fine-grained and nutrient-rich shales of the pre-Cambrian Malmesbury group. Agriculture is the dominant land use to the extent of wholesale landscape transformation. The area has been subject to significant levels of land degradation in the past, manifesting itself as widespread gully erosion. During the 1940s, the region was described as on the verge of economic collapse due to the severity of soil erosion, but concerted soil conservation and education efforts under the political dispensation of the time appear to have averted that scenario. The region now faces the combined challenges of potentially rapid climate change under a considerably altered socio-economic and political order. Downscaled climate change scenarios facilitate a regional assessment of changes in the parameters affecting soil erosion susceptibility in the Swartland and leads to a consideration of the implications of such scenarios for the continuation of contemporary land use practices.

Priority setting and the conservation of Western Australia's diverse and highly endemic flora

A fundamental role of government conservation agencies is to set priorities for the conservation and management of biodiversity. This is particulary important in an area such as Western Australia which has a rich and highly endemic flora with over 11,000 listed native vascular plants. Legislation provides an initial focus for priority setting through the listing and protection of threatened flora, although this excludes over 1900 Western Australian plant taxa which are poorly known but may be of conservation significance. The priority setting process for the conservation of this flora, discussed herein, focuses on single taxa, groups of taxa within geographic regions, populations and threatening processes. This process is particularly applicable to the highly diverse and endemic flora of the south-west Botanical Province. Within this region there has been extensive habitat loss and degradation over the last 100 years. Currently the prioritisation process has identified 95 critically endangered taxa in the southwest which require immediate remedial action to prevent extinction. Actions such as translocations are already showing promise, but with this number of critically endangered taxa and limited resources there may also need to be some ranking of taxa for immediate translocation. Although the priority setting process outlined here relates primarily to taxa, we emphasise that the conservation of this flora is also addressed at ecosystem and ecological community levels, and that each approach has its merits depending upon land tenure, location within the State and, in particular, the level of land degradation.

Rangeland restoration projects in western New South Wales.

The semi-arid to arid Western Division of New South Wales has suffered significant levels of land degradation due to overstocking by domestic animals and rabbits. Three major forms of land degradation are identified, soil erosion, woody weed growth and pasture quality decline. Restoration techniques developed and applied by the New South Wales Soil Conservation Service are presented and discussed. The successful techniques presented are contour furrowing and waterponding for sheet eroded or scalded areas, fire and blade ploughing for woody weed control and grazing management to reverse pasture decline. The lack of knowledge on pasture species responses to grazing management stimuli is highlighted.