Land coveruse system developed for south africa 8 3. The economics of land degradation in africa eld initiative. The economics of land degradation benefits of action outweigh the costs a complementary report to the eld initiative the economics of land. Mapping land degradation and conservation in south africa. An assessment of land degradation in the save catchment of. The distribution of arable potential in south africa. Pastoralism is an ancient form of selfprovisioning that is still in wide use today throughout the world.
The united nations conference on environment and development drew up a convention to combat desertification to address the problem of land degradation. Land degradation can be viewed as any change or disturbance to the land perceived to be deleterious or undesirable eswaran, 2001. Land degradation management in southern africa prof. The implementation of the land degradation assessment in drylands lada programme in south africa has been included as one of the deliverables in the strategic plan of the department of agriculture since 2007. Such expert judgments will continue to play a role, regardless of improvements in other methods, because. Land degradation is the blanket term usually used to describe a number of land and soil degradation issues such as soil contamination, soil erosion, desertification, and more. Desertification goes hand in hand with accelerated soil erosion. Land degradation is an important issue in south africa, partly due to the high. The economics of land degradation benefits of action outweigh the costs a complementary report to the eld initiative the economics of land degradation in africa. Environmental consequences of poor farming are currently visible in the vast majority of developing countries. Sumnerc introduction soil erosion is a major problem confronting land resources throughout south africa. Report 200703 glada report 1a, isric world soil information, wageningen, 54p.
Mar 02, 2020 land and soil are some of the most important resources we have on earth. Land degradation assessment in drylands project lada will provide more land degradation data in the future. Land degradation as the land use section earlier in this chapter shows, demands on the land for economic development and pressures from a burgeoning population are leading to unprecedented land use change. Wind and water erosion is extensive in many parts of africa. The nature, extent and causes of land degradation in south.
The land and soil management award rewards land use and soil management. Cuba, senegal, south africa and tunisia for upscaling to countries within their regional remit. South african land degradation monitor saldi a new german. National level lada south africa and 5 other countries catchment level ewt riverine rabbit program in. Economics of land degradation in subsaharan africa. While commercial farmers have certainly contributed to widespread land degradation in south africa, conservation policies have had at least some effect in slowing that degradation and enhancing sustainable land use practice. Nature divided land degradation in south africa request pdf. Jrc vacancy in land and soil degradation assessment. Land degradation and improvement in south africa 1. South africa is especially susceptible to iaps and this is nationally perceived as the countrys greatest land degradation threat, partly because it reduces national streamflow by 2. Land degradation stock photos download 7 royalty free. The cause of land degradation may be single or a complex mix of causes. The framework and guidelines on land policy in africa is the result of a threeyear road map of activities that involved intense reflection, rigorous consultations and exemplary collaboration across the continent. In the context of productivity, land degradation results from a mismatch between land quality and land use beinroth et al.
Land degradation has accelerated during the 20th century due to increasing and combined pressures of agricultural and livestock production overcultivation, overgrazing, forest conversion, urbanization, deforestation, and extreme weather events such as droughts and coastal surges which salinate land. Subsaharan africa experiences deleterious levels of soil erosion, largely due to the interaction between harsh climates of high erosivity, fragile soils. Numerous other national and international projects are underway as soil erosion in africa gains greater attention from policymakers and social as well as environmental organizations. The impact of land degradation on food productivity.
Land degradation is a global environment and development issue. Development of land use systems for south africa agricultural. Causes and impacts of land degradation and desertification. In all eight out of the ten countries constituting southern africa region most people live in rural areas and depend on subsistence agriculture for their livelihoods. A day after the natives land act of 19 was enacted in south africa, solomon plaatje 1995. High intensities of these erosion forms occur mainly in the semiarid and subhumid areas. In the drier parts of africa, millions of hectares of grazing land and rangeland are also threatened with degradation in the arid north, the semiarid south, the sudanosahelian countries and.
Is increasingly becoming a serious problem in bhutan. The term land degradation involves both soil and vegetation degradation. So, its important to learn how landsoil is being used, degraded, and conservedprotected. Mapping degradation in the terrestrial environment. Department of geography, university of the free state and hendrik smith, conservation agriculture facilitator, grain sa. Mapping land use systems at global and regional scales for. Land degradation over vast areas in tropical semiarid regions, as a result of persistent.
Land degradation the process of land degradation in southern africa is blamed on water and. The effect of land degradation is more severe in drylands, as these. Given that livelihoods of the majority of the rural poor heavily depend on natural resources, countries in the region have designed a number of policies and strategies to address land degradation and to enhance productivity. Example of a base map with land use systems and administrative units from south africa.
Land degradation can be considered in terms of the loss of actual or potential productivity or utility as a result of natural or anthropic factors. Deforestation is a major cause of land degradation and destabilization of natural. Dryland degradation in other words, desertification is defined for the purposes of this paper as a persistent decrease in the capacity of an arid or semiarid ecosystem to supply a range of services, including but not restricted to forage, fuel, timber, crops, fresh water, wildharvested foods, biodiversity habitat and tourism opportunities. Unep has estimated that more than a quarter of the african continent is at present in the process of becoming useless for cultivation due to degradation. Figure 2 shows a regional african extent of the problem. Uptodate, quantitative information is needed to support policy and action for food and water security, economic development, environmental integrity and resource conservation. The country has a wide range of interrelated environmental and development challenges. Land degradation and climate change in south africa 169 action programmes naps to combat desertification and south africa, as a signatory to the united nations convention to combat desertification, is obliged legally to embark on such a programme. Chapter 6 land department of environmental affairs.
South africa undertook a national land degradation neutrality ldn target setting process during 201718 in response to the united nations convention to combatting desertifications call for signatory countries to voluntarily commit to ldn as also requested under sustainability development goal 15. The absence of such relevant and reliable catchmentwide baseline information, necessary for assessing the severity and extent of degradation, has made its monitoring difficult. This book is an accessible summary of a technical report on land degradation and also discusses the impact of apartheid land division policies on the country as a whole. Forests, rangelands and climate change in southern africa. Can humaninduced land degradation be distinguished from. Subsaharan africa ssa has experienced the most severe land degradation in the world. Current extent of land degradation degree or seriousness of land degradation rate of land degradation over last 10 years level of impact of land degradation on ecosystem services. Land degradation and climate change in south africa. In the region land degradation occurs mostly from soil erosion, chemical. Land degradation is a significant issue in south africa see figure 1 and figure 2 with 60% of the land currently degraded unep, 1997 and approximately 91% of south africa potentially susceptible to desertification hoffman and ashwell 2001. In addition to these global and regional studies, there are several studies for individual countries e.
Ethiopia, situated in horn of africa, has an area of about 1. Soil erosion and land degradation are serious problems in tropical africa, especially subsaharan africa, where they are widely recognized as more serious problems than in nontropical areas. Land degradationthe deterioration or loss of the productive capacity of the soils for present and futureis a global challenge that affects everyone through food insecurity, higher food prices, climate change, environmental hazards, and the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services. Monitoring soil erosion in south africa at a regional scale. The aim of the study was to map soil functional properties and land degradation risk for ssa at a spatial scale of 500 m by applying data from the moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer modis sensor. The aim of this paper is to reassess the land degradation and desertification problem in south africa. Land is a vital resource to humankind, like air and water. It begins with a brief sketch of the historical background before outlining the main. Land degradation management in southern africa springerlink. This loss can affect productivity and biodiversity and is thus defined as a permanent loss of the original functions.
Land degradation index map the following variables were used in the algorithm to develop the degradation index di. Article pdf available in south african journal of botany 691. Many south african ranchers are affected by an ongoing degradation of natural. With a population of 80 million, ethiopia is the second most populous country in africa argaw, 2005. This is particularly worrisome since, according to the uns food and agriculture organization, some 83% of subsaharan african people depend on the land for their livelihood, and food production in africa will have to. Numerous studies suggesting a general trend of desertification intimate degradation is a recent.
This annex is the most detailed and comprehensive of all the regional annexes to the convention. Experiences from the south african land degradation. The homelands served as labour reservoirs, housing the unemployed and releasing them when their labour was needed in white south africa. While commercial farmers have certainly contributed to widespread land degradation in south africa, conservation policies have had at least some effect in slowing that. Solicitation of expert opinion was the first approach used to map and quantify degraded lands and maintains a leading role in assessments despite its subjective nature and inconsistencies dregne and chou, 1992, oldeman, 1994, oldeman et al. It is based on the national land cover 2000 supplemented with more recent data from provinces and other sources where available. Coupled with this are the uniquely south african land tenure problems which have arisen as a result of this countrys colonial and apartheid past. There has been outright loss of natural habitat, over 18 per. Land degradation and improvement in south africa i main points 1. The unccd regional implementation annex for africa outlines an approach for addressing desertification, land degradation and drought dldd on the african continent. Afr100 the african forest landscape restoration initiative is a countryled effort to bring 100 million hectares of land in africa into restoration by 2030 afr100 contributes to the bonn challenge, the african resilient landscapes initiative arli, the african union agenda 2063, the sustainable development goals and other targets. Land degradation the process of land degradation in southern africa is blamed on water and wind erosion, sedimentation, longterm destruction of vegetation and diminution of the bioresources.
Child b ed biodiversity, rural development and the bottom line. It is caused both by natural processes and human activities such as unsustainable lumberjack holding the chainsaw. South africa, namibia and botswana and pre land reforms zimbabwe. Increasing sustainable land management slm and building resilience to drought in africa can have profound positive impacts that reach from the local to the global level. Various methods have been used to monitor changes in vegetation function based on. The land and soil management award rewards land use and soil management practices mitigating soil threats. As a consequence, land degradation is a frequent outcome in these areas duvel 1995, hoffman and ashwell 2001. Awakening on friday morning, june 20, 19, the south african native found himself, not actually a slave, but a pariah in the land of his birth. Perspectives on the assumed causes of land degradation in. The most direct human contribution to land degradation is land use practice. The aims of the workshop were to exchange information, identify issues of common concern and shared needs, and discuss the. Final submission land degradation in the limpopo province 1 c. Degraded soil diminishes food production and leads to soil erosion, which in turn contributes to desertification.
Previous research indicates that over 70% of the countrys surface has been affected by varying inten. Request pdf the nature, extent and causes of land degradation in south africa. Figure 1 shows global extent of droughts and desertification. Land degradation in sa within southern africa land degradation is widely regarded as a severe and widespread environmental problem snyman, 1998. As a signatory, south africa is required to develop a national action programme to combat desertification and commissioned a survey of the extent and causes of land degradation in the country. Land degradation is, usually, the result of complex interrelationships between biophysical and socioeconomic issues which affect many people and their land, specially in the tropics and developing countries. The nature, extent and causes of land degradation in south africa. The worst situations can be found in africa, which is threatened because the land degradation processes affect about 46 percent of the whole continent and create a health risk to people living in the regions far beyond the affected areas. Degradation index map, whereas the degradation for all land uses within a local municipality where. Pdf other reports and news on the land degradation assessment lada project are available from the fao lada website. Of the total, 25% of land area is highly degraded, 8% moderately or slightly degraded, 36% stable and 10% improving faostate of the worlds land and water resources for. Land degradation is a process in which the value of the physical environment is affected by a. Integrating approaches to monitor, map and address land degradation and desertification syndromes of dryland degradation in southern africa r j scholes natural resources and the environment, csir, po box 395, pretoria, 0001, south africa.
The degradation of agricultural land in south africa was exacerbated by inequitable land ownership, and most of the degradation has happened in the former homeland areas meadows and hoffman, 2002. Soil erosion is a major environmental problem confronting land and water resources in south africa. Pdf on mar 1, 2003, laco mucina and others published nature. The result is a loss of land productivity with impacts on livelihoods and the. Land resource stresses and desertification in africa nrcs soils. Understanding and monitoring land degradation land degradation is a major factor in the progressive deterioration of african livelihoods and. Land and environmental degradation and desertification in africa. Monitoring soil erosion in south africa at a regional. The natives land act of 19 engineered the poverty of. Land degradation classes biophysical land degradation classes are identified by the combination of the overall status in provisioning biophysical ecosystem services and the trend of these services biomass, soil, water and biodiversity as described above. In africa, the program is funding projects that will protect forests and topsoil while generating incomes for rural communities.
Framework and considered a prerequisite for economic. Can humaninduced land degradation be distinguished from the. The map of the study area is presented on the next page. In all eight out of the ten countries constituting southern africa region most. Final submission land degradation in the limpopo province 3 c. Humaninduced soil degradation is now a global problem and one of the leading causes of environmentallyinduced displacemen. The predominantly arid and variable climate makes south africas rangelands particularly susceptible to degradation. Stratification map for land degradation assessment in south africa 12. Global assessment of land degradation and improvement.
Global assessment of land degradation and improvement glada. In turn, unsustainable land use is driving land degradation. Soil erosion in south africa its nature and distribution. The final output will be maps of land degradation status, causes and. Excluding the current deserts, which occupy about 46% of the land mass, about 25% of the land is prone to water erosion and about 22% to wind erosion. Mapping of soil properties and land degradation risk in. One of the most important activities in the lada work plan is the development of a land use system for south africa that could serve as the. In a south african context, rangeland degradation is also viewed as. University of cape town press, cape town, south africa.
Land degradation, caused by soil erosion and deforestation, presents an obstacle on agriculture hence threatening the. The importance of land degradation in calabar south is enhanced because of its impact on food security and quality of the environments. Progress to date1 edward lahiff2 introduction and background this paper provides an overview of land reform in south africa since the advent of democratic government in 1994, with a particular emphasis on land redistribution. The south african homelands or bantustans ceased to exist on 27 april 1994, and were reincorporated into the new nine provinces of a democratic south africa. Desertification on the other hand is defined as a process of land degradation in arid, semiarid and dry subhumid areas, resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities. Syndromes of dryland degradation in southern africa.
1232 168 251 1011 56 262 1033 1274 504 312 1428 805 420 844 1422 1605 90 610 274 1178 918 70 1166 712 933 198 1354 1279 846 424