Combating Land Degradation and Desertification: The Land-Use Planning Quandary

Abstract

Land-use planning (LUP), an instrument of land governance, is often employed to protect land and humans against natural and human-induced hazards, strengthen the resilience of land systems, and secure their sustainability. The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) underlines the critical role of appropriate local action to address the global threat of land degradation and desertification (LDD) and calls for the use of local and regional LUP to combat LDD and achieve land degradation neutrality. The paper explores the challenges of putting this call into practice. After presenting desertification and the pertinent institutional context, the paper examines whether and how LDD concerns enter the stages of the LUP process and the issues arising at each stage. LDD problem complexity, the prevailing mode of governance, and the planning style endorsed, combined with LDD awareness, knowledge and perception, value priorities, geographic particularities and historical circumstances, underlie the main challenges confronting LUP; namely, adequate representation of LDD at each stage of LUP, conflict resolution between LDD-related and development goals, need for cooperation, collaboration and coordination of numerous and diverse actors, sectors, institutions and policy domains from multiple spatial/organizational levels and uncertainty regarding present and future environmental and socio-economic change. In order to realize the integrative potential of LUP and foster its effectiveness in combating LDD at the local and regional levels, the provision of an enabling, higher-level institutional environment should be prioritized to support phrοnetic-strategic integrated LUP at lower levels, which future research should explore theoretically, methodologically and empirically.

Evaluating Differences of Erosion Patterns in Natural and Anthropogenic Basins through Scenario Testing: A Case Study of the Claise, France and Nahr Ibrahim, Lebanon

“…3. In Mediterranean settings such as the Nahr Ibrahim basin, the CORINE model can provide a starting point for combatting land degradation, thus filling gaps of LDN application in the Mediterranean basin by contributing to land degradation mapping, integration of site-specific land degradation drivers and promoting sustainable land use planning [64,106,107].…”

“…Given the flexibility of the CORINE model incorporating both natural (slope, pedology and climate) and vegetation cover (human controlled), alternative vegetation covers for both basins were used to re-assess changes in erosion patterns and risks. This step was performed to pinpoint the impact of ponds on erosion patterns of the Claise basin and to prospect the efficiency of the Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) concept for erosion reduction through land use planning [64]. LDN is defined by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), [65], to be "a state whereby the amount and quality of land resources necessary to support ecosystem functions and services and enhance food security remain stable or increase within specified temporal and spatial scales and ecosystems."…”

Desertification Risk and Rural Development in Southern Europe: Permanent Assessment and Implications for Sustainable Land Management and Mitigation Policies

“…However, the Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection remains the only direct institutional response to land degradation, since land planning is basically considered an issue of national competence. In these regards, requirements comprised in horizontal and sectoral policies provide tools to address land degradation at national and subnational scales [47].…”

“…The collected information may finally contribute to the creation of a refined assessment of land vulnerability to degradation. Multivariate statistics will contribute to reduce (or eliminate) redundancy and multi-collinearity among variables [30,47].…”

Opportunities and Limitations for Achieving Land Degradation-Neutrality through the Current Land-Use Policy Framework in Kenya

“…Finance: Eliminate perverse incentives that promote degradation and devise positive incentives that reward the adoption of SLM practices Examples of market-based approaches: credit lines, insurance policies, payments for ecosystem services and conservation tenders Land degradation is a complex process that involves a multiplicity of interconnected environmental, economic and social issues, which cut across the responsibilities of different government agencies [6]. Hence, effectively addressing LDN will require cooperation, collaboration and coordination across actors, sectors, institutions and policy domains [32]. The key institutions established and responsible for the mandate of the various instruments examined, were identified and mapped to evaluate their individual roles and responsibilities.…”