From land productivity trends to land degradation assessment in Mozambique: Effects of climate, human activities and stakeholder definitions

Abstract

Remote sensing observations such as normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) trends can provide important insights into past and present land condition. However, they do not directly provide comprehensive information about our representation of land degradation and the processes at work. This study aimed to analyze vegetation productivity underlying factors in order to assess land degradation and to highlight the impact of definitions on its quantitative assessment, using Mozambique as casestudy. Land productivity change were first analyzed using NDVI time-series (2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014)(2015)(2016), and a two-step framework was then used to understand the main factors of these productivity changes. The impact of land degradation's definition was assessed based on four types of stakeholder, with different priorities in terms of ecosystem services. The results show that 25% of the country display a significant land productivity decrease, while only 3% display a land productivity increase. A large part of these land productivity changes (>61% of the decrease, and >98% of the increase) is directly assigned to human activities, such as native forest growth or tree plantations (for the increase), or forest degradation, deforestation and loss of grassland productivity (for the decrease). We showed that the fraction of degraded land varies according to stakeholders' definitions, ranging from 12% to 20% of the Country, much less than the 39% estimated by Tier 1 United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. This study provides a sound methodological framework for assessing land degradation status that could help stakeholders to design national and locally relevant land degradation mitigation policies or programmes.

Climate Change in Fisheries and Aquaculture: Analysis of the Impact Caused by Idai and Kenneth Cyclones in Mozambique

“…The consequences of the climate Change is not restricted to fisheries and aquaculture. This events also causes effects on the coastal agriculture, maritime transportation and harbor damaging, as this area has been flooded and the adjacent area destroyed (Macassa et al, 2021;Montfort et al, 2021). Despite an overall increase in fish production even after the cyclones occurred, it was clear that the expected quantities based on several likely factors, such as the increase in the number producers as is often the case due to population increase.…”

Assessment of Land Degradation Factors

“…Stopping or controlling LD to protect natural resources and reclaim degraded land has become a global phenomenon to ensure food security, and solutions have been sought at the global level. To this end, in the sustainable development goals (SDGs) adopted by world leaders in 2015 (Goal 15.3), a consensus was reached on combating desertification, restoring degraded lands and soils, including lands affected by desertification, drought, and floods and achieving a balanced world of LD by 2030 [2]. Therefore, countries are expected to develop implementation strategies by setting their targets to reduce poverty, ensure food security, improve nutrition, and reduce land degradation over the following decades.…”

“…LD is a widespread and global phenomenon that affects food security, ecosystem services, and human well-being [2]. Land degradation is a major threat to the food security of a rapidly growing global population, especially those living on limited land resources.…”

“…While LD was approximately 36,108 ha worldwide in the early 1900s [6], today, more than 25% of the world's land area (37.25 million km 2 ) is affected by LD [7]. It is estimated that an area of about 5 to 10 million hectares is added to these areas each year [8].…”

Mapeamento Da Susceptibilidade À Incêndios Florestais Na Região Sul De Moçambique

“…Importando referir que, ambos trazem uma abordagem sobre incêndio florestal na região norte do país, mas somente Nhongo considera o mapeamento em sua pesquisa. A região sul do país, objeto de estudo desta pesquisa, não conta com nenhum estudo profundo, que faz o mapeamento das áreas susceptíveis ao risco de incêndio florestal, o que justifica a importância deste estudo na medida que, se apresenta de forma pormenorizada, por via de mapeamento, as áreas com suscetibilidade ao risco de incêndio florestal nesse extremo de Moçambique, tornando a pesquisa de maior relevância sob ponto de vista de produção de novo aporte bibliográfico que venha a servir de referência para melhor planejamento por parte das autoridades governamentais assim como para outros estudos de pesquisadores no futuro.Gaza, Inhambane e Maputo, esta última não computa a região da capital Maputo que tem status de província(MONTFORT et al, 2021).…”