Trade-Offs in Multi-Purpose Land Use under Land Degradation

Abstract

Land provides a host of ecosystem services, of which the provisioning services are often considered paramount. As the demand for agricultural products multiplies, other ecosystem services are being degraded or lost entirely. Finding a sustainable trade-off between food production and one or more of other ecosystem services, given the variety of stakeholders, is a matter of optimizing land use in a dynamic and complex socio-ecological system. Land degradation reduces our options to meet both food demands and environmental needs. In order to illustrate this trade-off dilemma, four representative services, carbon sinks, water storage, biodiversity, and space for urbanization, are discussed here based on a review of contemporary literature that cuts across the domain of ecosystem services that are provided by land. Agricultural research will have to expand its focus from the field to the landscape level and in the process examine the cost of production that internalizes environmental costs. In some situations, the public cost of agriculture in marginal environments outweighs the private gains, even with the best technologies in place. Land use and city planners will increasingly have to address the cost of occupying productive agricultural land or the conversion of natural habitats. Landscape designs and urban planning should aim for the preservation of agricultural land and the integrated management of land resources by closing water and nutrient cycles, and by restoring biodiversity.

Year-Round Irrigation Schedule for a Tomato–Maize Rotation System in Reservoir-Based Irrigation Schemes in Ghana

“…Furthermore, risks of crop failure in SSA have increased due to land degradation and soil nutrient depletion [9,10], signified by negative annual NPK balances with −26 kg ha −1 N, −7 kg ha −1 P 2 O 5 , and −23 kg ha −1 K 2 O, as reported in [11]. On a continental scale, annual NPK losses averaged 54 kg ha −1 (and ranged between 9 kg ha −1 in Egypt and 88 kg ha −1 in Somalia), resulting in land degradation in more than 40% of Africa's total farmland [12,13]. These risks have further reduced the already insufficient financial capacity of farmers to invest in sustainable land management (SLM) strategies [3,5].…”

“…These risks have further reduced the already insufficient financial capacity of farmers to invest in sustainable land management (SLM) strategies [3,5]. However, such strategies are key for optimizing trade-offs between food production and other agro-ecosystem services [12]. In water-scarce environments such as the Upper East region of Ghana (UER), sustainable soil-water management has been identified as the most influential among agricultural management practices, including soil fertility management, selection of crop varieties, and control of pests and diseases [5,14], for enhancing food security as well as improving the smallholders' livelihoods [5,[15][16][17].…”

Dynamics of the North–South Capital Flows or Rise of South–South Land Deals? Features of Land Acquisition in Ethiopia

“…The rising demand for crops coupled with the tightening of factor markets in densely populated parts of Asia and the Middle East has also contributed to the accelerated acquisition of transnational farmland (Azadi et al, 2007;de Hoyos & Medvedev, 2011;Vlek et al, 2017). Some scholars have scrutinised the phenomenon in terms of agrarian political economy (Peluso & Lund, 2011) and political ecology (James et al, 2012).…”

Mapping the interlinkages between sustainable development goal 9 and other sustainable development goals: A preliminary exploration

“…Science, technology, and innovation (targets 9.5 and 9.c) and expansion of infrastructure are essential for the sustainable use of terrestrial resources (SDG 15). Yet, many gaps exist in terrestrial-related knowledge (Vlek et al, 2017), including its interaction with human systems (Zimm, Sperling, & Busch, 2018).…”