It predicts that land degradation will displace up to 700 million people worldwide by midcentury. Sep 17, 2014 south africa has a long history of desertification research which stretches back to the last century. 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. The natives land act of 19 engineered the poverty of black. Pdf grassland productivity of communal rangelands is limited by land. The predominantly arid and variable climate makes south africa s rangelands particularly susceptible to degradation. What we see is not what we get nas presentation a sustainability challenge. To establish the scale of land degradation, experts have been conducting research from space.
Understanding the interactions between climate and land degradation. 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. Increases in land degradation may lead to a vicious cycle of biodiversity loss and climate change. South africa has a land area of 122 million hectares.
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. The literal translation of arable land is able to be ploughed. District in the kwazulunatal province of south africa longitude. South africa ratified the united nations convention to combat desertification in september 1997. Soil erosion in africa threatens food and fuel supplies and can contribute to climate change. The predominantly arid and variable climate makes south africas rangelands particularly susceptible to degradation. The linkages between land degradation, poverty and social capital in uganda. Chapter 6 land department of environmental affairs. Land degradation and improvement in south africa i main points 1.
As sustainability and productivity are not easy to define, degradation of land can better be described in terms of non. University of the witwatersrand, johannesburg, south africa email. 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. Land degradation management in southern africa prof. Land degradation in the upper east region of ghana, west africa richard ashaley executive directorsenior research fellow center for policy integration and resources managemnt cpirm rural urban partnership for africa rupfa the upper east region is the smallest and yet, one of the poorest in the country. These resources contain literature on water, soil and veld degradation in both commercial and communal areas of south africa. Land degradation index map the following variables were used in the algorithm to develop the degradation index di. It leads to a temporary or permanent decline in the productive capacity of the land.
It is caused both by natural processes and human activities such as unsustainable landscape with dry lone bare tree in dry hilly semiarid area of chota nagpur plateau of jharkhand india. 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. The republic of south africa, with a total land surface area of 1,219,912 km2. A case study in the denku microwatershed oromia region by kassu kebede beyene submitted in accordance with the requirement for the degree of masters in human ecology at the university of south africa supervisor. The ipbes assessment report on land degradation and restoration. Most of the degradation is due to soil erosion and biodiversity loss in the less populated. Land degradation is a process in which the value of the biophysical environment is negatively affected by a combination of human induced process acting upon the land lal, 2010. The impact of land degradation on the quality of soils in a south african. Estimated impacts of soil degradation on the african. Experiences from the south african land degradation. Vlek center for development research zef, bonn, germany west african science service center on climate change and adapted land use wascal, accra, ghana.
Land degradation and climate change in south africa. In turn, unsustainable land use is driving land degradation. Economics of land degradation in subsaharan africa. South africa has a long history of desertification research which stretches back to the last century. New studies show that land degradation is advancing and that african countries are among the worst hit. The country has a wide range of interrelated environmental and development challenges. It is considered as a downward spiral 1 in which causality runs both ways 2. Land degradation is often linked to sustainability in terms of keeping its productivity. Regional assessment of soil changes in africa south of the sahara. 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. Feb 18, 2016 alarm over land degradation in africa. Assessment cochair, university of the witwatersrand, south africa. It is based on the national land cover 2000 supplemented with more recent data from provinces and other sources where available.
Agricultural land makes up about 100 million hectares. Land degradation and improvement in south africa 1. The result is a loss of land productivity with impacts on livelihoods and the. Land degradation in subsaharan africa ssa is believed to be expanding at an alarming rate, accompanied. Figure 2 shows a regional african extent of the problem. The nature, extent and causes of land degradation in south. Actions around the world actions around the world this page presents the original submissions by outside authors and contributors on events and activities around the world that promote action against desertification, land degradation and mitigation of drought. Desertification, a phenomenon referring to land degradation in arid, semiarid and dry subhumid regions as a result of climatic variations and human activities, is considered as one of the most severe environmental and socioeconomic problems of recent times. Land degradation is defined as the temporary or permanent decline in the productive capacity of the land, and the diminution of the productive potential, including its major land uses e. Wooded savannas, the largest of which lie in southern africa, are also at risk, he adds. Only 14% of agricultural land is suitable for crop production while the remainder is used for extensive grazing, forestry and nature conservation7. Land degradation in the upper east region of ghana, west africa. About 40% of the worlds agricultural land is lost on the account of soil quality depreciation.
Land degradation is a broad term that can be applied differently across a wide range of scenarios. To explore the possible impacts of land degradation on food security, we compared the baseline results with two alternative scenarios. The strategy is to build resilience to drought in desertification prone regions of subsaharan africa, wana, asia, north america, and south america. Land degradation reduces land productivity and increases the workload of managing the 42 land, affecting women disproportionally in some regions. Land degradation is a process in which the value of the biophysical environment is affected by a combination of humaninduced processes acting upon the land. Through these engagements, farmers have identified that the causes of degradation of cultivated lands 79 % believed overexploitation of land was the main cause of degradation, with a lack of inputs especially manure, and tree cutting being frequently cited as important causes of land degradation. Migration is a complex process, made more so by the role it played in the creation of the apartheid state.
Nigeria is bordered in the west, north, east and south by the republic of benin, niger, chad and cameroon and atlantic ocean respectively. Land degradation and the sustainability of agricultural. Loss of cover, especially in communal areas of the eastern cape, the. 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. Figure 1 shows global extent of droughts and desertification. The united nations conference on environment and development drew up a convention to combat desertification to address the problem of land degradation. Gibsona school of animal, plant and environmental sciences university of the witwatersrand, johannesburg, south africa submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of master of science in resource conservation biology supervisor. The impact of land degradation on the quality of soils in a south. Farmers perception of land degradation and solutions to. Land degradation processes are ongoing over large part of the earth land surface figure 3. The most direct human contribution to land degradation is land use practice. Causes and impacts of land degradation and desertification.
Introduction the link between poverty and land degradation is said to be a symbiotic one in a form of a vicious cycle. Willmott data to simulate human soil degradation patterns in africa. Deforestation and degradation are not just focused on dense tropical forests, says mitchard, an environmental scientist at the university of edinburgh in scotland. It is viewed as any change or disturbance to the land perceived to be deleterious or undesirable. Six types of vegetation degradation can be recognised in south africa. Is increasingly becoming a serious problem in bhutan. Also, the most important socioeconomic reasons for land degradation are discussed. Desertification goes hand in hand with accelerated soil erosion. Because soil degradation contributes to land degradation, it also means that it creates a significant loss of arable land. This years theme is a key for making land degradation neutrality a fundamental solution for achieving the sustainable development goals as adopted by the united nations general assembly in september 2015.
Economics of land degradation and improvement econstor. Land degradation in the rangelands of south africa rsa is a complex process influenced by a wide spectrum of physical and environmental conditions as well as particular socioeconomic conditions. Land degradation management in southern africa springerlink. Many of these are in africa, acknowledging the severe. There has been outright loss of natural habitat, over 18 per. The combined reclassification is shown in the following map and table figures 4 and 5. Mitigation strategies to environmental degradation in nigeria. The united states of america, katharine vincent south africa. This annex is the most detailed and comprehensive of all the regional annexes to the convention.
Land degradation stock photos download 668 royalty free photos. The health impacts of desertification and drought pdf, 1. Pdf the impact of land degradation on the quality of soils in a. Land degradation neutrality target environmental programmes under the auspices of expanded public works programme. The most updated national soil information can only be obtained from a countrys national soil service. Land degradation, biodiversity loss and climate change are global environmental problems that are interrelated. South africa, namibia and botswana and pre land reforms zimbabwe. Dr c seymour sanbi, dr a skowno sanbi university for registration.
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. Africas environment, economy, lifestyles and livelihoods. The term land degradation involves both soil and vegetation degradation. The frontispiece of the book by timm hoffman and ally ashwell entitled nature divided. It lies between 04 16 0 and 53 0 north of latitude and 02 40 0 and 14 41 0 east of longitude. A new international report makes for bleak reading on the state of the worlds soils. Land degradation is a global environment and development issue. The unccd regional implementation annex for africa outlines an approach for addressing desertification, land degradation and drought dldd on the african continent. Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of. Drought and soil land degradation are closely interlinked. An assessment of land degradation in the save catchment of. The linkages between land degradation, poverty and social. The aim of this paper is to reassess the land degradation and desertification problem in south africa. Global estimates indicate that 25% of all land is highly degraded with 36% slightly or moderately degraded.
University of cape town,faculty of science,department of environmental and geographical science, 1998 cited yyyy month dd. Results indicate that land degradation decreased soil aggregate stability. There has been an increase in land degradation and biodiversity loss in south africa. Reduced area losses to land degradation arable land in asia, africa, and latin. 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. Conservation status of the 68 vegetation types identified in south africa, 50 are underconserved, according to the 10%. We are also enhancing on further innovative designs and technologies required in the restoration of affected areas to arrest soil degradation and sustain land. Deforestation is happening in southern africa much faster. Soil erosion and land degradation in the swartland and sandveld, western cape province, south africa.
Coupled with this are the uniquely south african land tenure problems which have arisen as a result of this countrys colonial and apartheid past. Land degradation in south africa the openuct initiative. Hence, poverty reduction should be tackled alongside the control of land degradation 3. Soil erosion and land degradation in the swartland and. 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 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. The country has a wide range of interrelated environmental and development challenges existing in a sociopolitical context recently subject to substantial change. An overview of poverty in south africa black south africans and land possession. The unccd acknowledges that about 30 % of the total land area of the world is affected by desertification, including 73 % of the drylands of africa. History, nature, causes, consequences, and solutions conacher, arthur encyclopedia of life support systems eolss the early initiation and growth of urban civilizations in mesopotamia in the later part of. Environmental economics in the department of agricultural economics, extension and rural development. Land degradation in south africa almost says it all. Land degradation the process of land degradation in southern africa is blamed on water and.
Climate and land degradation the world agrometeorological. The major cities are cape town, durban, johannesburg, port elizabeth and pretoria. Land degradation is a humaninduced or natural process which negatively affects the land to function effectively within an ecosystem. For over a century, governments and aid organizations have tried to combat soil erosion in africa. It is a process in which the value of the biophysical environment is affected by a combination of humaninduced processes acting upon the land. Environmental affairs celebrates world day to combat. Working for ecosystems, working for water, working for land, working for wetlands, working on fire, landcare and national forestry programme. Regional and national soil maps and databases fao soils. Subsaharan africa ssa has experienced the most severe land degradation in the world. Penny encyclopedia of life support systems eolss the situation in africa is particularly acute, but even the densely populated asian and pacific regions contain roughly 1.
An assessment of land degradation in the save catchment of zimbabwe julia mambo and emma archer. 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. Land degradation in south africa 745 while our study has obvious implications for policy, we were not commissioned to produce a policy document for the nap process. Poorer communities suffer the most though there is some cause for hope. 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. Climate change and soil degradation mitigation by sustainable management of soils and other natural resources. 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.
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