Participatory management of rangeland hydrology – a new socio-ecological technology to effectively adapt to and mitigate climate change: case from Morocco

Les zones arides du Maroc pays plus de 90 % de la superficie terrestre ; des précipitations faibles et irrégulières et un potentiel élevé d'évaporation à des déficits hydrauliques extrêmement élevés dans cette zone. Ces phénomènes ont fortement impacté l'hydrologie des parcours et le pastoralisme nomade et transhumant. Pour s'adapter à ce déficit hydrique prédominant, les habitants de ces zones ont développé deux modes de vie, qui incluent la mobilité des ménages et du bétail : (i) un mouvement pendulaire pour la transhumance saisonnière entre les montagnes et leurs plaines limitrophes ; et (ii) une mobilité nomade aléatoirement régulée par la fréquence sporadique des pluies et donc la disponibilité de l'eau.Dans les deux cas, cette mobilité est contrôlée par le degré d'aménagement des routes, mais elle assure également une gouvernance participative de l'accès à l'eau pour le bétail. Par exemple, les communautés pastorales usent d'abord des routes aux eaux éphémères, tout en économisant des sources d'eau pérennes ou semi-pérennes pour des périodes de sécheresse de longue durée. Pour la pénurie d'eau, les nomades et les transhumants souvent la taille des troupeaux et se tournent temporairement vers des activités complémentaires telles que le commerce, l'artisanat, le salarié et l'engagement dans les services publics.Les conservatrices de gestion des parcours et de l'eau pratique ont progressivement décliné suite aux tendances et mondiales de sédentarisme, d'extension urbaine et à l'émergence de nouvelles activités telles que l'irrigation intensive, l'industrie et le tourisme. Face à cette situation, diverses organisations de développement visent le rétablissement des pratiques traditionnelles locales de conservation et de gestion participative de l'eau. La récupération des eaux de pluie ainsi que des aménagements hydrauliques, des services de stockage et de réservoir pour les populations isolées sont mis en place en plusieurs points le long des routes nomades.En outre, de nouvelles opportunités de scolarisation ont ouvert des opportunités d'emploi et des revenus supplémentaires provenant des activités agricoles. Dans ce cadre, un suivi transdisciplinaire de l'aménagement des parcours par télédétection ainsi que des indicateurs biophysiques et socio-économiques ont été mis en place. Dans ce travail, nous présentons une analyse intégrée des systèmes de gestion hydrologique des zones arides marocaines en relation avec l'adaptation pastorale au changement climatique. un suivi transdisciplinaire de l'aménagement des parcours par télédétection ainsi que des indicateurs biophysiques et socio-économiques ont été mis en place. Dans ce travail, nous présentons une analyse intégrée des systèmes de gestion hydrologique des zones arides marocaines en relation avec l'adaptation pastorale au changement climatique. un suivi transdisciplinaire de l'aménagement des parcours par télédétection ainsi que des indicateurs biophysiques et socio-économiques ont été mis en place. Dans ce travail, nous présentons une analyse intégrée des systèmes de gestion hydrologique des zones arides marocaines en relation avec l'adaptation pastorale au changement climatique

Land degradation means a loss of management options

This essay approaches land degradation by targeting its ultimate thermodynamic causes, rather than its immediate environmental consequences. The objective is to make some propositions that could help understand the essence of the process, and contribute to a theoretical framework to be developed. These propositions are: 1. Human populations are an ecosystem component, not an external driver. 2. Coupled Human and Natural Systems (CHANS) tend to increase their overall complexity over time. CHANS complexity cannot feasibly be managed. 3. CHANS are made up of two types of subsystems, a consuming Foreland (FL) consisting of the human population, and a producing Backland (BL) in its environment. 4. The FL maintains its order at the expense of simplifying the BL, which becomes an entropy sink. This is the essence of ecological degradation, which is inherent to CHANS persistence. 5. Land degradation is an ecological state, not a landscape type. Hence it should be assessed within a complete range of states of ecological maturity. 6. Land use creates degradation proportional to the simplification of the ecosystems involved. Such degradation can be defined as a decrease in exergy, and results in loss of management options. Three associated corollaries are: a) A more effective target may be to regulate rather than attempt to eliminate land degradation; b) Monitoring ecological degradation trajectories may be more effective than assessing land degradation states; c) Land degradation can be decreased by maximizing the potential for interconversion between land uses.This work was supported by the European Commission under the DeSurvey IP [FP6 Integrated Project contract no. 003950], the European Space Agency under the DesertWatch Extension project [DUE contract no. 18487/04/I-LG] and Tragsatec (Grupo Tragsa) [contract no. 25.604]

Assessing the policy frame in pastoral areas of West Asia and North Africa (WANA)

The rangelands of West Asia and North Africa (WANA) region - which includes the Maghreb and Mashreq, Turkey and other countries of the Arabian Peninsula - are conducive to different patterns of pastoral resource management, due to the prevailing arid and mountainous conditions. Environmental change in the region is quite intense, resulting from population growth, shifts in land use and climate dynamics, and is one of the main drivers of socio-economic and political transformation in the region. In most WANA countries livestock rearing is a primary source of livelihood for a large segment ofthe population, and the governance of rangeland management and livestock trade are high priority issues for the national and regional political economy. Despite a fragmented and conflicting political setup that affects regional economic integration and the establishment of a common institutional framework, development trajectories regarding agriculture and food security have converged over time. Throughout the region, there have been repeated attempts to convert herding communities into stable and controllable producers through their incorporation into state and market mechanisms. Patterns of herd management and livestock mobility have been profoundly reconfigured, and while the movement of animals is increasingly restricted as feed and water are brought to them, the mobility of rural dwellers has intensified, through intense migration flows that are contributing to major transformations in local societies. Over time, development approaches, institutional arrangements and market dynamics have proven inconsistent in addressing the long-term needs of rural producers and ecosystems. Particularly in the arid and remote pastoral regions, local livelihoods have significantly deteriorated in recent decades, and are now increasingly shaped by processes that take place outside the realm of livestock production and very often beyond regional boundaries. The reconfiguration of land, livestock and labour regimes has generated tensions and risks that have weakened the capacity of pastoralist communities to deal with evolving uncertainties. The recent history of WANA drylands is one of strained economic development, stressed community networks and degraded ecosystems; the broader implications of the political and economic marginalisation of drylands have significant impacts for the entire WANA region and society

System Dynamics Tools to Study Mediterranean Rangeland’s Sustainability

Rangelands are a key resource present all over the world and cover half of all emerged lands. They are even more important in drylands, where they cover 48% of the total area. Their intensification and the additional pressure added by climate change push these socio-ecological systems towards desertification. Over the last two decades, we have developed and applied System Dynamics (SD) models for the study of Mediterranean grasslands. In addition, we have designed procedures and analysis tools, such as global sensitivity analysis, stability analysis condition, or risk analysis, to detect the main drivers of these socio-ecological systems and provide indicators about their long-term sustainability. This paper reviews these works, their scientific background, and the most relevant conclusions, including purely technical and rangeland-related ones, as well as our experience as systemic modelers in a world driven by field specialists.This research was funded by DeSurvey (CE-Integrated Project Contract No. 003950), PADEG (CGL2008/01215/BTE), and BIODESERT (European Research Council grant agreement No. 647038)

Silvopastoral system restoration under changing climate and land use: improving sustainability and efficiency

Travelling workshop was conducted during 19–21 October 2022 with total number of 124 participants including farmers from Oued Sbaihia and Gueffaya, Tunisia, experts from ICARDA, the General Directorate of Forests, and the Higher School of Agriculture of Mateur. The main objective of the traveling workshop was to increase awareness of farmers about sustainable silvopastoral restoration under changing climate and land use. Specific objectives include 1) demonstrate best practices for introducing forage legume species (sulla), multi-purposes shrub/tree and grazing management and 2) distribute sulla seeds to interested farmers. This travelling workshop was organized to be interactive and to share knowledge, lessons learnt and good practice, and of the kinds of problems which farmers face. Based on the discussion among the involved stakeholders’ recommendations were made

Mediterranean Landscape Re-Greening at the Expense of South American Agricultural Expansion

The stabling of livestock farming implies changes in both local ecosystems (regeneration of forest stands via reduced grazing) and those located thousands of kilometers away (deforestation to produce grain for feeding livestock). Despite their importance, these externalities are poorly known. Here we evaluated how the intensification and confinement of livestock in Spain has affected forest surface changes there and in South America, the largest provider of soybeans for animal feed to the European Union. For this purpose, we have used Spanish soybean import data from Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina and a land condition map of Spain. The area of secondary forest in Spain that has regenerated as a result of livestock stabling has been ~7000 kha for the decade 2000–2010. In the same period, 1220 kha of high value South American ecosystems (e.g. Chaco dry Forest, Amazonian rainforest or Cerrado) have been deforested. While these figures may offer a favorable interpretation of the current industrial livestock production, it is not possible to speak of compensation when comparing the destruction of well-structured ecosystems, such as primary South American forests, with the creation of secondary forest landscapes in Spain, which are also prone to wildfires. Our results highlight how evaluating land use change policies at a national or regional level is an incomplete exercise in our highly telecoupled and globalized world.This study was funded by the European Research Council grant agreement nº 647038 (BIODESERT). FTM acknowledges support from Generalitat Valenciana (CIDEGENT/2018/041)

How to assess rangeland condition in semiarid ecosystems? The indicative value of vegetation in the High Atlas Mountains, Morocco

The natural resource base of the world�s drylands is under continuous threat, particularly due to immense population growth, climate and land use change. Since the majority of these ecosystems are used as rangelands for domestic livestock, forage is (beneath drinking water) one of the most required ecosystem goods. For local land users as well as policy-makers it is crucial to quantify the actual supply of forage and try to predict potential limitations in the future. Ecological indicators as easily interpretable surrogates for complex ecological processes play an important role to assess rangeland condition. However, in highly stochastic arid and semiarid ecosystems it is still a challenge to identify reliable indicators detecting anthropogenic change against a background of natural variability. The present dissertation investigates three currently discussed rangeland indicators and their significance along a steep gradient of natural variability in southern Morocco. The research was conducted on four altitudinal levels along the southern slopes of the High Atlas Mountains. The transect represents a steep aridity gradient stretching from arid climate in the Basin of Ouarzazate to subhumid climate in the high mountain areas. First, the production (ANPP) and rain-use efficiency (RUE) of the vegetation was analyzed by means of an ecological field experiment comparing grazed, 1 year and 7 years rested vegetation. It revealed that ANPP and RUE are suitable and relatively �fast� indicators to quantify the actual supply of forage, but not to detect long-term and irreversible degradation processes. For that, the new parameters ANPPrel and RUErel are suggested, which standardize the production on the amount of initial biomass. In contrast to ANPP and RUE, they focus on the vitality of perennial forage plants which is altered on a longer time scale and allows a better comparison across ecosystems. Second, plant functional types (PFT) were tested as indicators. Particularly response groups and response traits were assembled to quantify grazing impact. In contrast to the initial goals of PFT research, those indicators were shown to be locally limited, since their predictive value was strongly influenced by resource stochasticity (aridity). It is deduced that using response groups and response traits for range assessment in arid and semiarid ecosystem is only reliable if their application is restricted to the local scale. Third, this work examines the local ecological knowledge of nomadic land-users in the research area. An interdisciplinary study among herdsmen of a local Berber fraction discovered that the �reliability� of plants and pastures functions as a local indicator which influences local range management. The �reliability�-concept integrates several spatial and temporal scales. It provides a new opportunity to quantify anthropological information and to compare it to ecological data. The present work depicts an important milestone for the application of ecological indicators in range assessment. It is essential for land users and policy-makers to choose the appropriate indicator level not only to economize costs and manpower, but also to reduce bias in indication processes. A combination of several hierarchically operating indicators is suggested for arid and semiarid ecosystems, for example measures of ANPP/RUE to quantify actual forage supply of pastures and ANPPrel/RUErel to detect areas affected by long-term degradation. Results of this work further build a data base for two different vegetation models. In the context of rapid climate and land use change we cannot afford further debates whether environmental changes have been caused by human impact or are just an impression of natural variability. My work shows the potential and limits of three ecological indicators under semiarid climate. It thus provides the framework for an appropriate application that allows an indication of human impact against a background of resource variability

Understanding Desertification and Land Degradation Trends - Proceedings of the UNCCD First Scientific Conference, 22–24 September 2009, during the UNCCD Ninth Conference of Parties, Buenos Aires, Argentina

This Proceedings documents the deliberations of the First UNCCD (United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification) Scientific Conference on ‘Understanding Desertification and Land Degradation Trends’, held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from 22 to 24 September 2009. It includes introductory and keynote presentations, summaries by Session Chairs, conference recommendations, and poster summaries. The Proceedings were edited by members of the Dryland Science for Development consortium, the body that organized the scientific format of the Conference.JRC.H.7-Land management and natural hazard

Dynamics of pastoral traditional ecological knowledge : a global state-of-the-art review

Traditional ecological knowledge enables pastoralists to cope with social-ecological changes, thereby increasing thesustainability of their practices and fostering social-ecological resilience. Yet, there is a significant knowledge gap concerning the extentto which pastoral traditional ecological knowledge has changed over time at the global level. We aim to fill this gap through a systematicliterature review of 288 scientific studies on pastoral traditional ecological knowledge. We reviewed 152 papers in detail (selectedrandomly from the 288) for their content, and focused specifically on 61 papers that explicitly mentioned one of the four types ofknowledge transition (i.e., retention, erosion, adaptation, or hybridization). Studies on pastoral traditional knowledge represent lessthan 3% of all the scholarly literature on traditional ecological knowledge. Geographical distribution of the 288 case studies was largelybiased. Knowledge domains of pastoral knowledge such as herd and livestock management, forage and medicinal plants, and landscapeand wildlife were relatively equally covered; however, climate-related knowledge was less often studied. Of the 63 papers that explicitlymentioned transition of pastoral traditional ecological knowledge, 52 reported erosion, and only 11 studies documented explicitlyknowledge retention, adaptation, or hybridization of traditional knowledge. Thus, adaptation and hybridization was understudied,although some case studies showed that adaptation and hybridization of knowledge can efficiently help pastoralists navigate amongsocial-ecological changes. Based on the review, we found 13 drivers which were mentioned as the main reasons for knowledge transitionamong which social-cultural changes, formal schooling, abandonment of pastoral activities, and transition to a market economy weremost often reported. We conclude that future research should focus more on the diverse dynamics of pastoral traditional knowledge,be more careful in distinguishing the four knowledge transition types, and analyze how changes in knowledge impact change in pastoralpractices and lifestyles. Understanding these phenomena could help pastoralists' adaptations and support their stewardship of theirrangeland ecosystems and biocultural diversity.Peer reviewe