Mapping the impact of SLM - the WOCAT - DESIRE experience

ABSTRACT Since 1992, the World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies (WOCAT) initiative has developed a standardized method for documentation of Sustainable Land Management (SLM) practices. The resulting on-line database currently counts over 450 technologies and over 350 approaches (implementation strategies) from around 50 countries. WOCAT also developed a tool to map land degradation and conservation. This method complements the information provided by the individual case studies on technologies and approaches. It evaluates what land degradation is occurring where and what is done about. The challenge is now to implement SLM practices that address environmental, economic and social concerns, i.e. decreasing degradation and improving ecosystems, while enhancing agricultural productivity and the livelihoods of land users. Research to show and quantify these impacts of SLM practices and on implementation strategies is undertaken in projects like DESIRE, in which the WOCAT methods and tools were used and further developed, from which results are presented herewith. These showed that land degradation mainly occurred as water erosion on cultivated and mixed land use. Degradation was increasing in most sites, primarily caused by inappropriate soil management. Indirectly, population pressure, insecure land tenure, and poverty appeared to be major causes of degradation. Land degradation negatively affected ecosystem services for almost all degraded areas. High negative impacts were observed regarding regulation of ecosystem services indicating that these require particular attention when developing and implementing remediation strategies. SLM measures appeared most effective on cultivated land, but positive impacts were also recorded for relatively large areas of forest and grazing land. Combinations of SLM measures appeared to perform better than single measures. Overall, there appears to be scope for improving SLM contributions to ecosystem services in cultivated land

Assessment of the status of human-induced soil degradation in South and South-East Asia (ASSOD)

Following publication of the World Map of the Satus of Human-induced Land Degradation (GLASOD), at scale 1:10M, the need for more detailed and more country-specific degradation assessment became apparent. In 1993, the members of the Asian Network on Problem Soils recommended the preparation of a qualitative assessment for South and Southeast Asian at a scale of 1:5 million. The assessment was ... carried out using a physiographic base map, compiled according to the SOTER methodology, and a slightly modified GLASOD methodology. The information was stored in a digital database and linked to a GIS enabling preparation of thematic outputs in the form of maps, graphs and tables. This exploratory map, in GIS format, can serve as a guide to policy-makers and decision-makers to identify broad regions of immediate concern. It can be used as input layer in studies at a global scale (< 1:5 000 000)