Cross-scale monitoring and assessment of land degradation and sustainable land management: A methodological framework for knowledge management

For land degradation monitoring and assessment (M&A) to be accurate and for sustainable land management (SLM) to be effective, it is necessary to incorporate multiple knowledges using a variety of methods and scales, and this must include the (potentially conflicting) perspectives of those who use the land. This paper presents a hybrid methodological framework that builds on approaches developed by UN Food & Agriculture Organisation's land degradation Assessment in Drylands (LADA), the World Conservation Approaches and Technologies (WOCAT) programme and the Dryland Development Paradigm (DDP), and is being applied internationally through the EU-funded DESIRE project. The framework suggests that M&A should determine the progress of SLM towards meeting sustainability goals, with results continually and iteratively enhancing SLM decisions. The framework is divided into four generic themes: (i) establishing land degradation and SLM context and sustainability goals; (ii) identifying, evaluating and selecting SLM strategies; (iii) selecting land degradation and SLM indicators and (iv) applying SLM options and monitoring land degradation and progress towards sustainability goals. This approach incorporates multiple knowledge sources and types (including land manager perspectives) from local to national and international scales. In doing so, it aims to provide outputs for policy-makers and land managers that have the potential to enhance the sustainability of land management in drylands, from the field scale to the region, and to national and international levels. The paper draws on operational experience from across the DESIRE project to break the four themes into a series of methodological steps, and provides examples of the range of tools and methods that can be used to operationalise each of these steps

From Framework to Action: The DESIRE Approach to Combat Desertification

It has become increasingly clear that desertification can only be tackled through a multi-disciplinary approach that not only involves scientists but also stakeholders. In the DESIRE project such an approach was taken. As a first step, a conceptual framework was developed in which the factors and processes that may lead to land degradation and desertification were described. Many of these factors do not work independently, but can reinforce or weaken one another, and to illustrate these relationships sustainable management and policy feedback loops were included. This conceptual framework can be applied globally, but can also be made site-specific to take into account that each study site has a unique combination of bio-physical, socio-economic and political conditions. Once the conceptual framework was defined, a methodological framework was developed in which the methodological steps taken in the DESIRE approach were listed and their logic and sequence were explained. The last step was to develop a concrete working plan to put the project into action, involving stakeholders throughout the process. This series of steps, in full or in part, offers explicit guidance for other organizations or projects that aim to reduce land degradation and desertification. © 2014, Springer Science+Business Media New York

Disintegrated development at the rural–urban fringe: Re-connecting spatial planning theory and practice

The spaces where countryside meets town are often amongst society's most valued and pressured places which together form the rural–urban fringe (RUF). A ‘messy’ yet opportunistic space in policy and decision making processes, the RUF remains confused and ‘disintegrated’ lacking sufficient understanding and explicit attention for sustainable management as places in their own right. This paper exposes the scope, nature and reasons leading towards policy disintegration within the RUF with critical attention on the separate lenses of the Ecosystem Approach and Spatial Planning frameworks reflecting a marked natural and built environment divide. Using research funded by the Rural Economy and Land Use programme, three ‘bridging’ concepts were identified within which improved integration is explored: Time, Connections and Values. Using team member thoughtpieces and workshops, together with visioning exercises in two rural–urban fringes, a series of narratives are presented within which the RUF opportunity is re-discovered set within a hybridised theory of spatial and environmental planning. In so doing the paper challenges established economic and planning models of urban development and expansion with more holistic ideas and approaches. One size-fits-all solutions such as greenbelts, regionalism or localism are rejected within an approach that champions multi-scalar and sectoral perspectives set within a governance framework that achieves social and economic well-being through maintaining and enhancing ecosystem functions and services. We conclude by arguing that policy strands within environment and planning must be better connected allowing the RUF to be developed as an opportunity space for testing and experimentation