A framework for investigating the land degradation neutrality – Disaster risk reduction nexus at the sub-national scales

Sayah, Mario J. Al; Abdallah, Chadi; Sarkissian, Rita Der; Abboud, Mohammad

doi:10.1016/j.jaridenv.2021.104635

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Accordingly, soil protective cover is being removed, hence amplifying flood risks. While zonation can be an efficient solution for this problem [49], Implementation of land zonation in Al-Assi floodplain, as in other regions of a fragile state like Lebanon, is a challenge [47]. This is mainly due to the conflicts over land ownership.…”

Section: Poor Land Tenureship and Contentious Ownershipmentioning

confidence: 99%

Land Use Planning to Reduce Flood Risk: Opportunities, Challenges and Uncertainties in Developing Countries

Sarkissian

Sayah

Abdallah

et al. 2022

Sensors

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Land use planning for flood risk reduction has been significantly addressed in literature. However, a clear methodology for flood mitigation oriented land-use planning and its implementation, particularly in developing countries like Lebanon, is still missing. Knowledge on land use planning is still in its earliest stages in Lebanon. A lack of hazard-informed land use planning coupled to random land cover pattern evolution characterize the country. In response, this study focuses on the opportunities, challenges and uncertainties resulting from the integration of land use planning into efficient Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). For this purpose, GIS-based analyses were first conducted on the current land use/land cover (LU/LC) of the Assi floodplain. Then, the areas land cover was retraced and its evolution after several flood occurrences was assessed. Subsequently, a flood hazard-informed LU/LC plan was proposed. The latter is mainly based on the spatial allocation of land-uses with respect to different flood hazard levels. This approach resulted in the production of a land use planning matrix for flood risk reduction. The matrix approach can serve as a tool for designing sustainable and resilient land cover patterns in other similar contexts while simultaneously providing robust contributions to decision-making and risk communication.

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Section: Poor Land Tenureship and Contentious Ownershipmentioning

confidence: 99%

Land Use Planning to Reduce Flood Risk: Opportunities, Challenges and Uncertainties in Developing Countries

Sarkissian

Sayah

Abdallah

et al. 2022

Sensors

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“…(v) The lack of a well-established quantitative relationship between the SOC stock (soil organic carbon stock), delivery of ecosystem services and connected land and soil degradation [17]. (vi) The oversimplistic classification (strongly empirical) into degraded and non-degraded land [11] while [18], for instance, have demonstrated that the combination of LDN assessment with wildfire, landslides, and drought areas is performed much better by identifying 12 land degradation categories. (vii) The use of LDN administrative boundaries for assessing and reporting degradation suffers from imprecise estimates especially when addressing a mosaic of biomes [10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Geospatial Decision Support System for Supporting the Assessment of Land Degradation in Europe

Manna,

Agrillo,

Bancheri

et al. 2024

Land

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Nowadays, Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) is on the political agenda as one of the main objectives in order to respond to the increasing degradation processes affecting soils and territories. Nevertheless, proper implementation of environmental policies is very difficult due to a lack of the operational, reliable and easily usable tools necessary to support political decisions when identifying problems, defining the causes of degradation and helping to find possible solutions. It is within this framework that this paper attempts to demonstrate a new valuable web-based operational LDN tool as a component of an already running Spatial Decision Support System (S-DSS) developed on a Geospatial Cyberinfrastructure (GCI). The tool could be offered to EU administrative units (e.g., municipalities) so that they may better evaluate the state and the impact of land degradation in their territories. The S-DSS supports the acquisition, management and processing of both static and dynamic data, together with data visualization and on-the-fly computing, in order to perform modelling, all of which is potentially accessible via the Web. The land degradation data utilized to develop the LDN tool refer to the SDG 15.3.1 indicator and were obtained from a platform named Trends.Earth, designed to monitor land change by using earth observations, and post-processed to correct some of the major artefacts relating to urban areas. The tool is designed to support land planning and management by producing data, statistics, reports and maps for any EU area of interest. The tool will be demonstrated through a short selection of practical case studies, where data, tables and stats are provided to challenge land degradation at different spatial extents. Currently, there are WEBGIS systems to visualize land degradation maps but—to our knowledge—this is the first S-DSS tool enabling customized LDN reporting at any NUTS (nomenclature of territorial units for statistics) level for the entire EU territory.

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“…Some studies published in the sequel generally mapped land capability and actual land use, and detected potential land degradation where the actual uses deviated considerably from capability. Besides, they proposed pathways towards sustainable development based on the general LDN strategies of “avoid, reduce and reverse” (Al Sayah, Abdallah, Der Sarkissian, & Abboud, 2021). Some other studies started from a diagnosis of degraded lands in the studied areas and then investigated their trends and drivers and proposed routes towards LDN following the same strategies (Al Sayah, Abdallah, Khouri, et al, 2021; Kapović Solomun et al, 2018; Mandal et al, 2021; Sims et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A structural equation model of land capability and related drivers: Implications for land degradation forecasting in a tropical river basin

et al. 2023

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Land degradation is a worldwide problem with natural and anthropogenic causes. An important anthropogenic cause of land degradation is land uses that deviate from land capability, which is the “natural” use. Despite the conscience of scientists about this issue, studies are lacking that set up a quantitative nexus between land capability and related drivers. This nexus is essential because it allows anticipating changes in the drivers that promote or recede degradation. In this study, a partial least squares–path model (PLS–PM) was used to help closing this gap. The pilot study occurred in seven Paraopeba River sub‐basins located in the State of Minas Gerais (Brazil), where capability is dominated by mosaics of forests and pastures. Land capability was assessed by the ruggedness number, being inversely proportional to it. Among multiple potential drivers of land capability initially included in the model, collinearity and other consistency and performance analyses indicated the percentage of latosols and (re)forested areas, annual rainfall, and water‐related processes (e.g., weathering, nutrient leaching) as prominent in the studied region. The results linked increases of latosol and forest occupation to runoff reduction [runoff = latosol × (−0.640) + forest × (−0.156) + reforestation × (−0.379)], suggesting an attenuation of erosion by these parameters, namely gully erosion that impacts on the ruggedness number and land capability in the sequel. The weathering of carbonate rocks was also related to land capability changes because the PLS–PM model exposed a relationship between the ruggedness number and products of carbonate rock dissolution: ruggedness number = alkalinity × (−0.578) + total magnesium × (0.462) + dissolved oxygen × (−0.418). In addition to highlighting processes capable of changing land capability overtime, the model equations brought attention to measures that could improve it in the region thus preventing degradation. The measures included management practices capable to raise the soil's dissolved oxygen (e.g., through aeration) or preventing soil's magnesium deficiency (e.g., through foliar sprays). The network of cause‐and‐effect relationships set up by the PLS–PM model was finally used to elucidate about potential land use changes that would bring capability in the Paraopeba River basin towards a better status, such as conversions to pasture land. Future work is expected to further elucidate about the benefits for land capability of specific land use changes, through the testing of expected socioeconomic development scenarios.

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A framework for investigating the land degradation neutrality – Disaster risk reduction nexus at the sub-national scales

Cited by 7 publications

References 30 publications

Land Use Planning to Reduce Flood Risk: Opportunities, Challenges and Uncertainties in Developing Countries

Land Use Planning to Reduce Flood Risk: Opportunities, Challenges and Uncertainties in Developing Countries

A Geospatial Decision Support System for Supporting the Assessment of Land Degradation in Europe

A structural equation model of land capability and related drivers: Implications for land degradation forecasting in a tropical river basin

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