Land Degradation, Poverty and Marginality

Abstract

This chapter emphasizes the complexity and plurality of the types and magnitudes of causal relationships between poverty and environmental degradation, based on a review of the literature. The authors use case studies focused on the issue of land degradation to illustrate these relationships. Land degradation (LD) is infl uenced by natural and anthropogenic factors, including socioeconomic conditions. LD is of importance to people because it decreases the provision of terrestrial ecosystem services and the benefi ts they provide for human well-being. A key question is whether lower levels of well-being lead to more or less destructive resource use and management strategies. The authors call for a systematic and science-based assessment of LD worldwide as a necessary fi rst step toward the inclusion of LD in global measures of well-being.

Economics of sustainable land management

“…However, despite a broad agreement that land degradation may have severe negative impacts on the livelihoods and food security, of especially poor households [57], there have been few studies quantitatively tracing the impacts of land degradation on poverty levels, incomes and food security of different categories of households. For example, Diao and Sarpong [58], using an economy-wide, multimarket model for Ghana, indicate that land degradation reduces agricultural incomes in the country by 4.2 billion USD between 2006 and 2015 and increases the national poverty rate by 5.4% at the end of the period.…”

Institutional Framework of (In)Action Against Land Degradation

“…In Niger, in 1970, the government relabeled the Independence day as National Tree Day. This helped raise awareness among farmers and land-users to invest in reforestation (Gerber et al 2014). In Mongolia, the government is experimenting with an innovative form of co-management of pasture land in 54 pastoralist communities, in which the communities sign a contract with the local government for the sustainable use and rotation of the pastures and for the sustainable management of the land (Ykhanbai and Boroowa 2014).…”

Human activities in a tropical Mexican desert: Impact of rainfed agriculture and firewood extraction on vegetation and soil

“…In addition, these deserts are frequently inhabited by human groups with scarce economic resources that depend on rainfed agriculture and firewood extraction for their subsistence. Because of these circumstances and low rainfall levels, these ecosystems have low resilience to the impacts of human activities (Casas et al, ; Gerber, Nkonya, & von Braun, ; McAuliffe, Sundt, Valiente‐Banuet, Casas, & Viveros, ). Therefore, evaluating the impacts of rainfed agriculture and firewood extraction in tropical American deserts will contribute to understanding how these activities modify the structure and function of these ecosystems.…”

“…In addition, these deserts are frequently inhabited by human groups with scarce economic resources that depend on rainfed agriculture and firewood extraction for their subsistence. Because of these circumstances and low rainfall levels, these ecosystems have low resilience to the impacts of human activities Gerber, Nkonya, & von Braun, 2014;McAuliffe, Sundt, Valiente-Banuet, Casas, & Viveros, 2001).…”