Rangeland Degradation, Poverty, and Conflict: How Can Rangeland Scientists Contribute to Effective Responses and Solutions?

Bedunah, Donald J.; Angerer, Jay P.

doi:10.2111/rem-d-11-00155.1

Cited by 90 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…The proximate causes of rangeland degradation are overgrazing, deforestation, mining, bush encroachment, invasion by non-native plant species, and plowing of rangelands with subsequent loss of soil productivity, while policies, socio-economic changes, or interactions of socio-economic and governance factors with climatic conditions (e.g. drought) are ultimate drivers of rangeland degradation (Wilcox and Thurow 2006;Bedunah and Angerer 2012).…”

Section: Rangeland Rehabilitationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rehabilitation of degraded dryland ecosystems – review

Yirdaw¹,

Tigabu²,

Monge³

2017

Silva Fenn.

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Highlights• The prospect of restoring degraded drylands is technically promising.• The forest landscape restoration concept can be used as the overarching rehabilitation framework.• Development of process-based models that forecast rehabilitation outcomes is needed.• Rehabilitation methodologies developed for moist areas are not necessarily suitable for drylands.• More data is needed on cost-benefit analysis of rehabilitation interventions. AbstractLand degradation is widespread and a serious threat affecting the livelihoods of 1.5 billion people worldwide of which one sixth or 250 million people reside in drylands. Globally, it is estimated that 10-20% of drylands are already degraded and about 12 million ha are degraded each year. Driven by unsustainable land use practices, adverse climatic conditions and population increase, land degradation has led to decline in provision of ecosystem services, food insecurity, social and political instability and reduction in the ecosystem's resilience to natural climate variability. Several global initiatives have been launched to combat land degradation, including rehabilitation of degraded drylands. This review aimed at collating the current state-of-knowledge about rehabilitation of degraded drylands. It was found that the prospect of restoring degraded drylands is technically promising using a suite of passive (e.g. area exclosure, assisted natural regeneration, rotational grazing) and active (e.g. mixed-species planting, framework species, maximum diversity, and use of nurse tree) rehabilitation measures. Advances in soil reclamation using biological, chemical and physical measures have been made. Despite technical advances, the scale of rehabilitation intervention is small and lacks holistic approach. Development of processbased models that forecast outcomes of the various rehabilitation activities will be useful tools for researchers and practitioners. The concept of forest landscape restoration approach, which operates at landscape-level, could also be adopted as the overarching framework for rehabilitation of degraded dryland ecosystems. The review identified a data gap in cost-benefit analysis of rehabilitation interventions. However, the cost of rehabilitation and sustainable management of drylands is opined to be lower than the losses that accrue from inaction, depending on the degree of degradation. Thus, local communities' participation, incorporation of traditional ecological knowledge, clear division of tasks and benefits, strengthening local institutions are crucial not only for cost-sharing, but also for the long-term success of rehabilitation activities.

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Section: Rangeland Rehabilitationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rehabilitation of degraded dryland ecosystems – review

Yirdaw¹,

Tigabu²,

Monge³

2017

Silva Fenn.

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“…On other hand, the range management as a source of employment is no more able to meet basic requirements of rangeland users that has led to a significant reduction in the value of rangelands (Bedunah and Angerer 2012). The possible consequences of devaluation of pastoralism and range management are less income, decreased well-being, increased vulnerability, unsustainable use of rangeland, and food insecurity (Harris 2010;Squires 2009).…”

Section: From a Single To Multi-faceted Concept And Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, it has been suggested that poorly designed facilities (infrastructure) can exacerbate rangeland degradation and the vulnerability of rangeland users' livelihoods (Lerman, 2012). In a study, Bedunah and Angerer (2012) claimed that fences and water development without adequate livestock control would increase rangeland degradation. Also, Lerman (2012) noted that the management of common rangelands can be improved through maintaining rangeland infrastructure (e.g., water points, sheds, and road).…”

Section: From a Single To Multi-faceted Concept And Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Also, Lerman (2012) noted that the management of common rangelands can be improved through maintaining rangeland infrastructure (e.g., water points, sheds, and road). Bedunah and Angerer (2012) stated that rangeland practitioners should help policy makers with a better understanding of complex interactions between human and environment to maintain ecosystem services, develop proper policies and institutional mechanisms as well as focusing on infrastructure development, human factors, and financial issues. The above mentioned argument clears that SRM is a multi-faceted concept that needs an integrative approach which can inclusively study ecological, social, economic, and human and infrastructure aspects to achieve SRM (Wallace 2007;Emadi 2012).…”

Section: From a Single To Multi-faceted Concept And Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Factors affecting sustainable rangeland management: Experts' attitudes towards livelihood cornerstones in the Bazoft region

2015

EJSD

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Abstract:Sustainable rangeland management (SRM) considers several dimensions of human life through recognition of sustainable livelihoods approach, in which livelihood cornerstones are acknowledged. In spite of this fact, research has not addressed this subject sufficiently. It has been recognized that analysis of the main drivers, allows for more appropriate strategies which are not the mere understanding of livelihoods, but rather ways towards sustainable development of rangelands. In this study, experts' attitudes towards factors underpinning SRM were elicited. Data were collected using survey in order to analyze the livelihood cornerstones, in the Bazoft region in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, Southwestern Iran. The participants were consulted to characterize the relative importance of each driver in approaching SRM. A five-point Likert scale was used to rank the three main influencing factors, including livelihood capital, vulnerability contexts as well as policies, institutions and processes (PIPs). We found that experts associated the main drivers with PIPs, vulnerability contexts and livelihood capital, respectively. Then, they prioritized policy, human capital and trends as the factors extracted from the main drivers in a more detailed assessment. Through these findings, we would offer policy makers should initially pay more attention to drivers that experts prioritized.

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“…Thus, the indigenous knowledge of the local communities can be used in conjunction with technical knowledge to manage natural resources (Khwarae, 2006). In many developing countries where rangelands are a dominant land type and are critically important in the livelihoods of a significant portion of the population, severe rangeland degradation can create significant social, economic, and environmental problems (Bedunah and Angerer, 2012). Therefore, scientific and indigenous knowledge should be integrated so that local communities are able to realize their capacity for monitoring and responding to the land degradation and environmental changes (Stringer and Reed, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rangeland degradation assessment: a new strategy based on the ecological knowledge of indigenous pastoralists

Behmanesh¹,

Barani²,

Sarvestani³

et al. 2016

Solid Earth

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Abstract. In a changing world, the prevalence of land degradation is becoming a serious problem, especially in countries with arid and semi-arid rangelands. There are many techniques to assess rangeland degradation that rely on scientific knowledge but ignore indigenous people. Indigenous people have accumulated precious knowledge about land management through generations of experience. Therefore, a study was conducted to find out how indigenous people assess rangeland degradation and how their ecological knowledge can be used for rangeland degradation assessment. Interviews were conducted with the pastoralists of two sites (Dasht and Mirza Baylu), where part of both areas is located in Golestan National Park (north-eastern Iran). A structured questionnaire was designed based on 17 indicators taken from literature and also primary discussions with pastoralists in order to evaluate land degradation. A qualitative Likert five-point scale was used for scoring rangeland degradation indicators. The results revealed that pastoralists pay more attention to edaphic indicators than to vegetative and other indicators. There were significant differences between the inside and outside of the park in terms of rangeland degradation indicators for both sites. The results show that the rangelands outside of the park in both sites were degraded compared to those inside of the park, especially in the areas close to villages. It can be concluded that pastoralists have a wealth of knowledge about the vegetation and grazing animal habits that can be used in rangeland degradation assessment. It is therefore necessary to document their ecological indigenous knowledge and involve them in the process of rangelanddegradation assessment.

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Rangeland Degradation, Poverty, and Conflict: How Can Rangeland Scientists Contribute to Effective Responses and Solutions?

Cited by 90 publications

References 27 publications

Rehabilitation of degraded dryland ecosystems – review

Rehabilitation of degraded dryland ecosystems – review

Factors affecting sustainable rangeland management: Experts' attitudes towards livelihood cornerstones in the Bazoft region

Rangeland degradation assessment: a new strategy based on the ecological knowledge of indigenous pastoralists

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