Desire for Greener Land

% of area under conservation measures
Major conservation groups per LUS
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Cultivation
Forestry
Grazing /
Ranging
Mixed
Other
Settlement
WH
VS
TR
SD
SA
RO
PR
OT
GR
CA
AP
AF
Group1
DESIRE - WOCAT 2012
Figure 13: Relative distribution of major Conservation
Groups per land use type. Legend: see Box 2. Group 1
includes all groups not specified in the legend.
measures reduce the degree of degradation, or how well
they prevent degradation (Box 3). SLM measures appeared
to be most effective in cultivated land: high to very high
effectiveness was reported in cultivated land over 20% of
the land under SLM measures, compared to only 2 and 4%
of the land under respectively forest and grazing. For most
conservation groups applied in the DESIRE study sites the
effectiveness is moderate to high (Figure 14). Water harvesting
and groundwater salinity regulation appear to be highly
effective technologies for the areas concerned.
The conservation efforts reported do not necessarily correspond
directly with the degradation occurrences in the
same mapping unit: areas with no degradation may have
this status because of effective conservation, or conversely
strong degradation occurs because of lacking conservation.
For example, in the Goís study site in Portugal, land degradation
in the form of soil erosion and degradation of the forest
was found in 80-100% of map units where no conservation
measures had been implemented (Figure 16).
The effectiveness of conservation technologies differs considerably
between the study sites (Figure 15). Highly effective
conservation technologies over the entire area of
application were reported for Tunisia, but far less effective
technologies for Italy and Mexico. The techniques applied in
Tunisia are ancient and have a long record of development
and experimentation. The sites in Italy and Mexico experi-
Box 3 Classification of effectiveness of conservation measures in
the WOCAT-LADA-DESIRE Mapping Method.
4: Very high: the measures not only control the land degradation
problems appropriately, but even improve the situation compared
to the situation before degradation occurred. For example, soil
loss is less than the natural rate of soil formation, while infiltration
rate and/or water retention capacity of the soil are increased,
as well as soil fertility; only maintenance of the measures is needed.
Either the measures have strongly improved water availability
and quality (addressing water degradation), or vegetation cover
and habitats have been highly improved (addressing biological
degradation).
3: High: the measures control the land degradation problems
appropriately. For example, soil loss does not greatly exceed the
natural rate of soil formation, while infiltration rate and water
retention capacity of the soil are sustained, as well as soil fertility;
only maintenance of the measures is needed. Concerning
water and vegetation degradation, the measures are able to stop
further deterioration, but improvements are slow.
2: Moderate: the measures are acceptable for the given situations.
However, loss of soil, nutrients, and water retention capacity
exceeds the natural or optimal (as with “high”) situation. Besides
maintenance, additional inputs are required to reach a “high”
standard. Regarding water and vegetation degradation, the measures
only slow down the degradation process, but are not sufficient.
1: Low: the measures need local adaptation and improvement in
order to reduce land degradation to acceptable limits. Much additional
effort is needed to reach a “high” standard.
ence severe soil erosion by water, which is aggravated by
land levelling (Italy), and inadequately managed by the conservation
measures applied (agroforestry in Mexico and sod
seeding, no tillage, fallow and cover crops in Italy).
Conservation measures
The WOCAT framework distinguishes four categories of conservation
measures:
1. Agronomic (.g. mulching)
2. Vegetative (e.g. contour grass strips)
3. Structural (e.g. check dams)
4. Management (e.g. resting of land).
A conservation measure is a component of an SLM technology,
which may consist of a combination of several conservation
measures. For instance, a terracing system is a SLM
technology which typically comprises structural measures –
the terrace riser, bed and a drainage ditch – often combined
Spain, Erik van den Elsen Cape Verde, Hanspeter Liniger
34 DESIRE – WOCAT Desire for Greener Land