Desire for Greener Land

is, therefore, using a wide range of dissemination products,
from the written word to videos and podcasts, to
explain the science and recommendations from the start
of the project. To achieve this, the DESIRE project makes
research outcomes and recommendations available in a
web-based Harmonised Information System, presented in
non-scientific language. This is a direct information service
for those who have internet access, but also provides
printable material to be circulated in traditional ways to
those who do not.
The role of WOCAT instruments in the DESIRE project
The WOCAT/LADA/DESIRE mapping questionnaire (QM) and
the associated database provide vital data on which type
of degradation processes are occurring, where, why, and
in which degree, enabling researchers to obtain relevant
site specific expert knowledge quickly and efficiently. The
questionnaire especially facilitates mapping of current SLM
technologies in the area, including their effectiveness and
impacts on the threatened ecosystem services. The WOCAT/
LADA/DESIRE mapping questionnaire is best employed in the
first step of SLM projects (setting the context).
The use of the WOCAT questionnaires for Technologies (QT)
and Approaches (QA), along with the associated databases,
played a vital role in the participatory approach, in which
the SLM technologies that will be implemented in the field
are identified, assessed and selected, in collaboration with
stakeholders (step 2 of the DESIRE approach).
Both the WOCAT/LADA/DESIRE mapping method and the
WOCAT questionnaires and associated databases are available
on-line, and are thus available world-wide for anyone to use.
As a result, information on SLM options, that was previously
scattered and inaccessible, is now being standardised and collated,
facilitating the sharing of land management strategies
to combat desertification. Through its search facilities, the
WOCAT database can be used to find strategies that could be
suitable in a certain location, based on its similarity in humanenvironmental
characteristics to other locations described in
the WOCAT database. Although in many cases, any potentially
suitable strategies would have to be adapted to local circumstances,
this database does allow the introduction of new strategies,
based on tried and tested experiences in other places.
Finally, WOCAT methods provide a way to compare information
between different sites because the same standardised
methods are used across all sites.
Conclusions and policy points DESIRE – WOCAT 2012
WOCAT/LADA/DESIRE mapping of land
degradation and current SLM
The main conclusions from the application of the WOCAT/
LADA/DESIRE mapping in the DESIRE study sites are as follows.
Within the DESIRE study sites, the areas of cultivated land,
grazing land and mixed land are approximately the same
size (between 175.000 and 200.000 ha in total). Forestry covers
about 100.000 ha. Cropland and grazing are the dominant
major land use types in relative terms. The area covered
by the major land use types has remained stable over the
past 10 years, but the land use intensity has increased in
about 20% of the grazing land.
The main degradation type in the DESIRE study sites was
found to be erosion by water; however, in 70% of the
degraded areas, more than one degradation type is found.
The largest surfaces of degraded land occur in cultivated land
and land under mixed use, covering 89% and 100% of these
areas respectively. The degree of degradation was found to
be moderate or strong in most cases, with only small areas
showing extreme degradation. However, in most sites, degradation
was found to be increasing, mainly under mixed land
use, followed by cultivated land and grazing land.
Inappropriate soil management was identified as the most
important direct cause for degradation, but in more than
half of the mapping units, multiple causes were identified;
for 20% of the degraded area five or more causes were
found. This illustrates the complexity of the desertification
problem, and highlights the need for SLM technologies to
address multiple forms of land degradation. Population
pressure and land tenure were found to be the two most
important indirect causes; again often in combination with
other indirect causes. The most frequent combination of
indirect causes included population pressure, land tenure
and poverty, combined with governance, institutions and
politics (14% of the degraded area).
Land degradation was reported to have moderately negative
impacts on ecosystem services in the DESIRE study sites
over 94% of the degraded area. Production services were
most affected in mixed land use (49% of the area with
impacts on production services only), followed by cultivated
land (24%) and grazing land (19%). The largest part of the
area under high negative impact on ecosystem services was
observed for regulating ecosystem services, indicating that
these require specific attention in the process of developing
and implementing remediation strategies.
China, Erik van den Elsen Morocco, Gudrun Schwilch
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