Land Potential: What our land can do

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Del curso dictado por Erasmus University Rotterdam

A Business Approach to Sustainable Landscape Restoration

14 calificaciones

Erasmus University Rotterdam

A Business Approach to Sustainable Landscape Restoration

14 calificaciones

Integrated landscape management and large-scale landscape restoration should be in every company’s business strategy because in order to reach the Sustainable Development Goal on Land Degradation Neutrality (SDG Number 15.3) scaling up and acceleration of business-driven landscape restoration is urgently needed. This requires business professionals with a vision, the right knowledge and skills. This MOOC aims to train the next generation of business professionals and developers to acknowledge business’ interdependency with healthy landscapes and understand the value of ecosystem resources. “Historically, we have found countless ways to justify our continued exploitation of the environment: discovery, tradition, Manifest Destiny, even Chinese hoax. But we’re all out of excuses now. Each passing day swells the data on greenhouse gases and extreme weather, shrinking reservoirs and rising sea levels, and diminishing biodiversity. Our resources are finite, the window for change if not firmly shut, is certainly closing, and all life must adapt or be doomed.” Téa Obreht, The New Yorker, Dec. 19&26, 2016, p. 106. It is a frightening prospect indeed – that all life on Earth must either adapt or be doomed. This course is about landscape degradation – a global and wicked problem that is contributing to the dooming prospect of depletion of Earth’s finite resources. But this course is also about the solutions to this problem – business driven landscape restoration. So rather than leaving you powerless with the prospect Obreht puts fowards above, it is our hope that you learn how you can be part of the solution to making sure that Planet Earth still provides a safe and habitable home for future generations. We must act big and we must act now. With this course we want to pass on valuable knowledge and teach you useful skills that you can apply in your professional life that will enable you to tackle the issue of landscape degradation and restoration. The issue is urgent, so let’s dive right into it. This MOOC is developed by the ENABLE partnership, which is co-funded by the ERASMUS+ programme of the European Commission and involves a diverse, international group of organizations including Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, Commonland, United Nations University Land Restoration Training Programme, the Spanish National Research Council and Estoril Global Conferences.

De la lección

Land degradation and restoration of degraded ecosystems

Now that you have seen how important it is to restore degraded landscape you might ask yourself – how do I go about doing that? How do I even know if a landscape is degraded or not? How much can I expect to restore? What is it exactly in the landscape that we are restoring? You need to be able to answer these types of questions before you even start thinking about making a cost-benefit analysis or calculating a loss-profit statement for a restoration project. In the upcoming videos you will learn how to recognise healthy landscapes from degraded ones, and the types of interventions needed to recover degraded ecosystems. It is essential to have a good grasp of the natural processes of the land in order to be able to make decisions as an investor, business manager, or employer that maximise the impact of every dollar invested in restoring a landscape.

Ecosystems, Sustainable Development and SDGs14:46

What is Land Degradation and how does it affect Ecosystems?12:02

Land Potential: What our land can do9:42

Land Condition: The state of the land13:08

What is Ecological Restoration?10:07

How to restore land12:48

Keeping Ecosystems Healthy - it is simply a matter of having a future2:47

Conoce a los instructores

Simon W. Moolenaar
Dr. ir.
Commonland Foundation, Science & Education
Rob van Tulder
Prof. dr.
Department of Business-Society Management, Rotterdam School of Management
Johann Thorsson
Dr.
United Nations University Land Restoration Training Programme & Soil Conservation Service of Iceland
Nicola Favretto
Dr.
University of Leeds; United Nations University Land Restoration Training Programme
Ólafur Arnalds
Professor
United Nations University Land Restoration Training Programme & Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Agricultural University of Iceland
Asa L. Aradottir
Professor
United Nations University Land Restoration Training Programme & Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Agricultural University of Iceland
Steve Kennedy
Assistant Professor
Rotterdam School of Management

Good to see you again.

As we travel across the landscape,

enjoying scenery and diverse cultural societies,

we generally do not give much thought on

a landscape or a landscape element that is however,

or perhaps, the most important of all.

The condition of the land.

And to be able to comprehend the condition of the land, we observe.

We need a measuring stick, a reference for comparison.

This measuring stick is called land potential.

Armed with understanding of condition of the land and its potential,

we can truly begin to understand the landscapes we are

observing and the state in which they are.

After watching this video,

you will be able to explain the concept on land potential and how

it affects what can be achieved on the land.

You will also be able to recognize how land potential and

land condition can be used to support management decisions.

The term land potential is very important for all

those matching land resources one way or another.

It is meaningful, not only for the farmer,

but also for those that make

land use decisions at higher levels such as government agencies,

and when it comes to it,

we as consumers can have our influences on land use pressures by the choices we

make in the grocery store since that affects international markets.

A simple explanation of land potential would be the state of

the land when it's not substantially changed or damaged by over exploitation.

In other words, the condition of un-degraded land.

From our previous discussion on land degradation,

you now know that such condition can well exist under proper sustainable land use.

So let me explain the factors influencing land potential.

Landscapes are complex.

They consist of multiple elements,

each having its characteristics that can be relatively flat elements

or steep slopes with different aspects.

The soils can be sandy or clay and contain different amounts of organic matter.

The ground water may be deep or close to the surface,

leading to a formation of wet lands.

All those factors influence the land potential.

Understanding the landscape elements is important.

It includes the age of the landscape, different landscape units,

geology of the bedrock as well as the slope, gradient and aspect.

The topography has a strong influence on how water runs off the land,

which influences the land potential and so does the climate.

The climate on earth is quite variable as we all know,

from simmering heat and lack of moisture that limit plant growth in hot deserts,

to the ample supply of

rainfall and rain forests that drives water grassland areas and Savannas,

temperate grasslands and forest to the cold of the tundra

and mountains while low temperature limits plant growth.

The climate, therefore, restricts water landscape potential for a given area can be

under the surface is another component that has a large influence on land potential.

The soil, a heavy clay soil can store a lot of water from

rain and snow providing water to plants during dry periods.

The sandy soil does not,

on the other hand.

It does not store the moisture.

The potential of such system is quite limited in

arid climates where water storage in soil is needed.

Thus, here we have three dominating factors that influence land potential,

the landscape, the climate and the soil properties.

But let's not forget the life sustaining cycles,

the rainfall and the water storage capacity of

the soil determine land potential in arid climates.

However, all systems need energy,

and almost all energy is directly or indirectly derived

from the sun through photosynthesis.

If we reduce the ability of a given land element to

capture energy by removing its vegetation,

then we're also affecting the new tenth cycle negatively,

and that will reduce the fertility of the land.

We are therefore damaging the potential of the site to be productive,

support ecosystem services and its resilience.

The land become degraded and it's not performing at its full potential.

When the cycles of energy,

nutrients and water are at optimal states,

but each different location,

then we talk about that site is at its

full potential.But how can we know if this is the case?

Well, all of these factors we have mentioned, the climate,

the landscape, the soils they define what is possible potential of the land.

Some areas are inherently fertile,

warm with ample rainfall and soils that store the energy and water,

other systems are not fertile at their full potential.

Examples of such systems are arid areas with sandy soils,

with limited means of storing energy and water.In cold areas,

where low temperature limits the means to capture energy.

What is important is that all the factors

that determine the fertility and even more importantly,

the potential of the land can be measured by a range of

scientific methods that are discussed in the next video.

If you want to learn more about these methods,

please look at the report unlocking the sustainable potential of land resources,

evaluation systems strategies and tools,

which is provided with the background material of this course.

We can use our knowledge of land potential to match land deals with land potential.

That means land use must be tailored to the ability of the land to produce,

It must be based on the potential of the land.

This may sound like an ordinary cliche,

but it is not.

Understanding of land potential is a practical step

towards improving the state of the land and livelihoods of people.

If land is not managed within the limits of its potential, degradation occurs.

In nearly every country,

we find stories of land that has been degraded beyond no return.

The land has lost its former potential.

In nearly every case,

this has been caused by land use or management but exceeded the potential of the land.

An example of this is the complete loss of topsoil from hillsides in the Mediterranean.

This could have been avoided by adjusting the management to the potential of the land,

the green line on the figures.

Proper management hinders degradation and allows land to perform at its potential or even

exceeding its potential with increased inputs or

new technologies that increase resource use efficiency,

as you can see on this figures.

The concept of land potential has now been introduced and explained.

You should now see that the ability of a land to produce and deliver

ecosystem services is quite

valuable and it is determined by such factors such as rainfall,

temperature soils and the landscape elements.

This is a basic knowledge leading to the next concept,

which is necessary for understanding landscapes,

for all those months in land use at all levels

from the farmers government agencies to the consumers.

The Concept of Land Condition,

that will be the topic of next video.

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