Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 81 2000 83–92
Assessing sustainable land management SLM
Hans Hurni
∗
Centre for Development and Environment, Hallerstrasse 12, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
Abstract
The term ‘sustainable development’ and its component ‘sustainable land management SLM’ have been receiving increas- ing attention in development co-operation and at the global level. However, practical tools which can help local users and
multi-disciplinary teams to work together and apply these general concepts at the local to regional levels have emerged only very recently. Some of these tools, as well as programme support services are presented in this paper. The author argues that only
a comprehensive, participatory approach involving stakeholders at all levels will have the potential to develop locally useful solutions within a favourable, i.e. ‘enabling’ institutional environment. Assessment tools will require transdisciplinary meth-
ods that involve natural, social, and political sciences as well as local knowledge systems. Support services for SLM activities will have to include monitoring and impact assessment, experimentation with innovative ideas, resource assessment, infor-
mation, and training. Examples from different parts of the globe have shown that the proposed tools are now receiving greater attention and may fulfil the requirements set forth by the concept of SLM. © 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Land degradation; Sustainable land management; Land evaluation; Sustainable development appraisal SDA
1. Land evaluation and sustainable land management
The objective of this paper is to review existing approaches for planning integrated land management
vis-à-vis the requirements set forth by the concept of sustainable land management as it emerged from the
UNCED process since the Rio conference in 1992, and to propose appropriate conceptual and methodological
tools in response to these requirements.
According to Pieri 1997 there is a need to move from concepts and prescriptive approaches to an inte-
grated approach to the physical planning and the so- cial and institutional dimensions of land management.
Pieri argues that conflict resolution techniques are part of an integration process among different stakehold-
ers, and that robust information available in a timely
∗
http:www.giub.unibe.chcde. E-mail address: cdegiub.unibe.ch H. Hurni.
manner is often more important for the improvement of the decision-making process than comprehensive-
ness. In view of these requirements, some important approaches have been developed over the past decades
which can, and should, be incorporated into new, multi-level, and participatory approaches in order
to allow both internal and external more scientific views to be expressed and discussed. Internal views
in this context are defined as views derived from local knowledge and experience, while external views are
based more on knowledge of a global nature, derived from scientific research and education CDE, 1995.
1
1
The Centre for Development and Environment CDE is a university-based institution which focuses on SLM and has been
active in a number of partner countries for over 20 years, support- ing national monitoring, research, and training networks in dif-
ferent African and Asian countries and specific problem settings. CDE’s primary assets are: long-term monitoring databases, par-
tnership research programmes, and methodological and conceptual
0167-880900 – see front matter © 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 1 6 7 - 8 8 0 9 0 0 0 0 1 8 2 - 1
84 H. Hurni Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 81 2000 83–92
Additional explanations of these differing views are given further below.
An example of the latter type of knowledge is the methodological tool known as ‘land evaluation’, which
was developed as a framework by FAO 1976 to pro- vide a scientific evaluation of land for agricultural pur-
poses. The primary goal of this tool was to provide a scientific assessment of the land resources in terms of
spatial distribution. More specifically, land evaluation was intended to optimise particularly the productive
function of the land and to obtain other important land information at the same time. This tool was designed
to be applied by a multi-disciplinary group of special- ists from the natural sciences, such as soil science,
agronomy, agricultural engineering, climatology, and geomorphology.
The term ‘sustainable land management’ SLM emerged later Smyth and Dumanski, 1993, as a
follow-up to the global discussion on ‘sustainable development’ initiated by the Brundtland Commis-
sion. Sustainable development was defined as devel- opment that “meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” WCED, 1987. This definition was
universally accepted as a common goal at the UN Con- ference on Environment and Development UNCED
in 1992. A particularly comprehensive overview of the concept, with many inputs by individual au-
thors, has been compiled and edited by Beek et al. 1997.
A framework for the evaluation of SLM was developed and propagated in the early years of the
current decade Dumanski, 1994 and will be dis- cussed in greater detail in a separate section. SLM
took up most elements of land evaluation, but com- plemented them by including social, economic, and
ecological dimensions. In the process, it was realised that appropriate tools are required to implement these
concepts and methodologies. A major effort has been made by several agencies, including the World Bank,
as well as bilateral donors and their partners, to
instruments for better planning, such as ‘sustainable development appraisal’ SDA. CDE also concentrates on developing on-farm
technologies such as soil and water conservation WOCAT, 1997, and practical tools for participatory analysis, training and commu-
nity development. These can be used in support of initiatives to promote sustainable land management and regional development.
compile such tools in the framework of impact moni- toring Herweg et al., 1998.
The basic motivation for developing such assess- ment methods is the fact that many land use systems
world-wide are characterised by a lack of sustain- ability and unsustainable trends. At the global scale,
the key problems threatening natural resources and the sustainability of life support systems are: a soil
degradation, b water scarcity and pollution, and c the loss of biodiversity WBGU, 1996. These occur
in the land use systems of virtually all socio-cultural and economic settings world-wide. However, there are
great differences in the abilities of countries to cope with these key problems, and particularly with the
problems of land degradation which affect all natural resources alike Hurni et al., 1996.
Problems of land degradation can be documented in many parts of the world to various degrees with var-
ious impacts Hurni, 1997. Some pertinent issues of land degradation are illustrated in the examples shown
in Figs. 1–3, and explained in the captions. The main natural resources affected are soils, water, natural veg-
etation, cultural plants, and wildlife. Perceptions of the damaging effects of these natural resource problems,
however, vary greatly, between land users and other stakeholders, among these groups, and with time.
From an economic perspective, for example, an envi- ronmental problem might be assessed in terms of its
short-term costs and benefits, disregarding long-term social and ecological impacts. The economic viability
of environmentally friendly technologies may be very different when assessed at the household and the soci-
etal level. The social perspective of a community, a re- gion or a country may take account of poverty issues,
social differentiation of affected groups, or societal and political effects, but disregard economic con-
siderations. The ecological perspective, finally, may consider only the effects of land degradation on na-
ture, i.e. wildlife, vegetation and ecological processes, disregarding both social and economic problems.
Ensuring that these mostly contradictory dimen- sions of sustainability have a positive effect on all
involved stakeholders is a challenge which may be difficult to meet in many instances. However, use of
appropriate tools in implementing the concept of SLM in light of the above requirements may considerably
increase the chances of progress towards long-lasting solutions.
H. Hurni Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 81 2000 83–92 85
Fig. 1. Century-old soil degradation can have disastrous consequences on traditional land use systems particularly if the processes are too slow to be perceived as dangerous. An example from subsistence highland agriculture in the Simen Mountains, Ethiopia: the village area
of Denkolako at 3450 m asl. Photograph by Andreas Hurni, October 1976.
2. A framework approach to sustainable land management
