Drivers of Degradation of Croplands and Abandoned Lands: A Case Study of Macubeni Communal Land in the Eastern Cape, South Africa

Silindile Sibiya (), Jai Kumar Clifford-Holmes and James Gambiza
Additional contact information
Silindile Sibiya: Department of Environmental Science, Rhodes University, Grahamstown 6139, South Africa
Jai Kumar Clifford-Holmes: Institute for Water Research (IWR), Rhodes University, Makhanda 6139, South Africa
James Gambiza: Department of Environmental Science, Rhodes University, Grahamstown 6139, South Africa

Land, 2023, vol. 12, issue 3, 1-27

Abstract: Soil erosion is a global environmental problem and a pervasive form of land degradation that threatens land productivity and food and water security. Some of the biggest sources of sediment in catchments are cultivated and abandoned lands. However, the abandonment of cultivated fields is not well-researched. Our study assesses the level of degradation in cultivated and abandoned lands using a case study in South Africa. We answer three main questions: (1) What is the extent of crop field degradation on used, partly used, and abandoned fields? (2) What are the drivers of field abandonment in relation to land degradation? (3) Can proposed sustainable land management interventions tackle the dynamics of land abandonment and associated degradation? To answer these questions, cultivated and abandoned lands were mapped in a pilot catchment with ArcGIS tools and assigned severity codes and classified according to status, degradation, and encroachment. Systems diagrams were developed to show the interactions between agricultural land use and the level of degradation and leverage points in the system, with interventions assessed via a multi-criteria analysis. The results revealed that 37% of the total mapped area of croplands in the pilot site was abandoned and 20% of those lands were highly degraded. We argue that the innovative application of systems thinking through causal loop diagrams (CLDs) and leverage point analysis, combined with spatial and multi-criteria analyses, can assist with planning SLM interventions in similar contexts in the developing world.

Keywords: sustainable land management; system dynamics; leverage points; multi-criteria analysis; rehabilitation; livelihoods (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/3/606/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/3/606/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:12:y:2023:i:3:p:606-:d:1086982

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().