Leveraging the Landscape : Case Study of Erosion Control through Land Management in the Lake Victoria Basin
Land degradation is a major environmental issue that affects rural livelihoods and the well-being of inhabitants by substantially impacting the sustainability of food production and other ecosystem services as well as rural infrastructures that are...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Report |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2020
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/920061592188789157/Leveraging-the-Landscape-Case-Study-of-Erosion-Control-through-Land-Management-in-the-Lake-Victoria-Basin http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33911 |
| Summary: | Land degradation is a major
environmental issue that affects rural livelihoods and the
well-being of inhabitants by substantially impacting the
sustainability of food production and other ecosystem
services as well as rural infrastructures that are essential
to the prosperity of these communities. Land degradation
refers to the human-induced reduction or loss of the
biological or economic productivity and complexity of land,
which is most often attributed to poor land management
practices and unsustainable land use. Land degradation
consists of a multitude of processes including
deforestation, soil erosion, and increased sedimentation,
among others. These processes interact in concert to cause
severe environmental impacts such as the reduction of
biomass and biodiversity, nutrient depletion of soils, loss
of organic matter in soil, reduction in soil structure and
quality, and destruction of rural infrastructure such as
roads or dams, to name a few. The effects of land
degradation, both onsite and offsite, are widespread and
linked. The onsite consequences include loss of
productivity, reductions in resilience leading to higher
variability in yields and vulnerability to extreme weather
conditions, and a reduction in the capacity to adapt to
climate change while the off-site consequences are global or
regional, such as increased carbon emissions and poor water
regulation, resulting in floods, sedimentation and reduced
base flow downstream. After the introductory chapter,
chapter two presents an overview of soil erosion, land
degradation and SLWM practices in the LVB. Chapter three
first introduces the case study area – the Simiyu catchment
and its constituencies, and then the methodology used. Key
findings and results regarding the effectiveness of the
various SLWM practices are discussed in chapter four.
Chapter five presents monitoring and evaluation frameworks
and soil erosion indicators. Chapter six summarizes the
recommendations resulting from the case study. |
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