Increased Land Clearance for Crop Cultivation:
Pressure State Response Indicators

Pressure An increased reliance on more intensive methods of livestock rearing and on industrial livestock production techniques will inevitably result in an increase in the area of land given over to the production of crops for animal feed concentrates. As more livestock are reared using these industrial livestock production techniques the proportion of cultivated land that directly supports intensive livestock rearing will inevitably increase. Environmental problems associated with large scale intensive cultivation are therefore also of relevance to industrial animal production. | Pressure State Response References

These pressures are characterised by:

- The reason for land clearance – directly to support livestock or for cultivation, a proportion of which supports industrial livestock production;
- The levels of technology used by resulting agricultural practices – high, medium or low, and as a result, the levels of agricultural chemical inputs.
- The scale of the enterprises – small, medium or large;
- The total amount of land cleared
- The size and number of remaining untouched areas
- The status of these remaining areas (legal protection, land not suitable, etc.)
- Human population pressure in the cleared land

State

Between 1952 and 1989, the area of cereals harvested increased by 14% from an estimated 616.8 to 407.7 million hectares. However, yields increased 1,233 to 2,646kg/ha – an increase of 114%. – mostly due to the increased use of fertilisers and pesticides. Modern systems have developed in close collaboration with the use of these agricultural chemicals.

Agricultural activities have three main impacts on biodiversity:

- On natural ecosystems, and their constituent species, in those areas where cultivation occurs;
- Through chemical pollution from use of fertilisers and pesticides, and;
- On the genetic variability of the cultivated species themselves.

The degree of impact can range from species extinction to increased populations.

Land clearance is itself driven by a wide range of external factors, which can include the influence of external (international) markets, as well as factors operating at national and local levels.

The impact of land clearance is direct and by its very nature is more or less immediate. Such changes can be measured, for example through the use of time series of satellite imagery if the scale is large, or through ground-based techniques where smaller areas are concerned.

The impacts do not cease after land clearance but continue according to the nature of the changed land use. For instance, soil erosion may become a serious problem. The impact of agricultural chemical inputs accompanying the change of land use is long-term and not so readily apparent, but may be equally damaging to the environment. These impacts are discussed elsewhere in the toolbox. Changes are at the habitat and ecosystem level. By the time these macro-level changes have taken place, the problems arising from use of agricultural chemicals may have resulted in irreversible damage.

The results of land clearance are long term, both the direct impact of clearing land and the indirect impact resulting from the changed land use. They are also very difficult if not impossible to reverse. As a result there is a need to assess the likelihood of land clearance occurring before it happens through the use of indirect indicators.

State can be characterised by the ratio of cultivated to potentially cultivable land. A ratio close to 1.0 indicates actual or potential land pressure since the common solution to a shortfall in production - that of taking addtional land into production - is no longer available. To obtain this ratio requires an assessment of how much land is cultivable together with monitoring of how much is actually cultivated. A related indicator is the ratio of unprotected to protected land, e.g. national parks and forest reserves.

Response

Sound practices for sustainable crop production and the integration of cultivation with industrial livestock production will to some extent reduce the environmental effects of increased crop production, as will increased yields from existing cultivated areas. However, the major instruments of control must be at the policy and regulatory level. Control relies on legislation of acceptable limits to land clearance and on some form of monitoring and policing. Approaches to regulation can be characterised as:

- Complete protection of important and representative areas, for instance through a system of national parks and recreation areas;
- Regulation of land use through licensing limited extraction of resources from an area, for example through a system of forest reserves;
- Creation of new protected areas in other areas;
- Clarification of legislation and policy on land tenure;
- Clarification of legislation and policy concerning common property resources;
- The use of subsidies and taxes to modify market forces;
- Encouraging regional approaches to common problems.

The response needs to be characterised by:

- Creation of regulations and amendment of existing regulations to suit specific local requirements;
- Specification of acceptable limits to change, both at national and local levels;
- Incorporation of the economic values of natural habitats in conventional economic models, especially within national accounting systems;
- Involvement of the local communities;
- The involvement of international communities, especially in those cases where external market forces are important determinants of land use and land use change;
- Creation or adaptation of the relevant institutional framework;
- Monitoring effort by regulating agencies;
- Prosecution or other interventions by regulatory bodies.

References

Pieri, C., Dumanski, J., Hamblin A. & Young, A. (1995) Land Quality Indicators. World Bank Discussions Papers 315. The World Bank, Washington DC.

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