Sustainable land management (SLM) refers to practices and technologies that aim to integrate the management of land,

water Water (chemical formula ) is an Inorganic compound, inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living ...

, and other environmental resources to meet human needs while ensuring long-term sustainability,

ecosystem services Ecosystem services are the many and varied benefits to humans provided by the natural environment and healthy ecosystems. Such ecosystems include, for example, agroecosystems, forest ecosystem, grassland ecosystems, and aquatic ecosystems. ...

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...

, and livelihoods. The term is used, for example, in

regional planning Regional planning deals with the efficient placement of land-use activities, infrastructure, and settlement growth across a larger area of land than an individual city or town. Regional planning is related to urban planning as it relates land ...

and

soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt Dirt is an unclean matter, especially when in contact with a person's clothes, skin, or possessions. In such cases, they are said to become dirty. Common types of dirt include: * Debri ...

environmental protection Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment by individuals, organizations and governments. Its objectives are to conserve natural resources and the existing natural environment and, where possible, to repair dam ...

, as well as in property and

estate management Property management is the operation, control, maintenance, and oversight of real estate and physical property. This can include residential, commercial, and land real estate. Management indicates the need for real estate to be cared for and monit ...

Scope

The

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...

defines sustainable land management as a process in a charged environment between

and the guarantee claim of

on the one hand. On the other hand, it is about productivity of

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...

and

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. ...

with respect to demographic growth and increasing pressure in

land use Land use involves the management and modification of natural environment or wilderness into built environment such as settlements and semi-natural habitats such as arable fields, pastures, and managed woods. Land use by humans has a long ...

. The

United Nations Economic Commission for Europe The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE or UNECE) is one of the five regional commissions under the jurisdiction of the United Nations Economic and Social Council. It was established in order to promote economic cooperation and i ...

(UNECE) applies the term in a much wider context. Besides agriculture and forestry, they include the mineral extraction sector, property and estate management. In the course of national politics and programmes, few

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

an states use the terminology "sustainable land management". Here Australia and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

are to be mentioned, as both countries have agreed on sustainable land management with respect to climate change as part of their government programmes. In the European context, the definition of the European Network for Land Use Management for Sustainable European Cities (LUMASEC) may be used as a reference. It emphasizes the inter- and transdisciplinary cooperation on sustainable land management:

Research

Since 2010, the

German Federal Ministry of Education and Research The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (german: link=no, Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, ), abbreviated BMBF, is a cabinet-level ministry of Germany. It is headquartered in Bonn, with an office in Berlin. The Ministry provi ...

(BMBF) funds an international research program on "sustainable land management". Module A of the program investigates interactions between land management,

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

, and ecosystem services. It includes projects operating in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, Europe,

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

, and

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth descr ...

. Module B seeks "innovative system solutions" in 13 projects with a Central European focus. Furthermore, the Economics of Land Degradation (ELD) Initiative seeks to establish a cost benefit analysis on the practice of sustainable land management highlighting its economic benefits. This economic analysis will help decision makers to take appropriate measures to combat

land degradation Land degradation is a process in which the value of the biophysical environment is affected by a combination of human-induced processes acting upon the land. It is viewed as any change or disturbance to the land perceived to be deleterious o ...

globally. Additionally, the Initiative supports regional case studies focusing on

and

The need for sustainable land management

In September 2020, scientists published an interactive

world map A world map is a map of most or all of the surface of Earth. World maps, because of their scale, must deal with the problem of projection. Maps rendered in two dimensions by necessity distort the display of the three-dimensional surface of th ...

of terrestrial regions where protected areas acting as a "Global Safety Net" or -as a gradual improvement - more sustainable management would help achieve various

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologi ...

and conservation goals.

References

External links

Sustainable land management
– website of the BMBF-Funding
Holistic Management International

Global Land Project website
– The Global Land Project is a joint research project for land systems for the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) and the

International Human Dimensions Programme The International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP) was a research programme that studied the human and societal aspects of the phenomenon of global change. IHDP aimed to frame, develop and integrate social science ...

(IHDP)
URBACT website

website of the BMBF-Funding project REFINA - (Research for the Reduction of Land Consumption and for Sustainable Land Management

Sustainable Forestry
website of the National Research Programme "Sustainable Forestry" of the BMBF]
The Economics of Land Degradation (ELD) Initiative
{{land use Human geography

Land Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of the planet Earth that is not submerged by the ocean or other bodies of water. It makes up 29% of Earth's surface and includes the continents and various isla ...

Scope

Research

The need for sustainable land management

See also

References

External links