15.3.

2018

Introduction to Land Potential

Johann Thorsson
UNU-LRT

• What does it describe?

What is Land • What does it include?
Potential? • Why is it important?
• Why is it important to understand what it
includes?
Before we begin: • How could it be measured?
• How do we compare land with different land
potential?
• What are the tools we need to compare land
with different land potential?
• Does land potential mean the same for all land
users?
• Land potential for what is most important?
• What land potential do we have to preserve?
• Can land potential be manipulated?
• What is the scale of land potential change?
• What controls land potential?

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• Land-potential is defined as the inherent

What is Land potential of the land to sustainably generate
ecosystem services. ... Application of the land
Potential? potential concept can support sustainable
agricultural production, biodiversity
conservation, and other ecosystem services.
https://www.landpotential.org/what-is-landpotential.html

• A simple explanation of land potential would be

Land potential the state of the land if it is not substantially
changed or damaged by overexploitation. In
is „what our other words, the condition of undegraded land.

land can do“ if • There are five main factors affecting land
it is not in a potential:
– climate
degraded state –
–
soils
topographic features / geomorphology
– hydrology
– land use history (management)

• Land-potential is defined as the inherent

What is Land potential of the land to sustainably generate
ecosystem services. ... Application of the land
Potential? potential concept can support sustainable
agricultural production, biodiversity
conservation, and other ecosystem services.
https://www.landpotential.org/what-is-landpotential.html

• A simple explanation of land potential would be

Land potential the state of the land if it is not substantially
changed or damaged by overexploitation. In
is „what our other words, the condition of undegraded land.

land can do“ if • There are five main factors affecting land
it is not in a potential:
– climate
degraded state –
–
soils
topographic features / geomorphology
– hydrology
– land use history (management)

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Exceeding the land potential: abandoned degraded agricultural land in a former

irrigation scheme near Tandelti in Northern Kordofan, Sudan. Before it was cleared for
mechanized agriculture, this land consisted of low rainfall savannah rangeland.
http://postconflict.unep.ch/sudanreport/sudan_website/index_photos_2.php?key=agriculture

Exceeding the land potential: accelerated soil erosion and gullying in the upper
Panuco basin, Sierra Madre Oriental, eastern Mexico.

http://www.utexas.edu/depts/grg/hudson/grg360g/EGIS/labs_04/Lab9/lab9_soil_erosion_NEW_spr04.htm

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What is “Land Potential”?

• The potential of the • Support agricultural
land, based on climate, production, biodiversity
soils and topography to: conservation and other
ecosystem services
• Resist and recover from
degradation (resilience)
e.g. Jeff Herrick et al. 2013

What is “Land Potential”?

• The potential of the • Support agricultural
land, based on climate, production, biodiversity
soils and topography to: conservation and other
ecosystem services
• Resist and recover from
degradation (resilience)
e.g Jeff Herrick et al. 2013

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What is “Land Potential”?

• The potential of the
land, based on climate,
soils and topography to:

What is “Land Potential”?

• Land potential is the • Ecosystem Services:
capacity of land to support The benefits people
ecosystem services obtain from ecosystems.
required to meet “the – These include provisioning
needs of the present services such as food and
without compromising the water; regulating services
ability of future such as flood and disease
control; cultural services
generations to meet their such as spiritual,
own needs” recreational, and cultural
benefits; and supporting
(from the Brundtland Commission 1987:
“Our Common Future” sustainability definition).
services such as nutrient
cycling that maintain the
conditions for life on Earth.
(Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
http://www.millenniumassessment.org)

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Potential of land to produce food,

What is Land Potential?
fiber, building materials and fuel
• Land potential is the • Ecosystem Services:
capacity Why is to
of land important
support to preserve
The benefitsland people
ecosystem services potential? obtain from ecosystems.
required to meet “the – These include provisioning
needs of the present services such as food and
without compromising water; regulating services
Consumptionthe already exceeds net and disease
such as flood
ability of future
generationsprimary
to meetproduction
their in many parts services
control; cultural
such as spiritual,
own needs” of the world! recreational, and cultural
(Imhoff et al. 2004) benefits; and supporting
(from the Brundtland Commission 1987:
“Our Common Future” sustainability definition).
services such as nutrient
cycling that maintain the
conditions for life on Earth.
(Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
http://www.millenniumassessment.org)

What governs
Land Potential?
Key concepts: Resilience and resistance
The ability of a land to resist a
disturbance controls land
potential

Disturbance can be
• biological
• invading insects
• anthropological, i.e. land use
(grazing, cultivating or other types of
land use)

• abiotic events
• climate
• volcanism
• combination of both

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What governs
Land Potential?
Key concepts: Resilience and resistance
The ability of a land to resist a
disturbance controls land
potential

Disturbance can be
• biological
• invading insects
• anthropological, i.e. land use
(grazing, cultivating or other types of
land use)

• abiotic events
• climate
• volcanism
• combination of both

What governs
Land Potential?
Key concepts: Resilience and resistance
The ability of a land to resist a
disturbance controls land
potential

Disturbance can be
• biological
• invading insects
• anthropological, i.e. land use
(grazing, cultivating or other types of
land use)

• abiotic events
• climate
• volcanism
• combination of both

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Same area, same Land Potential?

Which is best
for cultivation?

Herrick et al. 2013: the importance of soils for Land Potential

Simplified, generalized patterns of potential production (P) and resistance and resilience
(R) based on climate, resistance to erosion, soil depth, soil texture, and potential for soil
organic matter accumulation and soil structure development (under natural conditions
for water-limited regions).

[12686]

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Which is best r/p=0.95

for cultivation? r/p=0.22

r/p=1.00
r/p=0.25

r/p=0.50

Herrick et al. 2013: the importance of soils for Land Potential

Simplified, generalized patterns of potential production (P) and resistance and resilience
(R) based on climate, resistance to erosion, soil depth, soil texture, and potential for soil
organic matter accumulation and soil structure development (under natural conditions
for water-limited regions).

[12686]

New Zealand: Same climate, same management, different topography

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wNBFLt67N_4/T8bb-R2J7SI/AAAAAAAAAA8/zSuGSzH5HEM/s1600/Erosion-slumping.jpg

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http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/cw_smith/images/explore2p.jpg

Hawaii & Iceland: Same soils, different climate, different management

B’
B

A’

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Hispaniola; Haiti & the Dominican Republic:

Same soils, same climate, different management
The Caribbean Island of the Hispaniola shared by Haiti and Dominican Republic,
represents an extreme example of degradation where anthropogenic causes of
deforestation, mainly in Haiti are really evident along the cross border section.
(Hernandez-Leal et al. 2006) [12685]

In case you don’t believe

Goggle Earth imagery
Fig. 1. Monthly NDVI composite image for the Hispaniola (December 1992), Fig. 2. Scatter plots of monthly NDVI against months of the period study
obtained using the Global Land 1-km AVHRR Project 10 days composite data. (October 1992–September 1993) in the 14 test sites previously defined.
The seven zones (considering the Dominican and the Haitian sides separately) in (Hernandez-Leal et al. 2006) [12685]
which we have divided our Land cover dynamics analysis is shown as well.
(Hernandez-Leal et al. 2006) [12685]

NDVI is almost always lower for Haiti than the D.R., indicating less vegetation cover.

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JH, 2013

JH, 2013

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Land Potential

Land potential poor hydrological function

depends on the soils:
• their ability to
capture and hold on
to water
• availability of
accessible nutrients nutrient poor soil
• ability to support
vegetation (energy
capture) no energy capture

Different land,
different potential Delineate areas with different land potential on this image.

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Different land,
different potential

• Hafnarskógur, example of
Exercise:
different land potential
The Hafnarskogur
forest landscape
• Iceland, Norway, land
consists of many
different landscape potential? Soil governs
units (areas).
land potential, why has
Delineate areas
with different land Iceland, Hawaii not the
potential on this
image. same potential?

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JH, 2013

JH, 2013

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Land-Potential
Knowledge System
• Globalize access to
The idea is to use the
internet and mobile knowledge and information
phones to: about land potential for
governments and farmers
• Identify the knowledge and
information relevant to
each type of land/soil
• Connect farmers with
similar types of land and
challenges with each other
JH, 2013

landpotential.org

JH, 2013

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• Two strategies:
– production intensification (on land currently
used)
The Challenge: – land conversion (land not used but has
potential for production)
• What are the risks? How do we understand
Agricultural the limits of the land? Limits of the
production must potential?
increase significantly • Understanding potential is critical for all
land use planning – the greatest risk is the
to meet the needs of a application of nonsustainable land use
growing global practices (soil degradation, may be
irreversible) Hispaniola & Iceland example
population with • How do we know land potential? How do
increasing per capita we know how to manage land?
consumption of food,
fiber, building • Forum for user data sharing:
materials, and fuel.
The „LandPKS“; Land-Potential Knowledge
System (landpotential.org)

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