Land Degradation: Impact of Farmers

[Chris]

Originally Posted by Chip

OK getting back on track, and being somewhat of a pragmatist I think it may be informative to discuss organizations here in the DR that are actually fighting land degradation.

Apologies, I've been wanting to get back to this thread but today turned out into one of those days. Pragmatically speaking this is not a single faceted thing. One cannot deal with land degradation without dealing with farmers and their levels of knowledge and practices, water and water management, forests and forestry management. So, I would expect that it would take a concerted approach of many stakeholders to be able to actually accomplish anything.

What struck me in the reports quoted in the original blog entry and other maps that I found subsequently, is that the areas that are reported to be more degraded than others, are those where large areas are under organic farming and have been for years. It is a kind of organic farming which I personally do not like, as it is mono-culture with organic fertilizers. There are some very big names involved. But I would have expected that with organic farming, there would be an increase in soil fertility and yet here we see a cumulative decrease.

So, all this leads me to speculate that if we can get our big brother 'Vinnie" to lean on some big name organizations and tell them about the reported degradation, and offer to share with the press that these are areas where their farms are in, we may get some action.

The other thing that struck me is the very small difference reported between the DR and Haiti.

[Keith R]

Originally Posted by Chris

What struck me in the reports quoted in the original blog entry and other maps that I found subsequently, is that the areas that are reported to be more degraded than others, are those where large areas are under organic farming and have been for years. It is a kind of organic farming which I personally do not like, as it is mono-culture with organic fertilizers. There are some very big names involved. But I would have expected that with organic farming, there would be an increase in soil fertility and yet here we see a cumulative decrease.

hmmm, sorry to hear that, but not totally surprised. Organic, like anything else, is not automatically a guarantee of sustainability.

The other thing that struck me is the very small difference reported between the DR and Haiti.

That seemed odd to me too. I thought Haiti would be far worse, just as is it about deforestation. But then again, deforestation does not automatically mean degradation too (often, but not always and immediately -- unless we're talking about complete loss of vegetation).

[Hillbilly]

There is Plan Sierra that is doing fantastic work in the Central Mountains.
the is Sur Futuro--happily headed byMelba de Grullon, alejandro's wife--and doing real work
there is La Reserva de Ebano Verde
And there is that project between Canada, the DR and haiti that is " supposed" to take care of the Artibonito waterdhed, but I have notheard much about it...


HB

[bob saunders]

http://www.dominicantoday.com/dr/pov...er-communities

[Keith R]

Interesting article, Bob. Thanks for posting that. It would seem to explain why HB has not heard much about that project.

[Chris]

We're getting to touch on some of the many facets of land degradation. The article that Bob posted clearly spells out how water management is a part to soil management. The link in the article leads to a further article by the same journalist about the role that trees play. Nice easy 101 type reading that folks that have not been exposed to these cycles and that wonder why we're talking about it, can understand. Thanks Bob - from Dominican Today no less. Well I never .. .

Thing is that land degradation is something that happens over a long time. And it is something that cannot be fixed quickly. There are no bandaids. So, I cannot see how short term non-holistic projects can do anything. If there is no long term support, short term single-focus projects simply waste money in my opinion.

[Chirimoya]

Originally Posted by Chris

We're getting to touch on some of the many facets of land degradation. The article that Bob posted clearly spells out how water management is a part to soil management. The link in the article leads to a further article by the same journalist about the role that trees play. Nice easy 101 type reading that folks that have not been exposed to these cycles and that wonder why we're talking about it, can understand. Thanks Bob - from Dominican Today no less. Well I never .. .

The writer of those articles did some good work during her stint with DT. She posted on DR1 as Alexandra Palace.

Thing is that land degradation is something that happens over a long time. And it is something that cannot be fixed quickly. There are no bandaids. So, I cannot see how short term non-holistic projects can do anything. If there is no long term support, short term single-focus projects simply waste money in my opinion.

All the projects I know of (mainly in the south west, with coffee farmers and other producers) that address land degradation do this within the broader context of an integrated development project, with education and prevention components.

[bob saunders]

Although a bit of topic, many of the large floods in the US this year such as Iowa City are partially a result of cutting down and removing the natural vegetation to make cornfields and having little or no forestland surround the headwaters and tributaries. As you can see from this articles probably most of the dams in the DR should be dredged.

[cobraboy]

Deleted by me (Robert). Don't waste your time posting anymore in the Environment forum, your posts will only get deleted. Forget the Environment forum for a while.
Any questions, PM me.

[Chris]

I wanted to add this reference to this thread. If anyone is a subscriber, or an Alumni of University of South Alabama, perhaps it is possible for us to get hold of a copy of this?

ScienceDirect - Geoderma : Local soil knowledge and site suitability evaluation in the Dominican Republic