Changing systems and changing landscapes: Measuring and interpreting land use transformation in African drylands
Date
2005Author
Mortimore, Michael
Ba, Magatte
Mahamane, Ali
Rostom, R.S
del Pozo, Pau Serra
Turner, Beryl
Type
ArticleLanguage
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The linkages between global and policy drivers of land use on the
one hand, and land cover data on the other are explored in four
dryland areas (Machakos/Makueni Districts in Kenya; Maradi Department
in Niger; Diourbel Region in Senegal; the Kano Close-
Settled Zone in Nigeria). The findings are that (1) land cover
change data are insensitive to short term changes in economic circumstances,
mainly because a subsistence priority constrains the
impact of market forces; (2) land use or cover variables are poor indicators
of deepening agricultural intensification, decapitalisation,
or significant transitions hidden in apparently degradational narratives;
(3) land use adaptations are embedded in broader changes
to livelihood strategies, whose understanding is necessary before
constructing land cover scenarios for wider areas. For this reason
it is unwise to speculate about supporting capacities or limits to
adaptation; (4) representative analyses of process at micro-scale
need to be linked in a systematic way to regional land cover scenarios
based on remotely sensed data.
URI
http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/36462http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.468.7214&rep=rep1&type=pdf