Wastelands: rehabilitation and managementapproaches

T.V. Ramachandra and Raushan Kumar

Wastelands are the degradedand unutilized lands exceptcurrent fallows due to "

different constraints (CSIR, 1990). Poorland practices have led to malnutritionand decline in production capacity ofthe soil. It is estimated that in

wastelands the biomass production isless than 20% of its overall potential. Itincludes areas affected by water logging,ravine, sheet and gully erosion, riverinelands, shifting cultivation, salinity andalkalinity, shifting and sand dunes, winderosion, extreme moisture deficiency,coastal sand dunes etc. These degradedlands are ecologically unstable withalmost complete loss of top soil and areunsuitable for cultivation due to decline

in their quality and productivity. Thesecan be categorized as:

i. Non-forest public degraded lands:These are not lawfully defined asforest or which have not been legallyincluded in government records.These are registered by differentnames in the revenue records.

Ownership of these lands is vestedwith the government, such as revenuedepartment, public worksdepartment, Railways, etc. Theselands may be under the control of thevillage Panchayat and are meant forcommon use; no individual canoccupy them for private use throughencroachment.

ii. Degraded forestlands: These arelegally constituted as forest andinclude reserved, protected orundefined forest. These are either

completely devoid of trees and/orother vegetation, or contain trees invery low densities, or are simplyshrubs.

iii. Private degraded lands: These are

private marginal agricultural lands onwhich economic agriculture is notpossible as productivity does notcommensurate with labour

employed. These lands may besubjected to heavy erosion and thesoil is infertile.

Due to lack of irrigation,or unfavorableclimate, some lands are not cultivated

and are categorized as either culturableor unculturable wastelands. Culturable

wastelands include gullied and/orravenous land, undulating upland,surface waterlogged land and marsh, salt

10

affected land, shifting cultivation area,degraded forest area, degraded non-forestplantation, sandy area, mining andindustrial wasteland, and pasture andgrazing lands. Compared to this,unculturable wastelands include barren,rocky, stony wastes, sheet rock area,steep sloping area and snow covered and/or glacial area.

Wastelands - precnrsor ofdesertification

District wise land use analysis inKarnataka state, India using collateraland remote sensing data reveals thatabout 35-40% of lands in arid and

semiarid areas are either degraded orwaste lands (http://ces.iisc.ernet.in/energy). Land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas has takenplace mainly due to anthropogenicactivities and climatic variations and this

process is commonly known asdesertification (UNEP, 1991). Analysesof desertification causes clearly indicatethe human interferences, and naturalcalamities as the prime movers ofdesertification. Factors responsible fordesertification are heavy pressure onland, underlying physical conditions,land shortage (due to increase inpopulation), size and distribution ofpopulation, population growth, regionaladministrative policies and globalclimatic conditions. These causal factors

can be grouped as immediate and indirectcauses. Immediate include land use

practices like exposing soil to greaterrisk. Indirect causes include the regionaladministrative policies, effectiveness ofgovernment to resolve the land conflict,and approaches of research andextension.

Processes that are closely linked todesertification are (1) drought - a periodof one or two years with below averagerainfall, (2) desiccation"- a process ofaridification resulting from a dry periodlasting over decades, and (3) drylanddegradation brought about mainly byinappropriate land use practices. Thesedifferent processes need differentmanagement approaches as the level andseverity varies. These processes could beprevented and reversed by integratedecosystem approaches involving land andwater by considering watershed asplanning unit. This means that theplanners' attention has to be shifted fromcombating desertification towards

LEISA INDIA. DECEMBER 2003

improving natural resourcesmanagement. Rehabilitation andsustainable management of land isessential to meet the gap betweendemand and supply; create employmentin rural areas and strengthen ruralinfrastructure; check soil erosion and

;malnutrition; reduce runoff by water andwind; maintain biological diversity andthe nutrient storage in soil matrix.

Goals in this regard are to check furtherdegradation; sustainable use of degradedlands; increase biomass availabilityalong with nourishing soil; and restoreecological balance. This can be done byparticipatory approach with the help oflocal people in the planning andmanagement of lands. Ecosystemapproaches in management consideringwatershed, would ensure integration ofvarious ecological components (bothbiotic and abiotic). This would also helpin enhancing the socio-economic statusof a region. Similar approaches practicedin drier districts like Ananthpur (AndhraPradesh), Tumkur, Bangalore rural(Karnataka) have yielded positive resultswith iIitrease in land productivity andground water levels in the respectivewatersheds.

People friendly action programme helpslocal people and organisations inrehabilitating and improving thedegraded lands. In this regard,management aspects are:

. Fixing target areas (degraded forestarea and pastures, public and privatewastelands, farmlands with lowerproductivity).

. Assessing the infrastructure availableto meet the requirement;

Finding the possibilities of involvingthe government, NGOs, and local

people. The key elements of aparticipatory approach being localpeoples' priorities; provision ofsecure rights and gains to the poor;flexible approaches; working withlocal groups and institutions, capacitybuilding of motivated local people

. Government has to give priority interms of funding, encouragement, andpolicy making (see box 1).

. Measures to strengthen localorganisations, by delegating morepower and responsibility to localcommunities, decentralised resource

management etc.. Research and information access tounderstand the causes for land

degradation and effective means toaddress them.

. Wasteland monitoring andpreparedness.

. NGOs have a pivotal task in theimplementation of the action plan.(See box 2).

. Mechanisms by which local-people,NGOs and other groups cancontribute to implementation andmonitoring of wasteland developmentprogramme on regular basis.

. Promoting conservation of naturalresources through traditionalknowledge.

. Promoting ideas to consider thevillage as an ecosystem and tomaintain its integrity.

. Providing examples of the practicesdone at different places.

. Integrated village ecosystem planningwith watershed approach needs to beespoused for sustainabledevelopment. This would enhance thetotal natural resource base byrestoration and management ofdegraded lands, production of basicbiomass needs of the villagecommunity and equity in distributionof biomass resource.

Rehabilitation of degraded lands "-

6,000 million tonnes of fertile soilcontaining 5 million tonnes of NPKnutrients are displaced each year (Vohra,1978). Some of the degraded lands in thecatchment of major irrigation reservoirs(Cauvery, Krishna, etc.) and hydroelectric reservoirs (Uttara Kannada,Shimoga districts) are causing rapidsedimentation. Studies in Sharavathiriver basin reveal the existence of

streams with perennial water supply inwatersheds with good vegetation ofevergreen to semi-evergreen species(western part of the river basin), whiledegraded lands on the eastern side of theriver basin are with seasonal streams

(http://ces.iisc.ernet.in/energy). The

outcome of these analyses highlights theneed to maintain vegetation of nativespecies in order to ensure perennialwater supply in streams and to meet thebioresource demand.

The rehabilitation of degraded landsthrough the management of soil andvegetation would minimise siltation andenhance the water yield in the catchment.It depends on soil capability, climaticconditions, plant species, infrastructure,and local policies, etc.

Species selection is based on localconditions, survival, adaptability andproductivity. Thus, genetic quality ofnative species to withstand adverseenvironment becomes important for thegrowth and adaptability to soils withdifferent depth and water retentioncapacities. The plant establishmentprimarily depends upon the development

of good root system. The inherentcharacteristics of a species to propagateor regenerate itself vegetatively such as,by root suckers, when damaged, is alsoimportant for survival. The basicparameters for selection of species forwasteland adaptability can be

. Survival at nursery andtransplantation level on site.

. High establishment rate.

. Good root and growth system.

. High reproductive fertility.. Enhancement of soil nutrient status.

. Good regeneration.

. Recovery from damage throughvegetative propagation or seed.

. Meet the local requirement of fuel,food and fodder.

The decisive factors in species selectionfor degraded land rehabilitation are:

. site-specific local species.. silvicultural characteristicsof thespecies.

. utilization potential of species.

. exotic species should be avoided asfar as possible and be considered onlywhen the indigenous species areunable to thrive in a degradedecosystem.. afforestation should involve a multi-

species approach. This would bemore advantageous from the point ofresistance to pest and diseases, andmore efficient utilization ofenvironmental resource. This can alsoserve as a better cover to the soil and

regeneration of soil.

. The plant species suggestedforreforestation of open, fallow, degradedlands of low rainfall zones in the eastern

part of the catchment are: Acaciacatechu, Acacia concinna, Butea

monosperma, Pongamia pinnata,

Schleichera oleasa, Madhuca latifolia,Emblica officinalis, Cassia fistula,Strychnos nux-vomica, Odina wodier,

Dillenia pentagyrra; ltylia xylocarpa,Buchanania lanzan, Careya arborea,Terminalia chebula, Pterocarpusmarsupium, Phoenix sylvestris,Mangifera indica, Dendrocalamusstrictus, Bambusa arundinacea,Azadirachta indica, Cordia myxa, Aegle

marmelos, Sapindus laurifolius,Spondias mangifera.

Local people should be involved anddecentralised farmer's nursery should bepromoted, thus generating employmentto the locals in the afforestation

programmes.

Conclusion

The discussion highlights the need for anintegrated ecosystem approach inwatershed management considering allcomponents to maintain sustainability.This would help in combatingdesertification. Rehabilitation of the

degraded land through the sustainablemanagement of soil and vegetationwould minimise siltation and enhance

the water yield in the catchment. Multi-species approach with native species inafforestation would be more

advantageous from the point ofresistance to pest and diseases, meeting

(Continued on page 24)

Box 2: Rolli ofNGOs in the

implement~tion of action plan

LEISA INDIA. DECEMBER 2003 11

(Continued from page 11)

Wastelands:rehabilitation and management approachesthe local demand, perennial water sourceand more efficient utilization ofenvironmental resource. This serves as abetter cover to the soil and aids in

regeneration of soil.

Acknowledgements

We thank the Ministry of Environmentand Forests, Government of India andKPCL, Government of Karnataka for

financial support.

Dr. T.Y. Ramachandra

Energy & Wetlands Research Group, Centrefor Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute ofScience, Bangalore 560 012, India.Tel: 91- 080- 3600985,3943099, 3942506,e-mail: cestvr@ces.iisc.emet.in,energy@ces.iisc.ernet.in,ces tvr@hamsadvani.serc.iisc.ernet.in

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.

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"-"".","'_H'

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