Vilakazi Bonginkosi S, Mukwada Geofrey
Department of Crop Sciences, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, North-West University, Private Bag X2046, Mmabatho, 2790, South Africa.
Food Security and Safety Niche Area, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, North-West University, Private Bag X2046, Mmabatho, 2790, South Africa.
Environ Monit Assess. 2023 Jan 7;195(2):275. doi: 10.1007/s10661-022-10906-y.
Human population is envisaged to continue to grow, with a tremendous contribution to land degradation and climate change. Climate change and land degradation are intertwined, thus tackling climate change means mitigating land degradation. Climate change is a worldwide problem that affects lives and livelihoods; henceforth, mitigating measures are urgently required. With their unique, rich biodiversity, mountain areas are severely sensitive to climate change and land degradation; therefore, a speedy need to curb land degradation in mountain areas is needed. The aim of this systematic review was to appraise different strategic methods used globally to minimise land degradation and sustain mountainous areas in a frequently changing climate. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) was utilised in this systematic review. The Scopus data base was utilised for document search, with a selection of articles limited between the years 2012 and 2021. Only articles written in English were considered. After assessing the abstracts, 703 articles were retained for a full review, leading to the final selection of 84 articles. The results show that soil erosion, overgrazing and construction of infrastructure are major causes of land degradation. The human population increase is also an enormous contributing factor to activities leading to land degradation and climate change. A conspicuous intensification of agricultural activities is expected to continue due to rising food demand. Curbing land degradation and climate change in mountain areas can be enforced by the government through stricter regulations. However, regulations and policies must be locally initiated, instead of globally initiated, with local communities being the main stakeholders. Hence, bottom-up rather than top-down policies would encourage local communities to embrace mitigation policy initiatives.
预计人口将持续增长，这对土地退化和气候变化有巨大影响。气候变化和土地退化相互交织，因此应对气候变化意味着减轻土地退化。气候变化是一个影响生活和生计的全球性问题；因此，迫切需要采取缓解措施。山区拥有独特而丰富的生物多样性，对气候变化和土地退化极为敏感；因此，迫切需要迅速遏制山区的土地退化。本系统评价的目的是评估全球使用的不同战略方法，以尽量减少土地退化并在气候变化频繁的情况下维持山区。本系统评价采用了系统评价和Meta分析的首选报告项目（PRISMA）。使用Scopus数据库进行文献检索，选择2012年至2021年间的文章。只考虑用英文撰写的文章。在评估摘要后，保留了703篇文章进行全面审查，最终选定了84篇文章。结果表明，土壤侵蚀、过度放牧和基础设施建设是土地退化的主要原因。人口增长也是导致土地退化和气候变化活动的一个巨大促成因素。由于粮食需求上升，预计农业活动将继续显著强化。政府可以通过更严格的法规来加强遏制山区的土地退化和气候变化。然而，法规和政策必须由地方发起，而不是全球发起，当地社区是主要利益相关者。因此，自下而上而非自上而下的政策将鼓励当地社区接受缓解政策倡议。
