Title: Land Use Planning in the OECS using the Automated Land Evaluation System (ALES)
1Land Use Planning in the OECS using the Automated
Land Evaluation System (ALES)
- By
- L.M. Fletcher-Paul
- Integrated Natural Resources Management Officer,
FAO, SLAC
2Outline
- Information needs for land use planning and
current challenges in meeting these needs - The development of ALES and its capacity as a
multi-dimensional, multi-use system - Perspectives on making progress with improved
methods to measure sustainable land use
3Land use planning - definition
- Land use planning should be a decision-making
process that facilitates the allocation of land
to the uses that provide the greatest sustainable
benefits (Agenda 21. Paragraph 10.5). - It is the systematic assessment of physical,
social and economic factors in such a way as to
encourage and assist land users in selecting
options that increase their productivity, are
sustainable and meet the needs of the society.
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5INFORMATION NEEDSBio-physical factors
- Soil and Physiography
- Land Cover/ Land Use
- Topography
- Administrative
- Hydrology
6INFORMATION NEEDS Bio-physical factors
- Infrastructure
- Elevation
- Protected Areas and Forest Reserves
- Climate
- Land parcel
7INFORMATION NEEDSSocio-economic factors
- Objectives
- Resources
- Constraints
- Land tenure systems
- Registration
- Land rights
8INFORMATION NEEDSSocio-economic factors
- Land markets
- Forms of incentive and taxation
- Assessment of the fairness and adequacy of these
incentives for sustainable development - Aspiration and felt needs of the different groups
of land users - Costs of inputs
- Current sale prices for outputs
9INFORMATION NEEDSSocio-economic factors
- Expected increase in local populations
- Trends of inward and outward migration (permanent
or seasonal) - Off-farm or off-region labour income
- Level of capacity building
- Extension services
- Credit availability for farmers activities and
other local enterprises - Rural health conditions, including occurrence of
vector-borne diseases and pests
10ISSUES AND CHALLENGESClimatic databases
- All countries have a network of meteorological
stations, to observe and document climate and
weather conditions. - In areas of difficult access, these stations may
be wide apart with a limited number of recording
years - Time gaps in recording
- Incompleteness in the range of attributes needed.
11ISSUES AND CHALLENGESSoil and terrain
- Classification criteria and naming of soils
differ among countries, making correlations
between classifications and countries difficult - No link between soil and terrain conditions and
the overall landscape-ecological framework (a
prerequisite for a holistic approach to land use
planning)
12ISSUES AND CHALLENGESWater resources databases
- Analysis of data from meteorological stations
- Repeated measurements of stream flows
- Assessment of ground water reserves through
borehole analysis - Amount and types of actual uses being made of the
water resources. - Some countries may not have the equipment or
resources to take these measurements on an
on-going basis. - Cost of taking some of these measurements may be
expensive.
13ISSUES AND CHALLENGESLand cover and biodiversity
databases
- Geo-referenced information on floral and faunal
diversity is scarce - Areas of known or inferred archeological value or
reflecting typical past land use systems need to
be mapped
14ISSUES AND CHALLENGESLand uses, crop and
production systems
- Land use information is usually consolidated at
district level rather than being fully
georeferenced. - Lack of practical, simple and widely accepted
method of describing land uses and production
systems is a serious constraint - Each land use type should be assessed on its
inherent sustainability, on the basis of a set of
sustainable indicators
15ISSUES AND CHALLENGESLand uses, crop and
production systems
- Basic information on the environmental
requirements of new cultivars and non-traditional
crops is not widely available or may not be
available for the conditions in some SIDS. - Existing databases are limited with respect to
coverage and classes - Little management information included in maps
16ISSUES AND CHALLENGES
- Economy of inputs and outputs is liable to strong
variability - Biophysical databases may have a useable lifetime
of 20 - 30 years - Economic and social databases will normally have
to be revised every 5 - 10 years. - Limitation in data availability and data quality
at all scales, especially those that require
substantial ground truthing - Lack of common data exchange formats and
protocols - Inadequate communication means between computer
systems, data suppliers and users.
17ISSUES AND CHALLENGES
- Data dispersed among many agencies
- Maintenance and updating
- Need for building awareness of the utility of the
LRIS
18The development of ALES and its capacity as a
multi-dimensional, multi-use system
19Background
- Regional TCP Project - Assistance in the
Development of Land Use Planning and Agricultural
Production Zoning in the OECS - Executed in Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica,
Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia and St.
Vincent and the Grenadines from January 2001 to
January 2003.
20Background (Continued)Objectives of the
Regional Project
- To assist the Governments of the OECS Member
States in the evaluation of their land resource
base in specific areas in each country, with a
view to developing policy options and programmes
for the rationalisation of land use, the zoning
of production and utilization of idle lands. - To assist the Governments in reviewing existing
land use policies and to develop modified or new
policy options that will facilitate the
acceleration of the regional diversification
programme. - To strengthen planning and management of land
resources through improved systems of land
evaluation in the OECS member states.
21Background
- As part of Objective 1, all countries were
provided with computer hardware and software to
establish a Land Resources Information System
(LRIS) in the MOAs. - In Grenada, Dominica and St. Lucia, ALES was
introduced to conduct the land evaluations.
22What is ALES?
Automated Land Evaluation System is a computer
program that allows land evaluators to build
expert systems to evaluate land according to the
method presented in the FAO Framework on Land
Evaluation
23Components of ALES
- A framework for a knowledge base describing
proposed land uses in both physical and economic
terms - A framework for a database describing the land
areas to be evaluated - An inference mechanism to relate these two,
thereby computing the physical suitability of a
set of map units for a set of proposed land uses
24Components of ALES (Contd)
- An explanation facility that allows model
builders to understand and fine tune their models - A consultation mode that allows a casual user to
query the system about one land use at a time - A report generator (on-screen, to a printer or to
a disk file) - An import/export module that allows data to be
exchanged within external databases, geographical
information systems and spreadsheets.
25Framework for decision-making
LAND EVALUATION
SOCIO-ECONOMIC EVALUATION
1
2
3
4
Land Resources Database
Economic Database
Social factors
Land Use Database
1. Costs of inputs 2. Sale prices
1. Objectives 2. Resources 3. Constraints
1. Soil 2. Climate 3. Other factors
1. Crop requirements 2. Production systems
5
Identify land management units
6
For each land management unit identify
i) possible crop(s) or products ii) possible
production systems iii) yield levels for
each iv) input/output ratio v) risk factor vi)
environmental impact
LAND USE OPTIONS
7
Carry out multiple goal optimization exercise to
maximise achievement of desired objectives
8
Select best land use
26How ALES works
- A two-stage approach
- Physical land evaluation is first conducted
matching soils, climate and land use with crop
requirements (this eliminates land units which
are not physically suitable. - Socio-economic evaluation conducted next to
derive the suitability of the land unit for
specific land utilization types e.g rain fed
agriculture with low inputs or commercial
agriculture with high inputs, etc.
27More about ALES
- ALES is highly interactive
- ALES has a dBase interface
- It does not display maps
- ALES is not a GIS programme, but it can be linked
with GIS systems such as ARC/INFO and IDRISI - It can analyze geographical land characteristics
if map units are appropriately defined.
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29Suitability of Under-utilised Land St. Lucia
Crop Crop Suitability Area Covered (Ha) of Total
Dasheen S2 90 0.75
Papaya S3e/r 10 0.08
Ginger S4 16 1.13
Golden Apple S2 lt1
- S2 Suitable S3 Moderately Suitable S4
Marginal - e erosion risk r poor rooting conditions
30Perspectives on making progress with improved
methods to measure sustainable land use
31SUGGESTIONS FOR BASIC PRINCIPLES TO BE CONSIDERED
- Information needs should drive data collection
(only collect data if they will be used) - Build on existing systems
- Awareness among users of utility of the system
- Institutional strengthening and capacity building
- Networking and information sharing
- Development of common data exchange formats and
protocols
32SUGGESTIONS FOR BASIC PRINCIPLES TO BE CONSIDERED
- Common land classification system should be
established to allow comparisons among countries - Update soil and land use information
- Research to develop methodologies and validate
models so that they are more relevant to the
region - Development of metadatabases and skills bank