Le Polain de Waroux, Yann
[UCL]
Lambin, Eric
[UCL]
Arid and semi-arid forests and woodlands (hereafter called «dryland forests»), in spite of their ecological
and social importance, have received little attention in land change studies. Growing evidence shows
that these forests have been receding at very high rates in many places, suggesting a need for a better
understanding of the processes and causes of dryland forest degradation. Changes in the extent of
dryland forests are debated in part because estimates of forest and woodland areas in drylands are
uncertain. Causal explanations of the degradation tend to draw on the literature on desertification and
tropical deforestation, and to emphasize either local or remote, and either social or biophysical drivers.
This study contributes to a better understanding of dryland forest degradation as a basis for conservation
policies. Firstly, we argue that monitoring arid and semi-arid forests and woodlands using area estimates
may lead to an underestimation of the severity of change because tree density change often exceeds area
change. Secondly, we argue that the analysis of degradation processes in these multifunctional land-
scapes should integrate both local and remote, and both social and biophysical factors. We use a case
study of degradation in the argania woodlands in semi-arid to arid Southwest Morocco to test these two
claims.We used gridded tree counts on aerial photographs and satellite images to estimate forest change
between 1970 and 2007, and we tested several possible causes of change on the basis of original socio-
economic field surveys and climatic and topographic data. We found that forest density declined by
44.5% during this period, a figure that is significantly underestimated if forest area change is used as
a measure of degradation. Increasing aridity and, to a lesser extent, fuelwood extraction were related to
forest decline. No effect of grazing by local livestock was found.
Bibliographic reference |
Le Polain de Waroux, Yann ; Lambin, Eric. Monitoring degradation in arid and semi-arid forests and woodlands: The case of the argan woodlands (Morocco). In: Applied Geography : putting the world's human and physical resource problems in a geographical perspective, Vol. 32, no. 2, p. 777-786 (2011) |
Permanent URL |
http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/93622 |