Economics of salt-induced land degradation and restoration

Qadir, Manzoor, Quillérou, Emmanuelle, Nangia, Vinay, Murtaza, Ghulam, Singh, Murari, Thomas, Richard and Drechsel, Pay, (2014). Economics of salt-induced land degradation and restoration. Natural Resources Forum, 38(4), 1-14

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  • Sub-type Journal article
    Author Qadir, Manzoor
    Quillérou, Emmanuelle
    Nangia, Vinay
    Murtaza, Ghulam
    Singh, Murari
    Thomas, Richard
    Drechsel, Pay
    Title Economics of salt-induced land degradation and restoration
    Appearing in Natural Resources Forum
    Volume 38
    Issue No. 4
    Publication Date 2014-10-27
    Place of Publication New Jersey
    Publisher John Wiley & Sons
    Start page 1
    End page 14
    Language eng
    Abstract Food security concerns and the scarcity of new productive land have put productivity enhancement of degraded lands back on the political agenda. In such a context, salt-affected lands are a valuable resource that cannot be neglected nor easily abandoned even with their lower crop yields, especially in areas where significant investments have already been made in irrigation and drainage infrastructure. A review of previous studies shows a very limited number of highly variable estimates of the costs of salt-induced land degradation combined with methodological and contextual differences. Simple extrapolation suggests that the global annual cost of salt-induced land degradation in irrigated areas could be US$ 27.3 billion because of lost crop production. We present selected case studies that highlight the potential for economic and environmental benefits of taking action to remediate salt-affected lands. The findings indicate that it can be cost-effective to invest in sustainable land management in countries confronting salt-induced land degradation. Such investments in effective remediation of salt-affected lands should form part of a broader strategy for food security and be defined in national action plans. This broader strategy is required to ensure the identification and effective removal of barriers to the adoption of sustainable land management, such as perverse subsidies. Whereas reversing salt-induced land degradation would require several years, interim salinity management strategies could provide a pathway for effective remediation and further showcase the importance of reversing land degradation and the rewards of investing in sustainable land management.
    Keyword Sustainable land management
    Salinity management policies
    Salt-affected soils
    Integrated remediation strategies
    Copyright Holder United Nations
    Copyright Year 2014
    Copyright type Creative commons
    DOI 10.1111/1477-8947.12054
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    Created: Wed, 22 Jun 2016, 00:24:44 JST by Anderson, Kelsey on behalf of UNU INWEH