Land Use Planning in the OECS using the Automated Land Evaluation System (ALES)

By

L.M. Fletcher-Paul

Integrated Natural Resources Management Officer, FAO, SLAC

Outline

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

Land 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.

Methodological FrameworkBIOPHYSICAL FACTORS SOCIOECONOMIC FACTORS

PRODUCTION SYSTEM

SOILWATER

VEGETATIONOTHERS

NATURALINFLUENCES

CLIMATE

USESITE

ACT UALSITUATION

Socio cultural factors

POPULATIONCHARACTERISTICSACCESS TO SERVICES,INFRASTRUCTURE,CREDIT, ETC.

HUMANINFLUENCES

PRODUCTIONSYSTEMS

POLITICALINSTITUTIONAL

Economic Institutional factors

INFORMATION NEEDSBio-physical factors

Soil and PhysiographyLand Cover/ Land UseTopographyAdministrativeHydrology

INFORMATION NEEDS Bio-physical factors

InfrastructureElevationProtected Areas and Forest ReservesClimateLand parcel

INFORMATION NEEDSSocio-economic factors

ObjectivesResourcesConstraintsLand tenure systemsRegistrationLand rights

INFORMATION NEEDSSocio-economic factorsLand marketsForms of incentive and taxationAssessment of the fairness and adequacy of these

incentives for sustainable developmentAspiration and felt needs of the different groups of

land usersCosts of inputsCurrent sale prices for outputs

INFORMATION 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

ISSUES AND CHALLENGESClimatic databasesAll 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.

ISSUES 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)

ISSUES 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.

ISSUES 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

ISSUES 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

ISSUES 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

ISSUES 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.

ISSUES AND CHALLENGES

Data dispersed among many agenciesMaintenance and updating Need for building awareness of the utility of

the LRIS

The development of ALES and its capacity as a multi-dimensional, multi-use system

Background

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.

Background (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.

Background

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.

What 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:

Components 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

Components of ALES (Cont’d)

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.

Framework for decision-making

1 2

1. Soil 2. Climate3. Other factors

Land Resources Database

Land Use Database

1. Crop requirements

2. Production systems

3

1. Costs of inputs

2. Sale prices

Economic Database

4

1. Objectives2. Resources3. Constraints

Social factors

5

Identify land management units

LAND EVALUATION

6For each land management unit identify:i) possible crop(s) or productsii) possible production systemsiii) yield levels for each:iv) input/output ratio;v) risk factor;vi) environmental impact

SOCIO-ECONOMIC EVALUATION

7Carry out multiple goal optimization exercise to maximise achievement of

desired objectives

Select best land use8

LAND USE OPTIONS

How ALES worksA 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.

More about ALES

ALES is highly interactiveALES has a dBase interface It does not display mapsALES 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.

Suitability 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 <1

•S2 – Suitable; S3 – Moderately Suitable; S4 – Marginal

•e – erosion risk; r – poor rooting conditions

Perspectives on making progress with improved methods to measure sustainable land use

Information needs should drive data collection (only collect data if they will be used)

Build on existing systemsAwareness among users of utility of the system Institutional strengthening and capacity buildingNetworking and information sharingDevelopment of common data exchange formats

and protocols

SUGGESTIONS FOR BASIC PRINCIPLES TO BE CONSIDERED

Common land classification system should be established to allow comparisons among countries

Update soil and land use informationResearch to develop methodologies and

validate models so that they are more relevant to the region

Development of metadatabases and skills bank

SUGGESTIONS FOR BASIC PRINCIPLES TO BE CONSIDERED