Environmentalists believe that we need to plan the use of our lands in such a way that they remain productive for generations to come. For this, we need to practice suitable land use. This requires that the soil fertility be a maintained and the ground water remains recharged. There should be proper balance between forests, pastures and agricultural lands and so on.
Answers
The United Nations defines sustainable land management (SLM) as “the use of land resources, including soils, water, animals and plants, for the production of goods to meet changing human needs, while simultaneously ensuring the long-term productive potential of these resources and the maintenance of their environmental functions”.
TerrAfrica (2005) defines SLM as “the adoption of land-use systems that through appropriate management practices enable land users to maximize the economic and social benefits from the land while maintaining or enhancing the ecological support functions of the land resources”.
The productivity and sustainability of a land-use system is determined by the interaction between land resources, climate and human activities. Especially in the face of climate change and variability, selecting the right land uses for given biophysical and socio-economic conditions, and implementing SLM, are essential for minimizing land degradation, rehabilitating degraded land, ensuring the sustainable use of land resources (i.e. soils, water and biodiversity) and maximizing resilience.