Building upon Traditional Knowledge to Enhance Resilience of Soils in Sub-Saharan Africa - Principles of Sustainable Soil Management in Agroecosystems - page 124

Model of adaptation to stressors

Social capital—equity
Human (info, knowledge, and skills)
Physical (infrastructure and technology)
Financial—wealth
Natural resource resilience

Exposure Sensitivity

Adaptive capacity Potential impacts

Resilience/vulnerability
(e.g., erosion, compression,
drought, flood)

FIGURE 5.3 Response dimensions of soil to external stressors.

stressors and climate disturbances, its ability to recover from such disturbances, or
both (Precht and Miller 2006).
According to Lal (1999), soil quality (depth of solum; physical, chemical, and bio-
logical properties; and productivity) and soil resilience are a function of the dynamic
interaction among the five environmental components (pedosphere, atmosphere, bio-
sphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere). For example, under low socioeconomic status
(poverty) and for pedologically inferior soils, it should be possible to answer the ques-
tion: How long can soils “hold out” or adjust, and how long may it realistically take in
terms of pedological time? Will soil quality remain constant—to continue to provide
the same environmental and commercial services as at present—or will it establish
a new equilibrium? Extreme climatic events are expected to increase under most cli-
mate change scenarios; however, direct empirical research specifically linking TK
and soil resilience is lacking to answer the question of whether it may be prudent to
focus on managing for resistance or recovery to stress. Farmers' knowledge is well
developed and has answers to the relatively straightforward cause-effect interrela-
tionships (Warren 1991) but is inept to address the outgoing questions/subtle issues
pertinent to sustainable development (Nitesh and Shefali 2004). According to Baskin
(1997), the maintenance of a fertile soil is one of the most vital ecological services the
living world performs; the “mineral and organic contents of soil must be replenished
constantly as plants deplete soil elements and pass them up the food chain.” It is the
change in active factors in soil formation that constitutes an environmental change
or shock. Critical to sustainable soil management is the ability to determine if the
changes in soil properties over time have been significant, constant, or evolving.
The question remains as to whether we should choose a strategy of bolstering soil
resistance or recovery. We would argue that the focus should be on resistance rather
than recovery on two grounds: (1) Management action, such as the implementation