Human Dimensions That Drive Soil Degradation - Principles of Sustainable Soil Management in Agroecosystems - page 168

Scientific research about human-soil interactions cuts across many disciplines
and fields of study. Of course, it is impossible to fully catalogue this diverse scholar-
ship within the confines of one chapter (or one book, for that matter). However, we
can provide a broad sketch of key knowledge pieces and how they fit together. In
particular, we emphasize how human dimensions affect soil degradation.
We begin with a high-level view of broad categories of variables to represent
human dimensions. These categories have been illustrated visually in several dif-
ferent systems models, which we describe below. While each model differs in its
particular configuration and demarcation of different variables, common themes
emerge. We explore these themes as different variable sets, for which we synthesize
research findings from the relevant literature.
7.2 SYSTEMS MODELS OF HUMAN DIMENSIONS
THAT DRIVE SOIL DEGRADATION
Numerous models have been developed to portray visually the interconnections
among various components of human-ecological systems. We start with a broad
model relating to environmental change from the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
(2003). Fig u r e 7.1 portrays a causal connection from indirect to direct drivers of
change. Here the indirect drivers are human dimensions such as demographic, eco-
nomic (globalization, trade, market), sociopolitical (governance, institutional, and
legal framework), science/technology, and cultural/religious (beliefs, consumption
choices). These human dimensions lead to a wide range of direct drivers of environ-
mental change, including land use and land cover, technology use and adaptation,
external inputs to agriculture (e.g., fertilizer, pest control, irrigation), species intro-
duction, and resource consumption.
Another model that focuses on direct and indirect drivers of environmental
change was developed for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Synthesis
Report (2007). In Fig u r e 7.2 , human dimensions are included as components of the
“Human Systems,” while natural system components are labeled “Earth Systems.”
Here particular “climate process drivers” such as greenhouse gas emissions are the
proximate cause of climate change, but these drivers result from human dimensions
such as governance, technology, literacy, production and consumption patterns,
trade, health, equity, population, and sociocultural preferences.
Another systems model that integrates human and ecological systems comes
from Nobel prize laureate Elinor Ostrom, whose work on common-pool resources
and institutions led to the “multitier framework for analyzing a social-ecological
system” shown in Fig u r e 7.3 . This model portrays resources, resource users, and
governance systems interacting to yield outcomes embedded in broader ecosystems
and social, political, and economic contexts. Human dimensions in the broader con-
text are enumerated in accompanying text to include economic development, demo-
graphic trends, political stability, government settlement policies, market incentives,
and media organization (Ostrom 2007). Additional human dimensions to describe
resource users and governance systems include property rights systems, rules, moni-
toring and sanctioning processes, social capital, dependence on the resource, tech-
nology used, and socioeconomic attributes of users, among others.