Mr David Betge, ZOA Deutschland, Germany. Global Symposium on Soil Erosion (GSER19), 15 - 17 May 2019 at FAO HQ.

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2. Holistic ways to tackle
soil erosion – Insights
from Burundi
Dr. David Betge - ZOA
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3. Holistic, integrated approaches key
for sustainable soil management:
• Broad concept of soil fertility needed (Mortimore/Hanis 2005
cited after Taye 2006) to enable coherent approaches.
• Social and economic factors strongly impact soil
management (Scoones/Toulmin 1998 cited after Taye 2006).
• Soil management needs to be treated and analyzed
as part of land management and land governance
in ‘coupled human-environment systems’ (Briassoulis 2019) .
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4. Land rights play a crucial role in
soil management:
• Land use impacts strongly on soil quality /
soil protection (FAO 2017).
• Land use is influenced by existing rights
to land:
• Types of rights, strength of protection,
frequency and intensity of conflicts
around land etc. particularly in fragile
contexts.
• Land rights link intervention phases
across relief, recovery and development.
• Efforts to address land rights omit soil
management components (and vice
versa?).
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5. Land rights and soil management
in post conflict settings:
• ZOA works in 15 conflict-affected
countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Middle
East and Asia – relief and recovery.
• Strongest progress to integrate land
rights and soil management were made
in Burundi:
• End of civil war in 2005/6.
• Massive return of displaced people.
• Strong increase in land related
conflicts.
• Ineffective and inefficient land
governance.
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6. Land rights and soil management
in post conflict settings ctd.:
• Localized (and scalable) land
administration combined with dispute
resolution increases tenure security
(41.000 parcels documented).
• Tenure security enables investments in
livelihoods and agriculture.
• Integrated Farm Planning (PIP) support
systematic improvements in
agriculture on household level.
• Both approaches have shown positive
results in Burundi.
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7. Land rights and soil management
in post conflict settings ctd.:
• Localized (and scalable) land
administration combined with
dispute resolution increases tenure
security.
• Tenure security enables investments
in livelihoods and agriculture.
• Integrated Farm Planning (PIP)
supports systematic improvements
in agriculture on household level.
• Both approaches have shown
positive results in Burundi.
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8. Combine land rights and integrated farm
planning  improve soil management:
• Ways to improve soil management applied
in Burundi:
• Soil analysis (SoilCares), crop rotation,
intercropping, soil coverage – Integrated Soil
Fertility Management.
• Methods to improve/protect soil quality
need to be part of integrated farm planning.
• Data on soil quality and land use should be
integrated into spatial data and combined
with land rights data.
• Tenure security is the basis for sustainable
land use!
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9. Sources
• Briassoulis, H.; Combating Land Degradation and Desertification:
The Land-Use Planning Quandary, Land 2019, 8, 27;
doi:10.3390/land8020027
• FAO, 2017: Voluntary Guidelines for Sustainable Soil
Management. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations, Rome, Italy
• Mortimore, M., and Hanis, F. 2005. Do small farmers'
achievements contradict the nutrient depletion scenarios for
Africa? Land use policy, 22: 43-56.
• Scoones, I., and Toulmin, C. 1998. Soil nutrient balances: what use
for policy? Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 71:225-267.
• Taye, A.A., 2006. Caring for the Land Best practices in soil and
water conservation in Beressa watershed, highlands of Ethiopia,
Tropical Resource Management Papers, No. 76 (2006); ISBN 90-
8585-066-5
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