Overview on the multi-functional landscape of Arkhiloskalo (Hanns Kirchmeir)
The globally ongoing degradation of land resources is threatening our food security and functioning ecosystem services. Therefore, restoration of degraded land as defined by the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 15.3) has become a strategic objective of the UNCCD. To achieve Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN), action on the national level is needed. Georgia is one of the 113 countries (as of Sept. 2017) willing to take part in the Target Setting Program (TSP).
One of the major problems which Georgia is facing today is an absence of a comprehensive and integrated approach in the land management sector. In addition, an irrelevant legal framework sometimes leads to additional “conflicts” with the evolved national strategy and policy packages.
The land-use planning in the village of Arkhiloskalo, Dedoplistskaro Municipality is one of the pilot activities linked to LDN (Land Degradation Neutrality). The project financed by Global Environment Facility (GEF) / UN Environment Programm (UNEP) was implemented by local partner REC Caucasus (The Regional Environmental Centre for the Caucasus) through E.C.O. Institute of Ecology (Austria).
The land-use plan documents the status quo of the current land use. It is a baseline that can be used to steer and monitor future developments. The land-use plan is based on field assessments made in summer 2019 and builds a baseline for future assessments/monitoring. The land-use plan on the village level helps to break down national LDN targets to the local level. The plan and the development of land-use scenarios help to anticipate the future gains and losses of land resources and reflect the national LDN-target on the local level. Local stakeholders can identify areas of degradation risk and areas which can be rehabilitated. The Arkhiloskalo land-use plan contributes to sustainable land use by recognizing the current situation of land use and its spatial distribution as well as identifying the strength and weaknesses of the current situation.
Methodology:
Mapping for Arkhiloskalo land use plan: The mapping result is a detailed documentation of size and spatial distribution of land cover categories. Change in land cover is an important indicator to monitor the loss and gains of land resources according to the LDN monitoring concept.
For the mapping of the settlements, arable land and gardens, maps from Google Earth and digital cadastre of parcels were used. In the field maps, each polygon has an assigned Map-ID number, which is unique for each village. Polygons with the same land use category and land-use intensity can have the same Map-ID. Next to the drawing of the polygon on the map, in a field form each polygon is described by:
- Map-ID;
- Current Land use category;
- Current Land-use intensity;
- Remark (a specification of the polygon if needed).
Classifications of land use categories: The land-use classification is based on the CLC - Corine Land Classification System (The CORINE Land Cover is a vector map with a scale of 1:10 000, a minimum cartographic unit (MCU) of 100 m². It maps homogeneous landscape patterns). The Corine Land Classification system classifies urban fabric, mine, dump and construction sites, arable land, permanent crops, pastures, forests, shrubs and herbaceous vegetation associations, Open spaces with little or no vegetation, inland wetlands and waters.
The pastureland was differentiated into different productivity classes. In the field three classes of vegetation cover and species composition: low, medium, and high productivity were assessed.
For the mapping in Arkhiloskalo the following land use categories were selected: Settlements and human infrastructure (Code from the Corine Land Classification system – e.g. SHR, name – e.g. Houses); Forests and shrub-land; Agricultural managed land; Natural and semi-natural habitats.
Location: The Village of Arkhiloskalo is locted in the Municipality of Dedoplitskaro., Kakheti, Georgia
No. of Technology sites analysed: single site
Spread of the Technology: evenly spread over an area (49.7 km²)
In a permanently protected area?:
Date of implementation: 2018
Type of introduction
| Species | Count |
| cattle - dairy and beef (e.g. zebu) | 982 |
Effects will be visible based on the implementation of selected development scenario provided by Land use plan.
Effects will be visible based on the implementation of selected development scenario provided by Land use plan.
Effects will be visible based on the implementation of selected development scenario provided by Land use plan.
Improvements by training and workshops, awareness raising.
Reduced grazing in zone A (north slope) will increase the vegetation cover. Effects will be visible based on the implementation of selected development scenario provided by Land use plan.
Reduced grazing in zone A (north slope) will increase the cover of shrubs and trees which will lead to increase of biomass. Effects will be visible based on the implementation of selected development scenario provided by Land use plan.
Diversification of land use and restoration of windbreaks will increase habitat diversity. Effects will be visible based on the implementation of selected development scenario provided by Land use plan.
Improvement of windbreaks will reduce wind speed and topoil erosion. Effects will be visible based on the implementation of selected development scenario provided by Land use plan.
Removal of uncontrolled dump sites will reduce groundwater and river pollution especially in the Alasani floodplain north of the community.
The rehabilitation of windbreaks will have a positive impact on neighboring fields.
