Trends of soil degradation: Does the socio-economic status of land owners and land users matter?

摘要

Land degradation results from natural and from socio-economic factors. However, the socio-economic factors are less adequately understood than the natural factors. In this study, we focus on the impact of the socio-economic status of land owners and land users on soil degradation trends in the Czech Republic over a period of 14-20 years. The trends were monitored using several indicators: soil porosity, cation exchange capacity (CEC), base saturation (BS), and Cu + Zn levels. We have focused on those characteristics of land owners and land users (76% of the land owners included in the study rent out their land) which can be determined without conducting labour-intensive and relatively expensive demographic surveys, therefore, can be used quite easily in subsequent evaluations, e.g. by land conservation authorities. Generally, the influence of land user characteristics has been shown to be more significant than the influence of land owner characteristics. The most significant degradation-promoting characteristics of land users are large farm size and non-family character of the farm. Degradation-promoting characteristics of land owners include older age, absence of post-secondary education, and renting out of their land. The probability of soil degradation is also marginally increased by the owner's gender (male) and by greater distance of the owner's place of residence from the plots studied here.