How to describe a SES in cropland**

Editor's note 6Sept12: Source D711 section 5.1

The following methods and techniques can be used to describe the state and evolution of the biophysical and human system components of a SES. Certain assessment methods and techniques are common to all three land themes such as the descriptive methods for the components of the biophysical and the human system and several impact assessment methods and techniques for biophysical and socio-economic impacts. Other methods and techniques are particular to each land theme. Wherever possible, a variety of available methods and techniques are presented for the same subject. The use of alternative methods and techniques depends on availability of data, time and expertise, among others. Several assessment methods and techniques are used for more than one purpose; for example, to describe the state of the system (e.g. soil erosion) and to assess the impacts of human activities on this system (e.g. soil erosion under intensive agriculture; or to describe the biophysical environment and to assess the natural capital).

Each assessment method/technique has been described, to the extent possible, using the following format:

• Aim of the method/technique, what questions the method/technique addresses
• Scale, spatial and temporal (local, regional, static, dynamic); cross-scale features
• Brief description, variables, solution techniques, geo-referenced, etc.
• Data requirements
• Main applications in land theme, based on the literature review
• Strengths and weaknesses

       
Soil resources    Parent material, depth, slope  texture, rock  fragment, drainage, classification    Mapping based on existing classification systems
Hydrology    hydrological network      Mapping rivers, creeks, and lakes at watershed level
Water quantity    Water resources data from regional water resources authorities
Water exploitation    Data on water consumption, decrease in surface water, aquifer recharge
Soil water availability    
Water scarcity    Ratio of water availability per capita versus water consumption per capita for past 10 years period
Water quality    
Ecosystem    Types of ecosystems     MEA classification
Major land use    Mapping based on exiting classification systems (e.g. Corine)
Vegetation cover type    Mapping based on Engelen and Wen (1995) land use/vegetation cover classification
Vegetation cover    Aerial photographs or remote sensed images classification
Biodiversity indices    
Land cover        CORINE land cover map
Population
Structure and dynamics    Population magnitude and change over time    Population time series, time-graphs
Age and sex structure    Population pyramids
Nativity, mortality, fertility    Birth, death, fertility rate
Population ageing    Ratio of persons aged 60 years or older to 100 persons under age of 15
Dependency ratio    Dependency Index
Migration (in and out)    Number of immigrants and emigrants of an area over a period of time
Population density    Population km-2
Economic structure and change    Total and sectoral employment; output; income; value-Added; investments; trade flows    Graphs and descriptive statistics
Regional Industrial Specialization    Gini & Gini-Hirschman coefficient
Regional industrial concentration     Coefficient of localization
Land values    Graphs, descriptive statistics, maps of distribution of land values by location and use.
Social structure
Nationality profile     Graphs,  charts, descriptive statistics
Educational profile, Literacy rate
Graphs, charts, descriptive statistics
Employment-to-population ratio    Ratio of youth employed (15-24 years) to total population
Unemployment    Unemployment rate
Employment profile     (a) wage and salaried workers; (b) self-employed workers; (c) contributing family workers
Quality of Life    QoL indices
Poverty    Head count index
Land ownership and tenure    Tables
NGOs active in the area, Professional organizations, Other formal, informal groups    Tables
Governance        Administrative structure; National, regional and local policies; national and regional laws
Land use structure and change    Types of land use    
Physical infrastructure    Housing, road networks, energy networks, communication networks, land terraces    Tables and graphs
Descriptive statistics
Social Infrastructure    Schools, hospitals and other health service, community centres, other    Tables and graphs
Descriptive statistics
World Overview of Conservation Approaches & Techniques (WOCAT)
IMPORTANT NOTE: THE FOLLOWING SECTION OF THE TABLE IS UNDER DEVELOPMENT

Forest productivity decline    Climate, soil, vegetation parameters    
Loss in biodiversity    Biodiversity indices    
Forest fragmentation    Forest maps, RS images    
Water stress    Precipitation, Evapotranspiration    
Soil erosion    Water erosion
Tillage erosion    
Land desertification    Soil, climate, vegetation and management parameters    
Grazing impacts
Land cover maps, pedological maps animal presence and type of grazing.     
Forest fires impacts
Wildfires occurrence, type and distribution    
Soil organic matter content decline        
Decrease in soil water storage capacity        
Soil compaction        
Soil crusting        
Water pollution        
Biodiversity loss        
Water scarcity        
Land desertification        MEDALUS III ESA method
Soil salinization        
Land use cover change (LUCC)

Stress indicators        
Community organization and vulnerability        
Assessing of forests resources or quality and economic development    Statistical data and forest  map data    
Resilience, adaptability, trasformability, connectivity, diversity        
The eco volume concept
Basal area, average height, potential eco volume    
Forest Vulnerability, Resistance and Resilience (FVRR index)     Maps representing main forest spatial patterns indices    
Socioeconomic resilience     Socioeconomic data    
Community resilience    Data associated with    Qualitative and quantitative analysis of primary (interview-based) and secondary (documentary sources) data
Environmental Sensitivity Areas Index    Soil, climate, vegetation and management parameters    
Land vulnerability index    Bio-physical and socio-economic factors     
Soil salinization risk    Annual potential evapotranspiration, Soil drainage class, Quality of water, Ground water exploitation, Irrigation percentage of arable land, Distance of field from seashore, Flooding frequency, Farm ownership, Population density    
Water stress    Rainfall seasonality, Slope gradient, Water scarcity, Water exploitation, Rate of change in impervious soil surface, Rate of deforested areas, Fire frequency, Rate of land abandonment, Existing soil erosion control measures, Tourism change, Population density, Implementation of existing regulations on environmental protection    
Land desertification risk    Soil, climate, vegetation and management parameters    
Stakeholder analysis matrix, SWOT analysis, Venn diagrams, Spider diagrams
Cost-benefit analysis        Assessing the monetary social costs and benefits of an investment over a given time period.
Cost-Effectiveness Analysis
Method  similar to value-for-money evaluation and cost-benefit analysis.
Multi-criteria Analysis        MCA and MCDM methods
Direct market valuation approaches    Approaches based on production functions    Assessment of contribution of ecosystem services to the enhancement of income or  land productivity
Cost-based approaches    Estimations of the hypothetical costs of ecosystem service benefits being recreated through artificial means
Revealed preference approaches    Travel cost method    Based on the assumption that people make repeated trips to recreational sites until the marginal utility derived from a trip equals the marginal cost of a trip.
Hedonic pricing method    Based on  market goods are traded at prices in which amenities are internalize
Stated preferences approaches     Contingent valuation method    Using questionnaires on people willingness to pay to increase or enhance the provision of an ecosystem service, or to accept for its loss or degradation.
Choice modeling    Surveying a sample of people on their preferences for alternative future resource management strategies
Group valuation    Combination of analytical methods with a process-based deliberative approach, where group processes are a key mechanism to elicit information.

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