Concepts and indicators for assessment of sustainable land use

'Sustainable land use' has both agro-ecologic and socio-economic overtones within the time dimension. Soils' organic materials and processes are vital for recuperation of soil architecture after damage, it being a key feature in the quality of the rooting environment. Assessing trends in sustainability of land use requires not only regular observation of indicators but also a trade-off between detail and the time available for processing, interpretation of cumulative results, and timely feedback to decision-makers. Rural people's perceptions of what is changing, how, and how quickly, and the indicators by which they determine this, make a pragmatic start-position at which to decide what other qualitative indicators might be important and whether land if so, what) quantitative measurements are needed to complement them. For clear understanding of whether sustainability is being achieved, three types of indicators should be monitored at the same time. They should cover: (a) the condition of the soil as a rooting environment, (b) people's attitudes and capacities to continue living on the land, and (c) peripheral factors - such as weather, politics and markets - which indirectly affect farmers' decision-making about how they will look after the land.