Indicators for sustainable land management based on farmer surveys in Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand

The current pressure on land resources necessitates the development of sustainable land management (SLM) systems. The process of developing such systems requires that methods are available to assess sustainability easily. Indicators of SLM need to include indicators of soil quality and land quality, but in addition they must take account of the environmental setting and include the more human aspects of land management: the social, economic and political aspects. Three case studies were undertaken to assess the sustainability of different land management systems practised by farmers on sloping lands of Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. Using the framework for evaluating sustainable land management (FESLM), detailed socio-economic and biophysical surveys were undertaken of 53 farms. The surveys aimed to characterise the land management systems, outline their constraints and potentials, and identify indicators and thresholds of sustainability in line with the five pillars of sustainability in the FESLM: productivity, security, protection, viability, and acceptability. The data were used to develop a suite of SLM indicators, with associated thresholds. These indicators have been included in a prototype decision support system (DSS). Feedback on the indicators was obtained from the farmers after the DSS was used to evaluate their farming systems. The indicators are highly specific as well as simplified, but they make a useful first step towards the development of a more generic system for evaluating SLM and for more accurate site specific and integrated evaluation. Evaluation of this structured and systematic approach yielded encouraging results in a separate study in Nepal. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V All rights reserved.