2002/12/01 by M. E. Meadows, Michael E. Meadows, M. T. Hoffman +1 · 100 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Engineering · Environmental Science · #Agriculture #Civil engineering #Computer science #Context (archaeology) #Desertification #Distribution (mathematics) #Ecology #Economics #Engineering #Environmental degradation #Environmental planning #Environmental protection #Environmental resource management #Environmental science #Geography #Land Rights and Reforms #Land degradation #Land use #Law #Natural resource economics #Political science #Politics #Rangeland Management and Livestock Ecology #Soil erosion and sediment transport #Soil retrogression and degradation #Subject (documents) #Vegetation (pathology)
paper · doi:10.1111/1475-4762.00100
published in Area 34(4), 428-437 (Wiley)
openalex publication_date 2002/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
The aim of this paper is to reassess the land degradation and desertification problem in South Africa. The country has a wide range of interrelated environmental and development challenges existing in a socio–political context recently subject to substantial change. The paper outlines the fundamental environmental constraints and opportunities that underlie degradation phenomena and illustrates the nature, extent and geographical distribution of the major forms of soil and vegetation degradation in the country. The principal causes of degradation are identified and some important land use and land tenure questions that need to be addressed in the near future are posited.