Land degradation: Addressing the vulnerability of local people through the lens of transformative change
Ruxandra Malina Petrescu-Mag,
Tibor Hartel,
Kinga Olga Reti,
Cornel Mocanu,
Ioan Valentin Petrescu-Mag,
Vlad Macicasan,
Dacinia Crina Petrescu
Affiliations
Ruxandra Malina Petrescu-Mag
Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering, Babes-Bolyai University, 30 Fantanele Street, 400294 Cluj-Napoca, Romania; Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, University of Liège, 2 Passage des Déportés, 5030 Gembloux, Belgium; Doctoral School “International Relations and Security Studies”, Babes-Bolyai University, 1 M. Kogalniceanu Street, 400084 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Tibor Hartel
Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering, Babes-Bolyai University, 30 Fantanele Street, 400294 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Kinga Olga Reti
Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering, Babes-Bolyai University, 30 Fantanele Street, 400294 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Cornel Mocanu
Doctoral School of Engineering, University of Oradea, 1 Universităţii Street, 410087 Oradea, Romania
Ioan Valentin Petrescu-Mag
Doctoral School of Engineering, University of Oradea, 1 Universităţii Street, 410087 Oradea, Romania; Department of Environmental Engineering and Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Cluj-Napoca, 3-5 Calea Mănăștur Street, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Vlad Macicasan
Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering, Babes-Bolyai University, 30 Fantanele Street, 400294 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Dacinia Crina Petrescu
Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, University of Liège, 2 Passage des Déportés, 5030 Gembloux, Belgium; Faculty of Business, Babes-Bolyai University, 7 Horea Street, 400174 Cluj-Napoca, Romania; Corresponding author. Faculty of Business, Babes-Bolyai University, 7 Horea Street, 400174 Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Land degradation (LD) is driven by many factors resulting from the intricate interplay between natural and socio-economic systems, which adds dynamism and complexity to this phenomenon. The study highlights LD as a source of social vulnerability in the Baragan Plain (Romania), often called the “granary of Europe” due to its century-long history of industrial crop production. We explore the community's perceptions of vulnerability due to LD and the community-based solutions to sustainable transformations through governance using a community-based causal-effect analysis (CBCEA). CBCEA is a participatory approach that uses systems thinking, engages key informants, and generates qualitative causal-effect diagrams to illustrate the system structure. Two workshops with local key informants revealed their views on the direct and indirect causes and effects of LD, strategies they proposed to reduce the community's vulnerability, and the conditions for making the agricultural land decision-making integrative, inclusive, adaptive, and participatory (IIAP). IIAP decision-making was considered a key to transformative governance. Key informants identified “Windbreaks construction” and “(Resilient) Irrigation system” as two effective, context-specific measures to address the causes and effects of LD. We advise caution when implementing the “Irrigation system” measure, as it may risk constraining the system to an undesirable state, commonly referred to as a “trap”.
