Laura Luna-González

Connotative land degradation mapping: A knowledge-based approach to land degradation assessment

Land degradation mapping is a problem-solving task that aims to provide information for allocating budgets and materials to counter the deterioration of land resources. Typically, it entails the implementation of a set of indicators in a GIS to appraise the severity of land degradation across a territory. Nevertheless, the selection of these indicators has proved to be challenging in practice and often this selection reflects one particular and thus limited perspective of land degradation. Because land degradation is intrinsically complex and involves decisions by many agencies and individuals, land degradation mapping should be used as a learning tool through which managers, experts and stakeholders can re-examine their views within a wider semantic context. In this paper, we introduce an analytical framework, called Connotative Land Degradation Mapping, which aims to depict the meaning of a multiplicity of interacting drivers and effects The CLDM entails the implementation of (1) geographic information systems and multicriteria decision analysis (GIS-MCDA), and (2) geo-visualization. The approach is illustrated through a case study of two urban watersheds in central Mexico. Results showed that the main land degradation drivers in the study area were related to natural processes, which were exacerbated by human activities. The output of the CLDM enabled a better communication of the land degradation issues and concerns in a way relevant for policymakers.

Regional Environmental Assessment for Multiagency Policy Making: Implementing an Environmental Ontology through GIS-MCDA

Regional environmental assessments aim to synthesize the complex dynamics of socioenvironmental systems to facilitate sustainable policymaking. Theoretically, these assessments serve as ‘boundary objects’ that link scientific knowledge and policy making within a multiagency context. Nevertheless, achieving a boundary object is challenging because of the significant technical and scientific uncertainties, as well as the contrasting perceptions, values, and ideologies regarding the environmental issues of concern. Drawing on theoretical developments concerning the meaning and interpretation of geographical entities, we introduce an analytical framework based upon the development of environmental ontologies. These ontologies are capable of depicting the complexity of socioenvironmental systems in manageable terms, so that the results are empirically valid and concretize the multidimensional meanings of geographical entities. The analytical framework is operationalized through a geographical information system — multicriteria modeling approach (GIS-MCDA). The approach is illustrated through a case study regarding the assessment of cumulative impacts in two urban watersheds in Mexico.