Using indigenous knowledge in land use investigations: a participatory study in a semi-arid mountainous region of Lebanon

(T)he implementation of land use studies in most developing nations is ofte n faced with the lack of data. Participatory studies offer the possibility of complementing data sets by tapping into indigenous knowledge. They also encourage the adoption of sustainable land management practices by establis hing partnership and dialogue among stakeholders. This paper reports on a s tudy in Aarsal, a semi-arid mountainous locality (36,000 ha) in Lebanon whe re conflicts in land use have recently emerged between pastoralists and gro wers. The study aimed at supporting sustainable land management in Aarsal b y carrying out a land capability classification and a land use analysis. In digenous knowledge was used as one of the information sources for the land capability classification. Participatory rural appraisal was used to descri be the indigenous agroecological zoning and local soil classification. Geog raphic information system (GIS) technology was used to produce a land capab ility map and to analyze the current land use. Most of the land area was fo und to be too marginal for conventional farming, and nearly 5000 ha are in serious danger of land degradation. Moreover, the shrinkage of the grazing lands caused by the expansion of orchards partly explains the reduction in the size of small ruminant flocks. The combination of participatory approac h, land capability evaluation and GIS provided a satisfactory understanding of the physical and biological land management constraints in Aarsal, fost ered dialogue between the different stakeholders, and created opportunities for the identification of sustainable land management options. (C) 2001 El sevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.