Global Journal of Science Frontier Research: H Environment & Earth Science Volume 21 Issue 3 Version 1.0 Year 2021 Type: Double Blind Peer Reviewed International Research Journal Publisher: Global Journals Online ISSN: 2249-4626 & Print ISSN: 0975-5896 Land Degradation and Restoration Driven by Invasive Alien – Prosopis Juliflora and the Banni Grassland Socio-Ecosystem (Gujarat, India) By Uriel N. Safriel & V. Vijay Kumar The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Abstract- Land Degradation and alien species invasions gained significant attention of the scientific community and the intergovernmental establishment. This review presents a case in which these two processes jointly interact with an ecosystem – the Banni grassland – and its users over six decades. Banni is an arid, yet productive rangeland that supports a pastoral community raising grass-cover-dependent livestock. A bush/tree alien species, Prosopis juliflora, initiated a land degradation process by outcompeting the grass-cover species, thus undermining the pastoral livelihood. Rather than yield to the prevailing approach of eradicating an invasive species, the community and authorities considered cultural, scientific, and policy issues, and worked together to initiate linked processes of the invasive species naturalization and the grassland ecosystem transformation, to a mosaic of grassland and bush/tree woodland patches ecosystem. Keywords: banni, kachchh, charcoal, prosopis juliflora, land degradation, ecosystem services, alien invasive species. GJSFR-H Classification: FOR Code: 960599 LandDegradationandRestorationDrivenbyInvasive AlienProsopisJulifloraand theBanniGrasslandSocioEcosystemGujaratIndia Strictly as per the compliance and regulations of: © 2021. Uriel N. Safriel & V. Vijay Kumar. This is a research/review paper, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), permitting all non commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Land Degradation and Restoration Driven by Invasive Alien – Prosopis Juliflora and the Banni Grassland Socio-Ecosystem (Gujarat, India) α σ Uriel N. Safriel & V. Vijay Kumar Abstract - Land Degradation and alien species invasions services. The terms “land degradation” and “invasive 2021 gained significant attention of the scientific community and the alien species” both are colored by negative overtones r intergovernmental establishment. This review presents a case (‘degradation’, ‘invasion’), and they are habitually ea Y in which these two processes jointly interact with an presented as “serious and rapidly growing threats” to ecosystem – the Banni grassland – and its users over six livelihood security (IPBES 2018). Although assessed 71 decades. Banni is an arid, yet productive rangeland that and often attended separately, these two entities often supports a pastoral community raising grass-cover-dependent I livestock. A bush/tree alien species, Prosopis juliflora, initiated interact, such that the above threat is often exacerbated. a land degradation process by outcompeting the grass-cover This interaction, however, is not sufficiently understood species, thus undermining the pastoral livelihood. Rather than and deserves further research (e.g., Richardson and Version yield to the prevailing approach of eradicating an invasive Van Wilgen, 2004); Shackleton et al., 2014). species, the community and authorities considered cultural, This review paper presents a case study largely III scientific, and policy issues, and worked together to initiate ue based on secondary data analysis of this land s s linked processes of the invasive species naturalization and the degradation-invasive alien interaction, in an Indian arid grassland ecosystem transformation, to a mosaic of grassland I grassland ecosystem invaded by an alien plant, and and bush/tree woodland patches ecosystem. The woody XXI biomass of the invasive bush/tree patches, sustainably highlights its half-century vicissitudes in a social- harvested and manufactured to charcoal, offsets the loss of ecological system, i.e., the Banni Grassland degradation the partially removed grass cover, thus fully restoring the and its restoration, both driven by the same invasive land’s biological productivity and diversifying the pastoralists’ alien Prosopis juliflora (Pj in this study). livelihood. Lessons learned from the Banni grassland’s socio- ) H ecosystem dynamics, first degraded and then restored by II. Banni Grassland Socio-Ecosystem ( alien invasion, are detailed using the conceptual framework of a) The Banni grassland biodiversity and ecosystem services. Two algorithms, for calculating income of harvesting the Prosopis land cover The Banni (meaning ‘newly created’) grassland is a cloud-shaped area extending 2,618 km2(GUIDE, biomass, and for projecting the human population size to be Research Volume sustainably supported, can be used as guidelines for 2007) in the north-western area of India’s state of achieving sustainable land use in similar circumstances. Gujarat (230 19' - 230 52' N). It is bounded by a huge Keywords: banni, kachchh, charcoal, prosopis juliflora, marshy salt desert (Great Rann of Kachchh) at its Frontier land degradation, ecosystem services, alien invasive northern border and a smaller one to its south (Fig. 1). It species. is regarded as the only remaining single natural vast stretch of grassland in the Indian sub-continent, and, I. Introduction Science despite the inherent salinity of its alluvial sandy lands, it and degradation (also labelled ‘desertification’ is seen as Asia’s finest Grassland (GUIDE, 1998). of when in drylands), restoration of degraded lands, and invasive alien species, have each been L Journal spotlighted in thematic assessments of the IPBES: the 2018 “Land Degradation and Restoration” and the 2021“Invasive Alien Species”). Land degradation is often expressed as long-term reduction or loss of Global biological productivity which is of value to humans; invasive alien species are species introduced into locations off their natural distribution range, where they then impact the new area’s biodiversity and ecosystem Authorα: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel. e-mail: [email protected] Author σ: Director, Gujarat Institute of Desert Ecology, Bhuj-370 001, Gujarat, India. ©2021 Global Journals Land Degradation and Restoration Driven by Invasive Alien – Prosopis Juliflora and the Banni Grassland Socio-Ecosystem (Gujarat, India) 2021 r ea Y 81 I Version III ue s s I XXI Figure 1: Banni grassland in Kachchh district of Gujrat State with site of Pj Introduction (arrow 2) Banni soil is saline due to saline groundwater traditional Banni–Sindh nomadism. However, in the late surfacing through capillary movement, and then 19th and early 20th century, the ruler of the principality in evaporating under the arid dryland climate (335 mm which Banni is embedded (currently Kachchh district, ) average annual rainfall, and frequent droughts (26 from see Fig. 1) declared the area a “Reserved Grassland”, in H ( 1932-2008), thus leaving salt deposits on the topsoil which settlement is forbidden, thereby reinforcing the (Kumar et al, 2011). The topsoil also has low water Banni–Sindh desert nomadism. permeability (0 to 0.13 cm/hr.) due to its high proportion Following India’s independence in 1947, the of silt and clay, causing flooding and water logging Indian state of Gujarat allowed grazing in Banni, but Research Volume (Singh and Kar, 2001). The level of soil salinity varies imposed livestock-head taxing, abolished in the mid- spatio-temporally, depending on the specific site’s 1960s. This, together with the India-Pakistan partition, distance from the bordering marshy saline desert areas, deterred the Banni–Sindh nomadism. These policy- Frontier and on the frequency and intensity of the seasonal social-cultural processes increased livestock and leaching effect of freshwater flow from seven rivers that human populations and encouraged permanence in an include Banni in their catchment areas. Together, the increasing number of small residential settlements (48 Science areas of highly saline (over 15.0 M mhos/cm) topsoil are “villages” by 2015). Each village comprised a cluster of spread over 51% of Banni (Soil Survey Division 1986; small family/clan houses positioned next to a local water of GUIDE, 1998). In spite of these harsh abiotic source (Trivedi, 1965) and surrounded by grassland environmental features, Banni is endowed with relatively areas where free-ranging livestock forage, such that the entire Banni grassland became available for grazing. Journal rich biodiversity (91 plant species, 81% of them common, GUIDE, 2011) typical to productive grassland The India-Pakistan partition of 1947 and the ecosystems, and since 1955 it has been credited with abolishment of the livestock tax in the mid-1960s led to Global the legal status of an Indian “protected forest”. further reduction of the Banni–Sindh nomadism. Gradually the pastoral livestock owners settled in the b) The Banni people and livelihoods permanent residential settlements, with livestock th Given records as of the 18 century Banni (primarily cattle and seconded by buffalo) the mainstay people’s roots are in Banni’s adjacent Sindh desert, of their livelihood, while sheep and goats were common where they practiced a pastoral lifestyle based on in number but not that economically significant (for this livestock grazing, and temporarily