The rangeland resource and its importance


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At least 50% of Latin America and the Caribbean is either too dry, too wet, too steep, too shallow, too infertile and/or too fragile to sustain cultivation or to support arborescent forests. These are the Region's rangelands defined by the Society for Range Management as, "Land on which the native vegetation (climax or natural potential) is predominantly grasses, grass-like plants, fortes, or shrubs. Includes lands revegetated naturally or artificially when routine management of that vegetation is accomplished mainly through manipulation of grazing" (SRM, 1989).

There is no rangeland prototype because there are many different types. Rangelands in the Region include natural grasslands consisting of either tall, short, medium, annual or desert species; savannahs both wet and dry; shrub-lands of various characteristics; alpine communities; coastal marshes; wet meadows and most deserts. The commonalities between these are: (1) they produce a kind of vegetation that only animals can consume and convert into products beneficial to man; and (2) they are not suitable for sustained cultivation and they are incapable of supporting arborescent forests. However, many forests can be grazed without damage to the trees within the multiple-use concept and these are often called "woodland ranges". The objective is not to destroy the forest, but instead to use its resources for more than one product.

Far too many national policy makers and planners do not know what the rangeland resource is, and it goes by many names, some of which are demeaning such as "wasteland" and "underdeveloped" land or "nonutilized" lands. Savannahs and natural shrublands are often put into the forest pigeonhole. Many original grasslands have been invaded by undesirable, high water-requiring and poor environmental stabilizing shrub and small tree species. These are often classified as "forest" and environmentalists cry, "deforestation" at attempts to reduce the woody cover in order to restore the original grassland. At any rate, rangeland resources are too often ignored in national resource surveys and inventories.

Feed Production

If the total digestible nutrients produced by the world's rangelands could be measured in grain crop equivalents, the results would be astounding. In the Near East, rangelands provide more than 90% of the nutrients consumed by 302 million head of domestic livestock; cattle, sheep, goats, buffalo, camels, horses, mules and asses (Norris, 1972 and FAO, 1991). Domestic animals in Africa likely obtain nearly 100% of their nutrients from natural forages.

While studies have not been made in Latin America and the Caribbean, experience indicates that more than 90% of the nutrients consumed by 519 million head of domestic stock comes from rangelands. It is 100% in some areas. Even in the United States, which is criticized for feeding grain to cattle, forages and roughages account for 80-85% of the total feed used to produce a pound of fed beef, including the breeding herd, calf-stocker phase and feedlot. Less than five pounds of feed grains are used per each pound of edible beef produced (Kunkel, 1990).

The total value of the rangeland feed provided by nature in terms of grain and processed feeds amounts to hundreds of thousands of millions of dollars. There would be very little affordable meat, milk, milk products, leather, wool and mohair for people's use without the inexpensive rangeland feed.

Water Yields

Water is at the bottom of any web of life. It is also essential for many of man's endeavors to improve the quality of life such as sanitation, industrialization, navigation, irrigation and recreation, to name just a few. Fresh water is not an abundant resource or at best, there is not an overwhelming surplus.

Table 1. Approximate distribution of water in the hydrosphere (FAO, 1973)

Type of water % of total water % of fresh water % of available water (i.e., fresh and unfrozen)
TOTAL:
Salt 95    
Fresh 5    
FRESH:
Frozen 4 80  
Liquid 1 20  
FRESH LIQUID:
Groundwater 0 .99 19 . 7 99
Lakes 0.01 0.2 1
Soils 0.002 0.04 0.2
Rivers 0.001 0.02 0.1
Atmospheric 0.001 0.02 0.1
Biological 0.0005 0.001 0.005

Table 1 summarizes the general distribution of the water of the hydrosphere among different types of water. Practically all of this water is contained in the oceans and salt seas. Of the fresh water resources of the earth (i.e., about five percent of the total water), the proportion stored in the form of snow and ice or permafrost - and thus not readily available for use-has been estimated as about three quarters of the total fresh water. Consequently, only about one percent of the total water of the earth's hydrosphere is in a form that can be readily and economically exploited (FAO, 1973).

Around 99% of the fresh liquid or available water is in the form of groundwater and the remaining 1% occurs in other forms (Table 1). This should not be construed to mean that this one percent is insignificant. To the contrary, these forms of storage or availability are very significant in respect to desertification. More about this subject will be approached in subsequent sections.

Forests rightly receive considerable attention as watersheds for both surface and underground water supplies. The contributions of rangelands, which also provide both surface and underground water, are either not realized or appreciated. The quantities of water provided by rangelands can be quite high even in arid and semiarid zones.

To illustrate the point, an example is taken from a study in Saudi Arabia, which is one of the driest countries in the world. Average annual rainfalls for various parts of Saudi Arabia vary from 30 to 300 mm. Ninety-nine percent of the country receives less than 100 mm of rainfall and one percent receives between 100 and 300 mm (Juneidi and Huss, 1978).

The Wadi Jizan in Saudi Arabia is around 1,100 kmē and the estimated surface flow to Jizan Dam is 90 million cubic meters per year. Studies in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia indicate a field of 2,900 cubic meters of groundwater per square kilometer of outcrop. Infiltration of only 1 mm over the 1.5 million square kilometers of sedimentary area comes to about 1,500 million cubic meters of water per year (Alfred, 1968).

The land area of Latin America and the Caribbean is 2,053 million hectares, of which approximately 50% or 1,026.5 million hectares are rangeland. Since one square meter of land yields one liter of water for each millimeter of rain and assuming that 15% of this water either runs off or percolates to an aquifer, the amount of water that these lands yield is beyond imagination. The Region's rangelands as watersheds deserve greater attention than they are getting.

Wildlife

The Region's ranges, forest and often the two in connection with each other, support a wide array of wildlife species: ruminants, birds, reptiles, rodents and others. Fish can be included because their habitat depends on the use and condition of the watersheds. Wildlife species are valuable for tourism, hunting, fishing and food. Their economic value is often greater than that for domestic livestock.

The conservation of wildlife is now receiving more attention than in the past. A Technical Cooperation Network on National Parks and Other Protected Areas, Flora and Wildlife has been formed with FAO And UNEP support. Laws have been passed protecting certain species, albeit enforcement is a problem. An association of rancher wildlife conservationists has been formed in Venezuela and some landowners in Mexico have gone into game farming. These are, no doubt, examples of just a few endeavors to conserve and exploit this natural resource.

Recreational and Aesthetic Values

Apart from hunting and the mere observation of wildlife, rangelands have other recreational and aesthetic values. Rangeland scenes are not static, but change from place to place, sunrise to sunset, and season to season. The photographer or anyone desiring the beauty of wide-open spaces can be at home on most rangelands. Rangelands may very well represent the last frontier of clean air to breathe and space to play.

Renewability

Rangelands are a natural renewable resource and they can be managed ecologically and be made to remain productive and environmentally stable forever and ever. However, rangeland abuse is more the rule than the exception in the Region and the resource is simply not given the opportunity to fully renew itself as it is capable of doing. Consequently, the desertification process is rampant and productivity is only a fraction of the potential.

Ranges have a remarkable ability to bounce back when given the opportunity. An example of this is taken from Syria (as illustrated in Figure 1). This arid area was thought to be beyond natural renewability owing to hundreds of years of overgrazing. It was deferred from grazing in order to plant fodder shrubs in plowed rows. The natural regeneration of shrubs and grasses between the rows was equal, if not superior, to the artificial and costly improvement practice. This example clearly shows that man can take advantage of the renewability attributes of rangelands and create productive and stable pastures to the benefit of both livestock and the environment.

In summary, the Region's rangelands produce a kind of vegetation that only animals, domestic livestock and wildlife, can consume and convert into products and services beneficial to people. The resource is naturally renewable and can be managed to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability to meet those of the future. Unfortunately, this goal is not being met.

Abuse is widespread, causing non-renewal of the resource's desirable components, deterioration and poor animal productivity. The abuse is continuing. If man intends to live and depend upon these lands on a sustained basis, this abuse must stop. Sustainable use and management must become the rule rather than the exception.