Stages of Land Use Suitability Assessment

STAGES OF LAND USE SUITABILITY ASSESSMENT

by Anton Antonio

April 8, 2015

“Land use planning is the process of determining the ideal combination of protection, preservation and conservation as opposed to utilization of land resources in a particular area.  The aim of land use planning is the sustainable development of goods and services as to guarantee the long-term availability of the resources akin to this specific area.”  (Antonio, 2015)

There are three important stages in the process of assessing land use suitability.  These stages are:

Stage Process One:  Identification and analysis of the different land uses that match the present and future needs of an identified community.  Together with recommendations from SMEs (subject matter experts) and the stakeholders from both within and those living in the immediate periphery of the project area, participatory consultations could be made to come up with the “best fit” land use.  Establishing the framework based on the vision and mission of the project is also important in drawing up the preliminary plans.

Stage Process Two:  This stage is designed to be the compatibility analysis which entails finding an appropriate match between the site requirement of a particular land use and the site quality of this particular area.  A compatibility analysis involves the determination of the suitability of various areas to a given land use.  This is also commonly referred to as land suitability assessment.

Stage Process Three:  This stage involves the more detailed and elaborate process of determining the potential response of an area to a particular land use or a combination of land uses that were identified as compatible to the target area in Stage Process One.  The parameters to be used in rendering a decision on the final land use are (a) changes in the productivity of the area, (b) changes in the level of fertility of the area, and (c) changes in soil erosion possibilities.  These parameters should be treated equally.  Potential failure in one parameter should indicate the necessity of reviewing the entire process and crafting alternative courses of action.

This three-staged process will have to be repeatedly followed until all the parameters are satisfied and the risks are held to a negligible (meaning: small or unimportant as to be not worth considering) and insignificant minimum.  Soil degradation and non-productivity could be the ultimate result when there is a failure in land use assessment.  It is therefore very important to adhere religiously to the stages of land use suitability assessment.

Just my little thoughts…

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