Agro-ecological landuse transformation in oasis systems of Al Jabal Al Akhdar, northern Oman

Abstract The millenia-old oasis systems in the Western Hajar Mountains of Northern Oman have received widespread attention as models of sustainable irrigated agriculture in hyperarid Arabia. Given Oman’s rampant urbanization, growing scarcity of water and skilled labour, we quantified chances in wat...

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Autores principales:	Andreas Buerkert, Bryan Adam Dix, Mohamed Nasser Al Rawahi, Eva Schlecht
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/8ea280d0af364037a4ac9bce3558f54e
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:8ea280d0af364037a4ac9bce3558f54e2021-12-02T18:15:33ZAgro-ecological landuse transformation in oasis systems of Al Jabal Al Akhdar, northern Oman10.1038/s41598-021-85515-92045-2322https://doaj.org/article/8ea280d0af364037a4ac9bce3558f54e2021-04-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-85515-9https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract The millenia-old oasis systems in the Western Hajar Mountains of Northern Oman have received widespread attention as models of sustainable irrigated agriculture in hyperarid Arabia. Given Oman’s rampant urbanization, growing scarcity of water and skilled labour, we quantified chances in water use, land use, and land cover between 2007 and 2018 using a rare time-series approach of detailed GIS-based crop mapping. Results from satellite image analysis and comprehensive ground truthing showed that urban areas grew from 206 ha in 2009 to 230 ha in 2014 and 252 ha in 2018. Throughout this decade, irrigated areas in backyards and front-house gardens of the town, planted largely to tree crops and vegetables, increased from 13.5 to 23.3 ha. Between 2007 and 2018 the actively used area of the studied oasis systems declined by 2.0% and the share of perennial crops without underplanting by 5.1%, while land under agroforestry increased by 2.1% and fallow land by 3.5%. Rising water demand of the sprawling town Sayh Qatanah led to terraces of Al ‘Ayn and Ash Sharayjah now being partly irrigated with treated wastewater which accelerated the abandonment of the old settlement structures. The labour- and water use efficiency-driven transformation of the Al Jabal Al Akhdar oasis agriculture into increasingly market-oriented landuse systems questions its function as example of sustainable, bio-cultural heritage of Arabia.Andreas BuerkertBryan Adam DixMohamed Nasser Al RawahiEva SchlechtNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-16 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Andreas Buerkert Bryan Adam Dix Mohamed Nasser Al Rawahi Eva Schlecht Agro-ecological landuse transformation in oasis systems of Al Jabal Al Akhdar, northern Oman
description	Abstract The millenia-old oasis systems in the Western Hajar Mountains of Northern Oman have received widespread attention as models of sustainable irrigated agriculture in hyperarid Arabia. Given Oman’s rampant urbanization, growing scarcity of water and skilled labour, we quantified chances in water use, land use, and land cover between 2007 and 2018 using a rare time-series approach of detailed GIS-based crop mapping. Results from satellite image analysis and comprehensive ground truthing showed that urban areas grew from 206 ha in 2009 to 230 ha in 2014 and 252 ha in 2018. Throughout this decade, irrigated areas in backyards and front-house gardens of the town, planted largely to tree crops and vegetables, increased from 13.5 to 23.3 ha. Between 2007 and 2018 the actively used area of the studied oasis systems declined by 2.0% and the share of perennial crops without underplanting by 5.1%, while land under agroforestry increased by 2.1% and fallow land by 3.5%. Rising water demand of the sprawling town Sayh Qatanah led to terraces of Al ‘Ayn and Ash Sharayjah now being partly irrigated with treated wastewater which accelerated the abandonment of the old settlement structures. The labour- and water use efficiency-driven transformation of the Al Jabal Al Akhdar oasis agriculture into increasingly market-oriented landuse systems questions its function as example of sustainable, bio-cultural heritage of Arabia.
format	article
author	Andreas Buerkert Bryan Adam Dix Mohamed Nasser Al Rawahi Eva Schlecht
author_facet	Andreas Buerkert Bryan Adam Dix Mohamed Nasser Al Rawahi Eva Schlecht
author_sort	Andreas Buerkert
title	Agro-ecological landuse transformation in oasis systems of Al Jabal Al Akhdar, northern Oman
title_short	Agro-ecological landuse transformation in oasis systems of Al Jabal Al Akhdar, northern Oman
title_full	Agro-ecological landuse transformation in oasis systems of Al Jabal Al Akhdar, northern Oman
title_fullStr	Agro-ecological landuse transformation in oasis systems of Al Jabal Al Akhdar, northern Oman
title_full_unstemmed	Agro-ecological landuse transformation in oasis systems of Al Jabal Al Akhdar, northern Oman
title_sort	agro-ecological landuse transformation in oasis systems of al jabal al akhdar, northern oman
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/8ea280d0af364037a4ac9bce3558f54e
work_keys_str_mv	AT andreasbuerkert agroecologicallandusetransformationinoasissystemsofaljabalalakhdarnorthernoman AT bryanadamdix agroecologicallandusetransformationinoasissystemsofaljabalalakhdarnorthernoman AT mohamednasseralrawahi agroecologicallandusetransformationinoasissystemsofaljabalalakhdarnorthernoman AT evaschlecht agroecologicallandusetransformationinoasissystemsofaljabalalakhdarnorthernoman
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Agro-ecological landuse transformation in oasis systems of Al Jabal Al Akhdar, northern Oman

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