Framework for evaluation of sustainable land management : a case study of two rain-fed cereal-livestock farming systems in the black chernozemic soil bone of Southern Alberta, Canada

Abstract

The Framework for Evaluation of Sustainable Land Management (FESLM)was used to assess the sustainability of two land use systems in the Canadian Prairies. The FESLM provided a means whereby identification could be made of the factors impacting on sustainability, the processes by which these factors operate and interact, as well as the indicators and thresholds by which they could be measured in order to attain an assessment end point. On the basis of the framework, a conservation-based land use system was found to be more sustainable than a conventional land use system.