Land Issues Demand Tough Choices

Few would argue that land prices are sharply increasing. That's because land is no longer a limitless commodity as it once was perceived to be.

According to the Columbia Encyclopedia, the term "land use" is defined as an exploitation of land for agricultural, industrial, residential, recreational, or other purposes. Because environmental problems are in large part the result of the manner in which land is used, pressure to reform land-use legislation has intensified in recent decades. The argument goes that as accessible land grows more scarce, the purpose for which it is to be used becomes more critical, and therefore should not be driven by profit or local convenience. And, often it takes more than local laws and zoning regulations for settling such land-use issues as wetlands, shorelines, floodplains, sewer systems, power plants and highways.

As a result, Habitat affiliates everywhere are feeling the pinch with respect to land. In Blount County, Tenn., for example, Blount County HFH is faced with escalating land costs due to increased development. In Ames, Iowa, Story County HFH was given a donation of land, but its value, plus the house price, would have made it too expensive for Habitat homeownership. So, the affiliate partnered with Story County Community Land Trust, gave the Trust the land, then Story County built a duplex on the property. Story County HFH has a 99-year lease on the land that is heritable.

Then there's the issue of land degradation. Construction projects that impact the environment include dams, drilling rigs, nuclear power plants, high-voltage transmission lines and even shopping centers and housing. While Habitat house construction sites do not degrade land per se, affiliates operate in an environment where, during the five-year period from 1992-1997, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, America's privately held forests, croplands, and wetlands were lost to development in and around cities and towns at twice the rate they were from 1982-92.

In some developing countries, land degradation and depletion of resources are enormous issues. For example, in developing countries, about 2 billion people rely solely on fuel wood as their energy source for heating and cooking. Traditional fuels, mostly firewood, supply about 52 percent of all energy required in sub-Saharan Africa. Forests are being cut down faster than they can grow, partly to make room for new farmland and partly to harvest trees as fuel. As a result, erosion destroys upland areas, and the resulting sediments fill reservoirs. Downstream flooding destroys cultivable soil and food crops.

In some countries, when fuel wood is not available, people shift to alternative and sometimes inferior fuel, like animal dung and crop residue. These take longer to burn and produce hazardous fumes. The use of dung also deprives the soil of nutrients needed for agricultural production. Add to this situation other external factors that affect land use--such as war and civil conflict, drought, famine, and environmental- and conflict-induced refugees. The result is that the issue of land--how to access it, how to build in an environmentally friendly way--affects nearly all Habitat affiliates in one way or another.


--Karen Free





Reprinted from Habitat World Magazine, August/September 2000.
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©2000 Habitat for Humanity International