Land degradation
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The causes of land degradation are mainly anthropogenic and related to agriculture.
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[edit] Causes
The major causes include:
- Land clearance, such as clearcutting and deforestation
- Agricultural depletion of soil nutrients through poor farming practices
- Livestock
- Urban conversion
- Irrigation
- Pollution
- Vehicle Off-roading
[edit] Effects
The major stresses on vulnerable land include:
- Accelerated soil erosion by wind and water
- Soil acidification or alkalinisation
- Salination
- Destruction of soil structure including loss of organic matter
- Derelict soil
Severe land degradation affects a significant portion of the earth's arable lands, decreasing the wealth and economic development of nations. Land degradation cancels out gains advanced by improved crop yields and reduced population growth. As the land resource base becomes less productive, food security is compromised and competition for dwindling resources increases, the seeds of famine and potential conflict are sown.
Thus a downward eco-social spiral is created when marginal lands are nutrient depleted by unsustainable land management practices resulting in lost soil resilience leading to soil degradation and permanent damage.
- See also: Soils retrogression and degradation
We often assume that land degradation only affects soil fertility. However, the effects of land degradation often more significantly affect receiving water courses (rivers, wetlands and lakes) since soil, along with nutrients and contaminants associated with soil, are delivered in large quantities to environments that respond detrimentally to their input.
Land degradation therefore has potentially disastrous effects on lakes and reservoirs that are designed to alleviate flooding, provide irrigation, and generate hydroelectricity.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Human Induced Land Degradation is Preventable. United States Department of Agriculture - Natural Resources Conservation Service. Retrieved on 2006-06-20. This article incorporates text in the public domain produced by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
[edit] Further reading
- UNEP Activities in Land Use
- Eswaran, H.; R. Lal and P.F. Reich. (2001). "Land degradation: an overview". Responses to Land Degradation. Proc. 2nd. International Conference on Land Degradation and Desertification, New Delhi, India: Oxford Press. Retrieved on 2006-06-20.
- D.L. Johnson and L.A. Lewis Land Degradation:Creation and Destruction, 2nd edition, Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham, Boulder, New York, Toronto, Oxford, 2007.
