Land degradation here mainly refers to the loss of lifesupporting land resource through soil erosion, desertification, salinization, acidification, etc. Soil erosion and degradation on mediterranean type. As far as were concerned, erosion is the breakdown of the continents and the land around you. Soil is subject to a series of induced degradation processes, which humannamely are displacement of soil material, and internal soil deterioration dwivedi, 2002. Pdf on apr 9, 2014, velibor spalevic and others published land degradation, land use and soil erosion. Magisterial districts with the highest soil degradation index values include herschel, qumbu, mount fletcher, engcobo and middledrift. Soil erosion, overgrazing over browsing 20 bare land and other areas remain stable but stressed 1,806,350. Soil erosion soil erosion is the detachment and movement of soil material. These impacts include compaction, loss of soil structure, nutrient degradation, and soil salinity. Land degradation is the major consequences of direct interference of human activities in the natural phenomenon. Land degradation is a global environment and development issue. The present rate of land degradation is estimated at 5 to 7 million hectares per year, suggesting that 0.
Determination of net soil erosion rate using 7cs in a. The human dimension of land degradation and forest degradation. The land degradation section of this report deals with causes of land degradation, both in terms of deterioration of soil quality and loss of land. In general, the communal areas are significantly more degraded than the commercial farming areas.
Compaction compaction is where soil particles pack together increasing soil density and reducing pore space. Land degradation is one of the worlds most pressing environmental problems, happening at an alarming pace, and it will worsen without rapid remedial action. Land degradation food and agriculture organization of the united. The loss of soil from land surfaces by erosion is widespread and reduces the. Without soil and plants the land becomes desertlike and unable to support life. The world is losing 10 ha of arable land each minute5 ha to soil erosion, 3 ha from salinity, and 2 ha by. Sloping agriculture, without soil conservation measures, together with the occurrence of extreme climatic events, increasingly frequent, as a consequence of climate change, has accelerated these phenomena, at rates of 57 million. In turn, unsustainable land use is driving land degradation.
In the present study landsat satellite images for the years of 1977, 1990 and 2000 have been used to identify the change in degraded land in the region. Assessing the economic impacts of soil degradation final report. Research by the economics of land degradation initiative in. Including soil compaction, loss of soil structure, nutrient degradation, and soil. Erosion, degradation and conservation mh 7 download pdf for free.
Soil erosion resulting from overgrazing of animals is evident on the island of carriacou, where rearing of animals, sheep, goats and cattle is part of the culture. In addition to erosion, soil quality is affected by other aspects of agriculture. Erode erosionto wear away, or remove, rock or soil particles by water, ice, andor gravity horizona layer of soil with properties that differ from the layers above or below it humusorganic matter such as highly decomposed leaves notilla way of growing crops that doesnt disturb the soil surface minimizing soil erosion. Land degradation in south africa is a significant environmental problem throughout the whole country meadows and hoffman, 2002. Federal democratic republic of ethiopia ethiopia land. Loss of natural fertility of soil because of loss of nutrients. Land cover change, landscape degradation, and restoration along a railway line in the amazon biome, brazil. The world is losing 10 ha of arable land each minute5 ha to soil erosion, 3 ha from salinity, and 2 ha by other degradation processes. There are several issues related to land degradation that intersect with other concerns. The details of all publications are in the researchgate in full text pdf forms. Gully erosion is endemic, particularly along rural footpaths and roads wahab et al. Most of the soil eroded from the land together with the chemical fertilizers and pesticides utilized in agricultural. Soil erosion definition the removal of the top soil cover by water, wind and human activities is called soil erosion.
Uptodate, quantitative information is needed to support policy and action for food and water security, economic development, environmental integrity and resource conservation. Soil erosionthe removal of topsoil by water, wind, and agriculture. The process may be natural or accelerated by human activity. Globally, about 25 percent of the total land area has been degraded.
Land degradation leads to the reduction or loss of the biological or economic productivity and complexity of land. Land degradation issues the eastern cape has one of the highest provincial indices of soil degradation see over. These key drivers are also mentioned as the main causes of land degradation in the nap to combat desertification document of ethiopia. Methods of soil conservation shortcut i terrace farming ii shelter belts iii contour ploughing. Further disagreements emerge around finding the appropriate way to measure land degradation. Between 1982 and 2003, total soil erosion dropped from an estimate of over 3. Nearly 10 million hectares of arable land are lost to erosion and other forms of soil degradation every year 1 countries all over the world are battling with worrisome sight of deepening gullies crisscrossing the landscape and barren fields stripped of the fertile topsoil. Soil science institute of athensnational agricultural. World overview of conservation approaches and technologies. Soil erosion is a common term that is often confused with soil degradation as a whole, but in fact refers only to absolute soil losses in terms of topsoil and nutrients. Rangeland degradation and resultant soil erosion often occurs in.
Furthermore, world population growth, combined with increasing climate change and related natural hazards, is likely to worsen the impact of soil erosion and land degradation. Evidences suggest that the rate of encroachment of arable land is high and is. Soil loss from conventionally tilled land exceeds the rate of soil formation by. Erosion frequently leads to the formation of badland features on. The soil integrates a variety of important processes involving vegetation growth, overland flow of water, infiltration, land use and land management.
Chapter 6 land department of environmental affairs. Soil degradation occurs through the deterioration of the physical, chemical and biological properties of soil that results in soil compaction, salinisation, acidification, and soil loss from wind and water erosion. This is indeed the most visible effect of soil degradation, but does not cover all of its aspects. The severe and moderate erosion of soils has caused the degradation of 80% of the agricultural land of the planet. Land and soil are important components of abu dhabi emirate desert ecosystems and of the wider environment in which all plants and animals live. Because of soil erosion, half of the topsoil on the plant has been lost in the last 150 years. Field manual for local level land degradation assessment in. The earliest assessment of the area affected by the land degradation was made by the national commission on agriculture in 1976 at 148 m ha i.
Soil erosion is a natural process in mountainous areas, but is often made much worse by poor management practices. In other words, soil degradation takes away the soils natural capability of holding water thus contributing to more and more cases of flooding. Effects of soil erosion on farmland in shottisham near woodbridge. This erosion is the dominant form of soil degradation troeh et al. Generally, our understanding of the land degradation processes is. It also highlights state and impacts of degradation, along with policy and program responses.
In one research site in the sudouest region, 60 percent of soils were. The severity of the problem of depletion of this vital resource is only now becoming widely appreciated. The effects of soil erosion go beyond the loss of fertile land. The result is a loss of land productivity with impacts on livelihoods and the. Land degradation classes biophysical land degradation classes are identified by the combination of the overall status in provisioning biophysical ecosystem services and the trend of these services biomass, soil, water and biodiversity as described above.
Assessing soil erosion although soil erosion has been taking place very slowly in natural ecosystems throughout geologic time, its cumulative impacts on soil quality over billions of years have been significant. Soil degradation needs to be recognised, alongside climate change, as one of the most pressing problems facing humanity. Overstocking and overgrazing inappropriate farming techniques such as deep ploughing land 2 or 3 times. Delivery the land degradation products can be delivered along with geodata geotiff, ascii, or similar metadata inspire or similar cartographic presentations pdf, png or similar the derived maps and information from the land degradation mapping service is typically made available in one or more of. Deforestation is occurring mainly throughout the central and southwestern ends of the island, specially in the parish of st. Eastern africa including ethiopia has experienced moderate to severe land degradation problems as shown in. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves. Land degradation as the land use section earlier in this chapter shows, demands on the land for economic development and pressures from a burgeoning population are leading to unprecedented land use change. In nature, large things are broken down into smaller things. Depending on the local landscape and weather conditions, erosion may be very slow or very rapid. Erosion rate soil erosion soil loss sediment yield land degradation these keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. T value tolerable erosion equilibrium between soil gains and losses. Trafficking by animals as well as by vehicles and cultivation are the primary causes of this form of soil degradation.
Accelerate erosion in chile is a consequence from land use that degrade soil such as compaction, loss of organic matter and soil s t r ucture. Solutions need to be developed and introduced which address both issues simultaneously. Natural erosion has sculptured landforms on the uplands and built landforms on the lowlands. Soil degradation is, in itself, an indicator of land degradation. But, in the field, further variables are used as indicators of the occurrence of soil degradation. Routing runoff and soil particles in a distributed model with gis. Pollution of water resources from the contamination of. The overall effect of breaking down and weathering the land is called denudation. Grenada land degradation neutrality national report. Causes of soil erosion erosion occurs when farming practices are not compatible with the fact that soil can be washed away or blown away. Pdf land degradation, particularly soil erosion, is currently a major challenge for nepal. Background information land degradation in australia.
When land is degraded, soil carbon and nitrous oxide are released into the atmosphere, making land degradation. Land degradation and desertification ecologic institute. The nature, extent and causes of land degradation in south. Soil erosion is the most serious precursor of soil degradation that comes with global implications. In addition to soil being lost, agriculture has caused many devastating changes in soil. Land degradation indicators and management options. Deforestation accounts for the major land degradation problem as it results in severe soil erosion, flood, and loss of fertile soil. Indirect drivers of land degradation in grenada the indirect drivers of land degradation in grenada are the driving forces of the direct causes of land degradation.
Soil erosion and its control in chile an o verview. The combined reclassification is shown in the following map and table figures 4 and 5. An assessment of the global impact of 21st century land use change on soil erosionhuman activity and related land use change are the primary cause of accelerated soil erosion, which has substantial implications for nutrient and carbon cycling, land productivity and in turn, worldwide socioeconomic conditions. Soil erosion and degradation eastern local school district. Soil degradation is the decline in any or all of the characteristics which make soil suitable for producing food. Research by the economics of land degradation initiative in 2015 calculated. Photograph of a compacted zone of soil immediately below the plough layer in a cropping soil. This section describes land degradation trends in kenya as an introduction to the following pairs of. Similarly the devastating impacts of these disasters left a wave of soil erosion particularly on steep slopes with limited protection. The erosion is favored by the ve r y hilly landscape of the country that increases erosivity index and the high erodibility give n by an elevated annual rate of rainfall with irr e gular distribu t i o n. Land degradation in the form of soil erosion is a major problem in the semiarid region of lower chambal valley. Erosion occurs when soil particles are detached, transported, and deposited elsewhere, water, wind, ice glaciers, and gravity are involved in transporting soil materials, and these are also the active agents in erosion. Land degradation and improvement in argentina i main points 1.