Font size:
Print
Land Degradation
Context:
A United Nations report titled “Stepping back from the precipice: Transforming land management to stay within planetary boundaries” highlights the ongoing global land degradation crisis.
- A critical environmental issue is undermining Earth’s ability to support human life and maintain ecological balance.
Study Overview:
- The analysis was conducted by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and Germany’s Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and was published before COP16 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
- Every year, 1 million square kilometres of land is degraded, with an estimated 15 million square kilometres already impacted — an area larger than the entire continent of Antarctica.
- The UNCCD’s report underscores the need for transformative change in land management to prevent further degradation.
What Is Land Degradation?
- It is defined by the UNCCD as the “reduction or loss of the biological or economic productivity and complexity” of land.
- This includes various types of land such as rainfed cropland, irrigated cropland, and pastures, as well as forests and woodlands.
- The degradation results from a combination of pressures, including poor land use and management practices.
Causes of Land Degradation:
- Unsustainable Agricultural Practices: The heavy use of chemical inputs such as fertilisers and pesticides, as well as improper irrigation practices, are leading to deforestation, soil erosion, and water depletion.
- These practices destabilise ecosystems and pollute the environment.
- Climate Change: Land degradation contributes to climate change, but it is also exacerbated by it.
- The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has noted that global warming increases the frequency, intensity, and amount of heavy precipitation, as well as heat stress, which in turn worsens land degradation.
- Urbanisation: The rapid expansion of urban areas contributes to habitat destruction, pollution, and loss of biodiversity, all of which intensify land degradation.
Worst-Affected Regions:
- Drylands are the most impacted, including areas like South Asia, northern China, the High Plains and California in the U.S., and the Mediterranean.
- A third of humanity now lives in drylands, which constitute three-quarters of Africa.
- Low-income countries are disproportionately affected due to their limited resilience to withstand the impacts of land degradation.
Impacts of Land Degradation:
- Human and Ecosystem Impact: It increases the risk of malnutrition by reducing food production and quality, and raises the spread of water- and food-borne diseases due to poor hygiene and water scarcity.
- It can also cause respiratory diseases due to soil erosion.
- Marine and freshwater systems are affected as eroded soil, often containing fertilisers and pesticides, washes into water bodies, harming aquatic life and communities that depend on these resources.
- Climate Change: Land degradation contributes to climate change by releasing stored carbon and nitrous oxide from soil into the atmosphere, which exacerbates global warming.
- It has reduced the ability of ecosystems like soil and trees to absorb carbon dioxide by 20% in the last decade.
Challenges:
- Economic Loss: Land degradation undermines land productivity, affecting food production and water resources, and escalating the costs of environmental restoration.
- Social Inequality: The impacts disproportionately affect poorer countries, where land degradation and its consequences are more severe.
Way Forward:
- Afforestation: Planting trees to restore degraded land.
- Sustainable Agriculture: Implementing practices like crop rotation, organic farming, and proper irrigation.
- Controlled Grazing: Managing livestock grazing to prevent overgrazing.
- Soil Conservation: Techniques like contour ploughing, terracing, and using cover crops to prevent soil erosion.
- Regulating Mining Activities: Ensuring responsible mining practices to minimise environmental impact.
