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Soil Degradation

Apr 27 2019

What is Land Degradation?

What is land degradation? Land degradation is a negative change in the quality of land, usually induced by a mixture of natural and man-made causes.

It affects the land’s topsoil, the vegetation that grows on it, and the nearby water sources. It is a global issue with millions of people being affected, even forcing them to relocate in some cases.

What Causes Land Degradation

In most cases, the main causes of land degradation are linked to one or more human activities. Deforestation is one of the most common activities that cause the degradation of land.

Forests play a big part in keeping the soil fertile by constantly feeding it with nutrients from fallen leaves and fruit, as well as from animal droppings. They also keep the soil’s structure in place with the help of the trees’ roots.

Therefore, cutting down a part of a forest is a clear path to land degradation.

Another major man-made cause of land degradation and development of unfertile soils is the overuse of pesticides and fertilizers. Although they have become indispensable to raising rich crops, excessive use is known to gravely deteriorate the affected land.

Certain natural nutrients within the soil become imbalanced as a result of overuse of fertilizers, with a negative long-term effect on the land. Good farming practices will always seek to balance the short-term gain of eliminating pests and growing bigger crops with the long-term downside of land degradation.

Overgrazing is another significant cause of land degradation. It usually occurs when livestock is fed on a limited patch of land and the grass and other vegetation in the area are not able to regenerate at a sufficient rate.

The resulting lack of vegetation deprives the land of much-needed nutrients, the result being the degradation of the soil. It is a major issue, especially in Africa, where the long-term grazing of livestock on small patches of land leads to rapid land degradation.

Salination is also a significant cause of land degradation. It’s defined by the increase of salt concentration in the soil; it can be either man-induced or a natural phenomenon.

A high salt concentration in water used for irrigation, excessive use of alkaline fertilizers, inadequate soil drainage, or simply the wind blowing the salt in areas near the sea are causes of land salination that leads to land degradation.

 “Land Degradation: Creation and Destruction,” by Douglas L. Johnson and Laurence A. Lewis, states that the main naturally induced causes of land degradation are wind and water erosion.

Wind erosion occurs in areas with little or no vegetation and sandy soil, so strong winds carrying soil particles deteriorate the land. Water erosion is the displacement of land either by water in motion or by heavy rains. It’s often caused by human actions like deforestation, but it can also occur naturally in situations such as heavy rain, causing soil displacement on a steep slope of land. 

Land Degradation Effects

The main effects of land degradation can be soil erosion, salinization, acidification, and alkalization of the land, and finally desertification. Land desertification is the most severe stage of land degradation. It means that a piece of land has lost all its vegetation, wildlife, and all its water supplies — it basically has been turned into a desert.

The first steps in recognizing the effects that land degradation has on the planet are understanding its causes and effects. Sadly, the effects can be felt all over the world. The countries that are most affected are usually the poorest, and the lack of crops and farmable land can lead to massive food shortages.

Also, as crops become less efficient, water sources also dry up, often leading to the mass migration of people to more hospitable lands.

The downward spiral caused by land degradation can lead to major socio-economic issues. As food and water become scarce, competition for the remaining resources increases.

In poor countries and isolated regions, this competition can often lead to a monopoly on vital resources, resulting in violent attempts to overturn such a monopoly.

Experts on land management Ephraim Nkonya, Alisher Mirzabaev, and Joachim von Braun, argue in their book, “Economics of Land Degradation and Improvement – A Global Assessment for Sustainable Development,” that degradation is also a significant health hazard to the populations in the affected areas.

Due to the relatively low standard of living in most such areas, the lack of food and water will often lead to malnutrition, as well as diseases caused by the lack of clean water and the resulting poor hygiene. If the population migrates, the risk spreads out, as certain infectious diseases can be carried by the migrating population to new lands.

How to Prevent Land Degradation

In order to prevent or reverse the effects of land degradation, a series of policies and management practices must be implemented. In areas where the degradation process is at its initial stages, it’s crucial that prevention practices are quickly put in place.

Prevention is significantly less expensive than trying to reverse the effects of land degradation. That’s why the first step in preventing land degradation is to properly inform the people in an endangered area about both the causes and effects of the phenomenon and also about the great danger of desertification.

As in most situations, properly preventing land desertification is a matter of avoiding the causes. Natural causes such as heavy rain or strong winds obviously cannot be avoided, but according to a report by the United Nations’ Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia on land degradation assessment and prevention, the man-made causes need to be better managed or eliminated in order to avoid land degradation. 

Deforestation must be kept to a minimum and always be followed by reforestation, in order to keep the land well bound and rich with the nutrients it needs.

Sustainable farming also needs to be practiced, with good management of the levels of pesticides and fertilizers used, as well as avoiding soil depletion because of overgrazing by livestock. 

Land degradation is an issue that should concern every country and every community. Although we have significantly evolved from a technological point of view, our survival still heavily relies on the quality of our lands, and that is especially true in poorer regions.

The decrease in soil quality not only affects agriculture but also creates a ripple effect of major socio-economic implications that affect the entire planet.

List of sources:

“Land Degradation: Creation and Destruction,”  Douglas L. Johnson, Laurence A. Lewis

“Economics of Land Degradation and Improvement – A Global Assessment for Sustainable Development,”  Ephraim Nkonya, Alisher Mirzabaev, Joachim von Braun

Land degradation assessment and prevention, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia

Written by soilerosionst · Categorized: Soil Degradation, Soil Erosion · Tagged: Deforestation, Land Degradation, Soil Degradation

Apr 27 2019

Need to Know: Soil Degradation

The soil is a crucial component of agriculture and forestry, and degradation leads to a partial or total decline of its productive capacity. Due to natural hazards or human mismanagement, the soil can lose one or more of its potential ecological functions, leading to a steep decline in its capacity to be used in the production of goods and services.

Defining Soil Degradation

A 2004 report by the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs described soil degradation as a process that occurs when “the balance between the attacking forces of climate and the natural resistance of the terrain against these forces has been broken by human intervention, resulting in a decreased current and/or future capacity of soil to support life”.

Soil degradation is primarily attributed to mismanagement or misuse of the land in domains such as agriculture, industry, or urban planning. Due to its major impact on food growth and consumption and on the environment as a whole, soil degradation causes have been a constant topic of research and concern throughout the 20th and the 21st centuries.

Causes of Soil Degradation

Throughout the world, soil degradation is usually caused by one or more of these three factors:

  • Physical factors represent the loss of the soil’s life-sustaining qualities due to natural physical forces, mainly water or wind erosion. These physical forces affect the structure of the soil mainly by damaging its top layer and subsequent organic matter, where the nutrients necessary for sustaining growth are found. Long-term exposure to massive rainfall, winds, floods, surface runoff, or any other powerful physical factors leads to the slow decline in the respective soil’s structure and quality. According to Volume 11 of the publication “Advances in Soil Science,” physical degradation can include:
    • Compaction and hardsetting, causing densification of soil due to the elimination or reduction of its structural pores, and also increasing soil’s bulk density as a result of natural and manmade factors.
    • Desertification caused by erosion and sedimentation due to constant exposure to wind and water.
    • Laterization, meaning the desiccation and hardening of plinthitic material.
  • Chemical factors are the alterations of the soil’s chemical properties that lead to it losing nutrients. University of Chittagong professor Khan Towhid Osman’s book, “Soil Degradation, Conservation and Remediation,” states that chemical degradation of soil can be caused by a number of factors, such as a rise of alkalinity or acidity levels, or simply the oversaturation of the respective soil with water. The result is usually either a buildup of salt or the hardening of the soil, with soil nutrients being irreversibly lost in the process. More than half a billion acres of land are affected by chemical soil erosion throughout the world. 
  • Biological factors refer to human activities or plant growth that cause degradation of soil quality by accentuation compaction, erosion, water runoff, anaerobiosis, nutrient depletion, reduction in SOC pool etc., as described in the book “Soil Degradation in the United States: Extent, Severity, and Trends.” An overaccumulation of fungi or bacteria can, for example, cause biochemical reactions that will drastically reduce the soil’s capacity to grow proper crops. Poor farming practices and overfarming also have the potential to diminish the fertility of the soil by depleting it of nutrients. These farming practices can be excessive cultivation, improper manuring, misuse or overuse of fertilizers, or excessive irrigation, among others. 

There are also other factors that can lead to soil degradation. Deforestation will dramatically alter the soil’s composition by removing the vegetation that binds it together. Mining and other industrial activities release toxic substances into the soil, making it poisonous and completely unusable. Also, urbanization will unavoidably affect the soil quality by covering the soil with concrete and with the inevitable rise in pollution levels.

Effects of Soil Degradation

The most significant effect of soil degradation is the loss of a land’s life-sustaining qualities. Throughout the world, more and more land becomes unusable because of factors like soil pollution, contamination, and erosion.

The overuse of fertilizers also keeps the affected land from regenerating, polluting both the land and water in the area and dramatically decreasing land value.

Another major effect of degradation to the soil is its contribution to droughts and the occurrence of arid conditions in certain areas. Soil degradation reduces the biodiversity in the area, leading to desertification and the inevitable drought and aridity that come with it.

The University of Sheffield’s Grantham Centre for Sustainable Futures estimates that approximately 40 percent of the world’s agricultural land is unusable because of the loss of soil quality caused by degradation and overuse of agrochemicals. These practices make agriculture impossible, and therefore make the respective land useless.

Due to the alteration of the degraded soil’s physical attributes, one of the consequences is the affected land’s inability to hold massive amounts of water, leading to increased chances of floods occurring.

How Big is the Range of Soil Degradation Observed Between Continents?

Soil degradation is a big issue all over the world, but Africa is by far the most-affected continent. Throughout the African continent, it is estimated that 28 percent of the land is affected by degradation.

This costs the continent as much as 56 billion euros every year. It’s usually manmade, with the lack of fertile land being compensated by mass deforestation, leading to massive soil degradation. It can be reversed, though, with massive state programs and policies that train communities to take better care of the land. 

Other areas of the world gravely affected by the degradation of soil are Southeast Asia, Northern and Central Australia, China, and parts of the boreal forests in North America and Siberia. 

Solutions for Soil Degradation

The reduction and reversal of soil degradation typically lie in the elimination of manmade causes. Chief among these causes is massive deforestation, and the trend can be reversed by educating populations and governments about the dangers of reckless deforestation. Improving the land’s organic composition and restoring its mineral matter can also reverse soil degradation.

Prevention is also crucial to reducing the amount of land that is affected by soil degradation. Reducing over-irrigation, improving overall irrigation efficiency, and preventing land salinization are all significantly more cost-effective than restoring soil that has already been affected by degradation.

Soil degradation is an issue that affects the entire world in numerous ways. It increases the odds of famine and poverty in already impoverished countries. It also increases the cost and human labor that’s necessary to grow food throughout the world, massively influencing the price and quality of the food that we eat.

Other side effects, from dramatic rises in pollution levels to socio-economic effects like mass migration, also contribute to soil degradation’s status as a major global issue.

Sources:

Advances in Soil Science Vol. 11, Soil Degradation

Soil Degradation, Conservation, and Remediation, Khan Towhid Osman

Soil Degradation in the United States: Extent, Severity, and Trends, Rattan Lal, Terry M. Sobiecki, Thomas Iivari, John M. Kimble

Written by soilerosionst · Categorized: Soil Degradation, Soil Education, Soil Erosion · Tagged: Erosion Control, Soil Degradation, Soil Education, Soil Erosion

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