Solutions need to be developed and introduced which address both issues simultaneously. In nigeria, the nigerdelta communities are mostly cited as examples of. Pdf land degradation and agriculture in the sahel of africa. Land degradation increases the vulnerability of agroecological systems to climate change and reduces the effectiveness of adaptation options. This study therefore seeks to identify the main impact of land degradation on livelihoods of the study area in direct and. The huge population of livestock needs to be fed and the grazing lands or pasture areas are not adequate. Population pressure including urban sprawl and commercial development.
The objective of this study was to determine the impact of land degradation on crop production both in terms of area and yield in the dry zone of myanmar. The health impacts of desertification and drought pdf, 1. Based on findings of previous studies, the next section tries to identify and examine the drivers of land degradation in ethiopia and its impacts on rural livelihoods and food security. The effect of soil degradation on agricultural productivity. Much of the literature is concerned with land degradation, especially water erosion.
Land degradation caused by agriculture takes many forms and has many causes. By 2025, the rural population of the developing world will have increased to almost 3. In addition to erosion, soil quality is affected by other aspects of agriculture. Water erosion is the most common form of degradation in the area, affecting 25 percent of agricultural land. According to dwasi, forests and savannah grasslands in 25 mrb have been cleared and turned into agricultural lands. Evidences suggest that the rate of encroachment of arable land is high and is. Potential impacts of climate change on land degradation and desertification. The land degradation problem is, for practi cal purposes, the former areas. Most such assessments focus on one or a few types of degradation only, especially water erosion. Land degradation food and agriculture organization of the united.
The inclusion of offsite effects of water erosion would increase this value substantially. A report from ifad 2010 noted that about 90% of the rural dwellers depend on agriculture for their livelihood. Potential impacts of climate change on land degradation. Agricultural activities such as shifting cultivation, without adequate fallow periods, absence of soil conservation measures, fertilizer use and a host of possible problems arising from faulty planning or management of the land all lead to intense land degradation within the study area. Land degradation and desertification have been graded as a major environmental and social dispute in most. The health of soil is a primary concern to farmers and the global community whose livelihoods depend on well managed agriculture that starts with the dirt beneath our feet. Few largescale assessments are available that account for the impact of degradation on production. Accounting for the impact of soil degradation on food production. Chapter 7 economic consequences of land degradation. Land degradation in terms of soil degradation is a major environmental issue posing threat to sustainable livelihood in the semiarid region of central myanmar. Success in fighting land degradation requires an improved understanding of its causes, impact, degree and relationship with climate, soil, water, land cover and socioeconomic factors 46. There are four main ways of looking at land degradation and its impact on the environment around it.
For those drivers and impacts that are related to land use this is a logical approach for classifying ld. The paper estimates the effect of soil degradation on crop yields for dominant cereals in ethiopia at a nationwide level and analyses its relation with population density and fertiliser use. Some of the most important types of land degradation and those that we will focus on include. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to give an overview on the causes and impacts of land degradation in ethiopia, and to present rehabilitative measures to restore degraded lands. Environmental impacts of agriculture climate change. Because soil degradation contributes to land degradation, it also means that it creates a significant loss of arable land. The effects of soil erosion go beyond the loss of fertile land. A soil degradation index is derived from an ordered qualitative classification on the degree of soil degradation and the area extension.
Land degradation and the rural poor world agriculture. Land degradation, agriculture productivity and food security. Global trends and effects of land degradation and improvement. One of the most serious problems currently affecting agricultural productivity in developing countries of the tropics, including nigeria, is land degradation. Impact of population growth on environmental degradation.
Soil is the thin layer of organic and inorganic material that covers the earths rocky surface. Kirkwood1 1992 1land resource division, centre for land and biological resources research, research branch, agriculture canada, ottawa. The effect of deterrents on land degradation only applies in those areas using land extensively. Environmental degradation is a result of the dynamic interplay of socioeconomic, institutional and technological activities. Land degradation, soil erosion and loss of useful species. While drought increases soil degradation, soil degradation, in turn, magnifies the impact of drought.
Intensive agriculture and irrigation contribute to land degradation particularly salination, alkalization and water logging. Recent estimates suggest that 5 6 million hectares of arable land worldwide. Rapidly increasing population in the mara river basin puts. Land degradation and desertification with projected increase in extremely high daily temperatures and more severe drought conditions, land degradation will escalate and dry lands in terms of climate change, the severity of desertification would largely be in the rain shadow areas of fiji western viti levu and northwest of vanua levu. We examine how land degradation can influence climate.
Soil degradation a major threat to humanity summary soil degradation needs to be recognised, alongside climate change, as one of the most pressing problems facing humanity. Defining land degradation and improvement land includes not only the soil resource, but also the water, vegetation, landscape, and microclimatic components ofan ecosystem land degradation refers to a temporary or permanent decline in the productive capacity ofthe land,2 or its potential for environmental management. Major environmental issues are forest and agricultural degradation of land, resource depletion water, mineral, forest, sand, rocks etc. On about onefourth of the worlds agricultural land, soil degradation is widespread, and the pace of degradation has accelerated in the past 50 years. Sonneveld et al quantifying the impact of land degradation on crop production degradation processes in senegal that started in the 1840s, after the promotion by the french colonial power of groundnut cultivation mulitza et al. Secondly,on fertile soils, land degradation is largely compensated by fertiliser application. The estimate obtained for the onsite effects of land degradation upon productivity is equivalent to 2 % of the gross domestic product of the region, or 7% of its agricultural gross domestic product. Land degradation is a broad term that can be applied differently across a wide range of scenarios. Livestock wealth plays a crucial role in the rural life of our country.
Land degradation has negative consequences on agriculture. Finally,most people can be found on the slope facing a deep and dangerous precipice. Land degradation can contribute directly to poverty by reducing the availability of other valuable goods and services important to poor households for example, fuel wood, construction materials, wild foods, and medicinal plants and by increasing the demands on labor needed to forage for such goods. Soil degradation is a consequence of intensive land use management, which is assumed to be caused by human impact, poverty, and a response to economic opportunities at the global level lambin et al.
The change in the characteristic and quality of soil which adversely affect its fertility is called as degradation. What is land degradation and how much agricultural land is. The soil integrates a variety of important processes involving vegetation growth, overland flow of water, infiltration, land use and land management. Land degradation is a global problem largely related to agricultural use. The issue with land degradation and its effects on agriculture cannot be over emphasize. Causes and impacts of land degradation and desertification. Although industrialized agriculture has been successful in terms of the amount of food produced, it has had some negative impacts on the environment, including land degradation and habitat. Pdf land degradation, agriculture productivity and food. Food and agriculture organization of the united nations fao. Assessment of land degradation and its impact on crop. Livestock including overgrazing inappropriate irrigation. Land degradation occurs when the topography of the soil is destroyed through the use of high end machinery, continuous tillage of a given piece of land and the effects of volcanic eruptions.
As environmental conditions effect to agricultural practices, agricultural practices also have effects on environment. The dpsir model was used to identify a series of core indicators and to establish the nature of interactions between the different driving forces, pressures, states, impacts, and responses, and thus to assess the agriculture and its impact on land use, environment, and ecosystem services. The objective of this study was to determine the impact of land degradation on crop production both in terms of area and yield in the dry. Effects of land use change on land degradation reflected. This is in line with suggestion to systematically generate and integrate quantified geospatial information on various aspects of land degradation to enable sound policy action. The impacts of soil degradation on crop yields in the canadian prairies. Assessing the impact of soil degradation on food production. About 40% of the worlds agricultural land is lost on the account of soil quality depreciation caused by agrochemicals and soil erosion. Land degradation in the form of soil erosion is a major problem in the semiarid region of lower chambal valley. Natural resource degradation in general and land degradation in particular has a great effect on the economies of developing countries. The problem of land degradation food and agriculture.
In this report, land degradation is defined as a negative trend 4 in land condition, caused by direct or indirect humaninduced processes including anthropogenic. Potential impacts of climate change on land degradation and. Sustainable land use can help to reduce the impacts of agriculture and livestock, preventing soil degradation and erosion and the loss of valuable land to desertification. Soil degradation is, in itself, an indicator of land degradation. Land degradation is, usually, the result of complex interrelationships between biophysical and socioeconomic issues which affect many people and their land, specially in the tropics and developing countries. May 10, 2018 although agriculture is essential in sustaining human life, the practices associated with it have been known to have certain impacts on the environment. This study assessed the farmers perception of the effects of land degradation on. For instance, in nigeria, the rural population depends on agriculture for sustenance and income generation. Recurring droughts and land degradation are closely linked. Major agricultural activities in these areas include. Food, agriculture, and the environment discussion paper 14. Land degradation can be viewed as any change or disturbance to the land perceived to be deleterious or undesirable eswaran, 2001.
The stresses and impacts that are discussed are for agriculture i. These impacts include compaction, loss of soil structure, nutrient degradation, and soil salinity. The environmental impact of agriculture varies based on the wide variety of agricultural practices employed around the world. Impacts of climaterelated land degradation on poverty and livelihoods. The following points highlight the five main impacts of agriculture on environment. Desertification and land degradation are among the central problems for the sustainable development of the dryland ecosystem, especially in the case of the sudan figure 1.
Land clearance, such as clearcutting and deforestation. Desertification has been defined as land degradation in arid, semiarid, and dry subhumid areas resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities11. This study, therefore, seeks to draw the attention of the international community, policy makers and development agencies to the severe impact that climate change, desertification and land degradation has on the economies of lldcs. Land degradation neutrality is achieved when globally or in a given landscape or terrestrial ecosystem, the area of productive land and therefore sustainable land use remains stable or increases. The map of the study area is presented on the next page. Land degradation is however a major environmental issue affecting the region, with negative consequences on agriculture. The environmental impact of agriculture is the effect that different farming practices have on the ecosystems around them, and how those effects can be traced back to those practices. The incessant demand for agricultural land eliminated the last stretches of origi. Impacts of modern agriculture and degradation on soil. Impact of environm ental degradation on agricultural production and poverty in rural nigeria. The term land degradation involves both soil and vegetation degradation.
Quantifying the impact of land degradation on crop. This can be seen through a loss of biomass, a loss of actual productivity or in potential productivity, or a loss or change in vegetative cover and soil nutrients. Land degradation and climate change pose enormous risks to global food security. The area of land subject to desertification and land degradation is increasing each year driven by a number of factors including unsustainable land. Environmental changes may be driven by many factors including economic growth. Land degradations impacts on productivity may affect food security in some.
However, the studies on soil degradation status and its impacts in this region are very scanty. The ma 2005a also uses a similar but not identical systems classification forest. A temporary or permanent decline in the productive capacity of the land. Farmers often mask the effects ofdegradation by convertingtheirland to less demanding uses or increasing levels ofcompensat. Land degradation and desertification have been graded as a major environmental and social dispute in most of the emerging countries. Read this article to learn about the meaning, factors responsible, prevention and control measures of land degradation. Yet these interactions have largely been omitted from climate impact assessments and adaptation planning. It is viewed as any change or disturbance to the land perceived to be deleterious or undesirable. Economics of land degradation and improvement in ethiopia. Land degradation reduces land productivity and increases the workload of managing the 42 land, affecting women disproportionally in some regions.
There is growing evidence of land degradation in the mrb due to improper land use practices, which directly impacts on adjacent aquatic ecosystems. The principal aim of this study was to explore the impacts of desertification, degradation and drought on both the natural resources. The organic portion, which is derived from the decayed remains of plants and animals, is concentrated in the dark uppermost topsoil. Land degradation is a process in which the value of the biophysical environment is affected by a combination of humaninduced processes acting upon the land. Moreover, most of the assessments are of physical damage, although a few attempts have been made to estimate the economic costs of degradation as a proportion of agricultural gdp. The condition of the soil is one of the best indicators of land degradation.
Seed production manual, international crops research institute. Mar 02, 2020 more resources that outline where land degradation takes place in the world, and stats on how much land degradation and erosion is happening can be found at. Giving the importance of yield growth as a source of. Desertification, a phenomenon referring to land degradation in arid, semiarid and dry subhumid regions as a result of climatic variations and human activities, is considered as one of the most severe environmental and socioeconomic problems of recent times. First, land degradation has its major impact on soils of lower fertility, where population levels are low. Deforestation and land degradation on the ethiopian. Agricultural depletion of soil nutrients through poor farming practices. The degradation of land in one form or the other is matter of serious concern.
The literal translation of arable land is able to be ploughed. The importance of land degradation in calabar south is enhanced because of its impact on food security and quality of the environments. Cause of land degradation and its impacts on livelihoods of. The study proposes agroforestry and social forestry practices, plantation forestry, and conservation of the. The main reason for the destruction of forest land is to obtain agricultural land. 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. What is land degradation and how much agricultural land is affected.
Countries need to reduce degradation processes and increase restoration activities at. Of the total, 25% of land area is highly degraded, 8% moderately or slightly degraded, 36% stable and 10% improving faostate of the worlds land and water resources for food and agriculture. Chapter 6 land department of environmental affairs. Impact of environmental degradation on agricultural. There are various ways of looking at land degradation and its impact on the environment around it. The impact of climate change, desertification and land.
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