Deterioration in the quality of land, its topsoil, vegetation, andor water resources, caused usually by excessive or inappropriate exploitation. Finally, issues of policy and collective action are treated in a concluding section, in the context of sustainability. Definition of land land is commonly used to refer to a section of the earth. In this report, land degradation is defined as a negative trend 4 in land condition, caused by direct or indirect humaninduced processes including anthropogenic. The decline in the overall quality of soil, water or vegetation condition commonly caused by human activities land degradation meaning. It may arise either by natural processes or by manmade activities. Instead, drawing particularly on unrisd work, it focuses largely on the social impacts of and responses to environmental degradation in rural areas of the third world. Land degradationthe deterioration or loss of the productive capacity of the soils for present and futureis a global challenge that affects everyone through food insecurity, higher food prices, climate change, environmental hazards, and the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services. Different processes of land degradation also confound the available statistics on soil andor land degradation. As indicated by the ipat equation, environmental impact i or.
Land degradation and cities global platform for sustainable cities. The experts disagree on how to define land degradation and associated processes such as desertification, but as an issue it is not difficult to understand. Land degradation is defined as the temporary or permanent decline in the productive capacity of the land, and the diminution of the productive potential, including its major land uses e. According to government figures, new development is gobbling land at an alarming rate of 365 acres per. Discharge of various kinds of chemicals on land adjacent to forest regions makes the environment unappealing to the survival of trees, vegetations, and animal species.
Poor land management practices include grazing of stock that has hard hooves, growing of crops that require large amounts of fertilisers and pesticides especially superphosphate and nitrogen. May 23, 2018 there are multiple ways in which environmental degradation takes place. Landfilling for urban development and construction purposes is another unique land degradation feature in the emirate. The categories of the classification should not overlap 3. The health impacts of desertification and drought pdf, 1. Land degradation food and agriculture organization of the united. However, there is no single internationallyapproved definition of degraded land.
After reading this article you will learn about the environmental degradation in rural areas. Global concern for the challenges posed by land degradation has been. Formal rules of tenure therefore define the nature and content of property. Urban soils are found in watersheds that provide drinking water, food, waste utilization, and natural resources to communities. 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. In this report, land degradation is defined as a negative trend. The result is a loss of land productivity with impacts on livelihoods and. Unesco eolss sample chapters the role of food, agriculture, forestry and fisheries in human nutrition vol. In many industrialized countries the use of land is. Environmental degradation is a complex process involving transformation, alteration or material loss from any one of the environmental components.
Causes and impacts of land degradation and desertification. What is forest degradation and what are various causes of it. Land degradation occurs when the economic and biological productivity of land is lost, primarily through human activities. The change in the characteristic and quality of soil which adversely affect its fertility is called as degradation. Abstract habitat fragmentation and land degradation. It is viewed as any change or disturbance to the land perceived to be deleterious or undesirable. Targeting of development programs and allocation of and eligibility of funds from the programs and depends on how rural areas are classified. This complexity needs to be appreciated by the field assessor, before any attempt is made either to define land degradation or to measure it. The classification should cover the total area of land that needs to be classified irrespective of the fact if it is being used for any economic activity. A problem with defining land degradation is that what one group of people might view as degradation, others might view as a benefit or opportunity. Land degradation is defined in many different ways within the literature, with differing. The effects of existing land tenure systems on land use in kenya today chege waiganjo and paul e. So, land degradation is far from being a simple process, with clear outcomes.
Principal processes of land degradation include erosion by water and wind, chemical degradation comprising acidification, salinization, leaching etc. I urbanization and environmental degradation in jordan david l. Urban land degradation investigation remediation dieter d. We define urban as populated areas of various sizes. What are the main research streams of land degradation. Environmental degradation in rural areas environment. Urban sprawl, driven by population and economic growth, is a pressing issue in the u. The role of food, agriculture, forestry and fisheries in human nutrition vol. For a particular entity, it then becomes nececuary to define the rates of reaction or.
Current methods for the implementation and monitoring of restoration are limited. Concepts, definitions and data sources for the study of. Rural areas are large and isolated areas of an open country with low population density. Desertification has been defined as land degradation in arid, semiarid, and dry subhumid areas resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities11.
It is defined as any change or disturbance to the environment perceived to be deleterious or undesirable. Land degradation processes are ongoing over large part of the earth land surface figure 3. For many, particularly in more urban environments, the choice becomes one of investing in a condo or a townhouse. Land degradation indicators and management options in the. Urban environmental degradation and vulnerability to disasters eird. What is forest degradation and what are various causes of. Anoter source of land degradation in the encroachment of urban population centres on nericultural. Iii the impact of urbanization on rural land use christopher bryant encyclopedia of life support systems eolss we differentiate between push and pull factors, highlighting the experience of different. Since we are mainly concerned here with soils for agricultural purposes, we define land. Introduction concern about land tenure and its impact on land use as well as the management of natural.
Urban and industrial encroachment onto agricultural land. Urbanization and environmental degradation in jordan. Most of the degradation is due to soil erosion and biodiversity loss in the less populated. Urban land is an environmental key topic considering the increasing urbani sation of. Degradation refers to damage or reduction in quality of certain features of the forests. Framework for integrated land use classification 1.
A read is counted each time someone views a publication summary such as the title, abstract, and list of authors, clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the fulltext. Soil erosion and land degradation through various means further affect the physical viability of the soil profile and the environment in terms of solid, water, air ratio as well as chemical and biological balances. Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment through depletion of resources such as air, water and soil. The creation of squatter settlements and slums as well as increases in the levels of poverty contribute to urban environmental degradation immensely. These, in turn diminish the availability of nutrients and water to the plants and ultimately the productivity of the land. Even though manufacturing is performing well but cannot generate adequate employment being capital intensive is unlikely to accelerate rural to urban migration. Read this article to learn about the meaning, factors responsible, prevention and control measures of land degradation. It does not attempt to cover the full range of social issues associated with all types of environmental degradation. Soils are a fundamental natural resource, and are the basis for all terrestrial life. Land degradation is a process in which the value of the biophysical environment is affected by. The new population structure demands the improvement of urban. One of the calamitous effects of land pollution is the destruction of nearby forests together with its ecosystems.
Urban lands meaning cities or towns are developed, utilized, and then left to degrade in many different ways. This means that the stock of capital or assets which yield these benefits must be maintained intact. Iii the impact of urbanization on rural land use christopher bryant encyclopedia of life support systems eolss community are treated. Land degradation indicators and management options in the desert environment of abu dhabi, united arab emirates mahmoud ali. 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. Information and translations of land degradation in the most comprehensive dictionary definitions resource on the web. In general, defining the term urban land degradation could be fuzzy or. The three degradation terms, environmental degradation, land degradation. May 18, 2019 habitat fragmentation and land degradation, directly and indirectly caused by urbanization, are drastically altering the worlds ecosystems and are therefore driving an imperative for ecological restoration within the worlds cities. Pollution is unquestionably one of the primary reasons. There are multiple ways in which environmental degradation takes place. Any change that decreases productivity of the land land clearing poor land management practices 2 3. Soil degradation nsw environment, energy and science.
Land degradation generally signifies the temporary or permanent decline in the. Urban areas occupy around 3% of the worlds surface and are currently growing relatively slowly 0. Land pollution means degradation or destruction of earths surface and soil, directly or. Higgitt encyclopedia of life support systems eolss 352 countries are, at the present time, overshooting the sustainable resource base. Policymakers and practitioners can use the indexa measure of the urbanness of the local bird communityto define and track restoration of urban ecosystems, effectively measuring changes in. Degraded land is land that has lost some degree of its natural productivity due to humancaused processes. This study suggests management options for each land degradation type. Rural development in general is used to denote the actions and initiatives taken to improve.
Avoiding soil degradation is crucial to our wellbeing. Urban dictionary and our advertising partners set cookies on your computer to improve our site and the advertisements you see. In turn, unsustainable land use is driving land degradation. In urban areas, land use is determined by various zoning laws, which prescribe the areas to. The 2030 agenda for sustainable development sustainabledevelopment. View the article pdf and any associated supplements and figures for a period of 48 hours. Forest degradation results owing to decrease in tree cover, the biodiversity in the forests or the changes to a lower state of the forest structure. Mapping the spatial location and spatial extent of degradation has remained elusive see previous sections, partly because of a lack of clarity on how to define land degradation, with no national consensus on what south africa should consider as degradation. Experiences from the south african land degradation. Conservation introduction urbanizationincluding the development of highdensity cities as well as suburban sprawl and the expansion of exurban areas at the urbanrural fringeis a dominant driver of land urban ecosyst 2016 19. Land is a vital resource to humankind, like air and water. One of the calamitous effects of land pollution is the. It can also negatively affect the economy of the country especially those categorized as developing, however there are various methods that can be utilized to mitigate and rectify these issues.
The result is a loss of land productivity with impacts on livelihoods and the. Soil degradation is the decline in soil condition caused by its improper use or poor management, usually for agricultural, industrial or urban purposes. Habitat fragmentation and land degradation, directly and indirectly caused by urbanization, are drastically altering the worlds ecosystems and are therefore driving an imperative for ecological restoration within the worlds cities. Land degradation generally signifies the temporary or permanent decline in the productive capacity of the land unfao. Article pdf available in journal of environmental protection and ecology. Water pollution contaminates drinking water, air pollution pollutes the air we breathe and poses a health risk, while land pollution degrades the earths surface. Pdf land degradation and environmental quality decline in. Using citizen science data to define and track restoration. Brief for gsdr 2015 the concept of sustainable development. The united nations international strategy for disaster reduction defines environmental degradation as the reduction of the capacity of the environment to meet social and ecological objectives, and needs. In 2012, the land taken for urban development in 39 countries of europe exceeded km 2 per year, which is an area three times the size of malta. According to government figures, new development is gobbling land at an alarming rate of 365 acres per hour natural resources defense council, 2002. With the projected increase in urbanization, this will continue to be a substantial cause of loss of agricultural land, but it is a different problem from land degradation.
54 328 1064 1456 936 1296 108 826 895 1178 1504 199 94 1368 1281 878 763 407 328 1446 222 376 1457 1218 787 1285 1537 90 871 1591 1585 621 648 586 462 798 138 319 10 1195 1332 228 515 1411 331 1027