Causes of Land Degradation

What are the five main causes of land degradation?

Soil pollution, soil erosion, overgrazing, extraction of minerals at a repeated stage and drought are some of the important causes of land degradation.

What are the 5 effects of land degradation?

Its impacts can be far-reaching, including loss of soil fertility, destruction of species habitat and biodiversity, soil erosion, and excessive nutrient runoff into lakes. Land degradation also has serious knock-on effects for humans, such as malnutrition, disease, forced migration, cultural damage, and even war.

What is the biggest cause of land degradation?

Soil erosion induced by water is the major cause of land degradation in the world. It reduces production potential, access to nutritious food, biodiversity, and environmental services.

What is land degradation cause and impact?

Loss and depletion of fertile topsoil due to physical impacts (floods, surface runoff, landslides, winds and storms, intensive tillage, heavy machinery use). Long-term physical degradation harms soil fertility, composition, and structure. Land degradation occurs naturally but is exacerbated by human activities.

What is the main cause of land degradation in Punjab?

In Punjab the major cause of land degradation is over-irrigation. Over-irrigation leads to waterlogging which in turn leads to an increase in alkalinity and salinity in the soil. Western Uttar Pradesh and Haryana also face land degradation due to over-irrigation.

Who is affected by land degradation?

This inevitably disproportionately harms those who are least able to do anything about it: rural communities, smallholder farmers and the extremely poor. As of today, almost a quarter of the world’s total land area has been degraded.

Causes of Land Degradation is a subpart of the Class 12 Geography chapter 9 which is Perspective on Selected Issues and Problems. It talks about Land Degradation and the related Causes of it. Land degradation is a reduction process that reduces the production capacity of a certain part of the land by different interrelated processes. In the present condition, deforestation is a major reason for the process of land degradation that naturally holds the soil particles together to maintain the quality.

In this article, we are going to discuss the Class 12 Geography Notes Chapter 9: Causes of Land Degradation in detail.