Salinized soils can be restored by salt level correction reclamation projects and salinity control. Causes of Land Degradation: In addition to pollution, soil and land face several other problems. Examples of marginal lands are steep sloppy lands, shallow or sandy soils and the lands in dry and semi-dry areas. The effects of soil erosion go beyond the loss of fertile land. About 40% of the world’s agricultural land is severely diminished in quality because of erosion and the use of chemical fertilizers, which prevent the land from regenerating. Governments, international organizations, and other environmental stakeholders need to ensure there are appropriate measures for making zero net deforestation a reality so as to inhibit soil degradation. Disturbances in the hydrologic cycle due to inefficient use of surface irrigation water, poor land development, seepage and poor drainage have resulted in higher water tables. Content Guidelines 2. In the long-term, the physical forces and weathering processes lead to the decline in soil fertility and adverse changes in the soil’s composition/structure. Deforestation: Forests play an important role in maintaining fertility of soil by shedding their leaves … It results into reduced growth of vegetation, reduced diversity of plant species, excessive growth of unwanted plant species, soil erosion, and degradation of land due to cattle movement. What is land degradation? Soil erosion is a serious problem in hills, arid and semi-arid areas. (And Can You Sell Them? The agricultural fertilizers and pesticides also damage marine and freshwater ecosystems and limit the domestic uses of the water for the populations that depend on them for survival. 89 billion to 232 billion which represent a loss of 11 to 26 per cent yield (Table 27.6). These include erosion, deforestation and overgrazing, flooding and water logging, salination, desertification and ill- planned urbanization. Soil erosion is the main factor for soil degradation and is due to several mechanisms: water erosion, wind erosion, chemical degradation and physical degradation. These impacts include compaction, loss of soil structure, nutrient degradation, and soil salinity. Soil quality decline is one of the main causes of land degradation and is considered to be responsible for 84% of the ever-diminishing acreage. As the land degradation problem intensified, government policy following colonial tradition was to develop physical responses to the problem. 4.2 Causes of land degradation in the Sahel. Share Your PPT File. Physical factors, e.g. This website includes study notes, research papers, essays, articles and other allied information submitted by visitors like YOU. Our mission is to provide an online platform to help students to share notes in Biology. It causes the extinction of species and accentuates climate change. In some cases farmers use more fertilizer inputs to compensate reduced soil productivity while in other cases, they use excess fertilizers. depletion of nutrients or the toxicity due to acidity or alkalinity (salinization) or water logging. Vegetation cover primarily promotes the binding of the soil together and soil formation, hence when it is removed it considerably affects the capabilities of the soil such as aeration, water holding capacity, and biological activity. Productivity loss of some crops is given in Table 27.5. Rainfall, surface runoff, floods, wind erosion, tillage, and mass movements result in the loss of fertile top spoil thereby declining soil quality.All these physical factors produces different types of soil erosion (mainly water and wind erosion) and soil detachment actions, and t… This poor condition of pasture lands is due to excessive grazing. These are very real and at times severe issues. Excess use of pesticide reduces microbial activity and biomass. Soil Degradation are broken down to ; One (Physical) Two (Chemical) Three (Biological) subgroups ; 8 Soil degradation 9 what is Soil compaction? Photograph of a compacted zone of soil immediately below the plough layer in a cropping soil. The main reasons for unproductiveness or degradation of soils are as follows: Most of the Indian soils are deficient in nutrients and organic matter. Causes of Environmental Degradation. Drought and aridity are problems highly influenced and amplified by soil degradation. It is clear that the impact of land degradation is a drain on economic growth in It also contributes to the displacement of populations and the multiplication of conflicts. These chemical factors normally bring forth the irreversible loss of soil nutrients and production capacities such as the hardening of iron and aluminum-rich clay soils into hardpans. Among the major causes of degradation, water erosion is considered to be the most severe one which covers almost 87% of the affected area. Indirectly it lowers productivity through its adverse effects on the availability of nutrients. 10 Soil compaction. While soil degradation may occur naturally, it has been highly exuberated by anthropogenic activities. inhibit nitrification. Founded Conserve Energy Future with the sole motto of providing helpful information related to our rapidly depleting environment. Most of the canal areas in arid and semiarid regions are rich in soluble salts. Thus, soil erosion is a continuous process and may occur either at a relatively unnoticed rate or an alarming rate contributing to copious loss of the topsoil. 6. Leaving more land alone, despite the challenges of a growing population, would really help: it takes around 500 years for just 2.5cm of topsoil to be created. The slope of the land. These factors reduce the yield. The water-logging and salinity cause a loss of Rs. Land reclamation encompasses activities centered towards restoring the previous organic matter and soil’s vital minerals. This often causes over-exploitation of the natural resources, and contributes to environmental erosion. According to an estimate of 1992, every year 20.2 million tonnes of NPK is removed by growing crops. It results in a continuous loss of topsoil, ecological degradation, soil collapse, etc. Soil degradation has several adverse impacts on the environment. Hence, the contributing factors to soil quality decline such as overgrazing, poor tillage methods, and deforestation are also the leading causes of desertification characterized by droughts and arid conditions. In which way can sewage be harmful to us? Soil erosion: Among the agents, water is considered as the main cause of soil erosion. The excessive use and misuse of fertilizers kill … As stated earlier, about 40% of the world’s agricultural land is lost on the account of soil quality depreciation caused by agrochemicals and soil erosion. Rainfall, surface runoff, floods, wind erosion, tillage, and mass movements result in the loss of fertile top spoil thereby declining soil quality. The latest data provided by Sehgal and Abrol (1994) show that the total degraded land in India is 187.8 million ha, of which 162.4 million ha is degraded due to soil erosion alone (Table 27.6). The degradation or deterioration of soil may be caused by the following factors: 1. Soils become water-logged when the water balance of an area is disturbed because of excess recharge. To fill this knowledge gap, soil degradation simply means the decline in soil quality which comes about due to aspects such as improper land use, agriculture, and pasture, urban or industrial purposes. There is much less information on the impact on the ground of these actions. The tillage on agricultural lands is one of the main factors since it breaks up the soil into finer particles, which increase erosion rates. During last decade the nutrients deficiency has been considered as the main cause of poor productivity and crop failure. One of the simplest but most forgotten methods of land reclamation is the planting of vegetation such as trees, crops, and flowers over the affected soils. Degraded soils which result in poor or no production are also called problem soils. The topography of the land may also be a cause of soil erosion. The adverse effect of alkalinity on availability of nutrients is due to deflocculating effect of sodium ions. The soil quality decline is exuberated more and more as a result of the mechanization of agriculture that gives room for deep plowing, reduction of plant cover, and the formation of the hardpan. 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