SOIL DEGRADATION

Soil degradation is the loss of land’s production capacity in terms of loss of soil fertility, soil biodiversity, and degradation. Soil degradation causes include agricultural, industrial, and commercial pollution; loss of arable land due to urban expansion, overgrazing, and unsustainable agricultural practices; and long-term climatic changes. According to a recent report to the United Nations, almost one-third of the world’s farmable land has disappeared in the last four decades. It was also reported that all of the World’s topsoil could become unproductive within 60 years if current rates of loss continue. The issues of soil health and impacts on human well-being. Soil Degradation: Impacts on Climate and Society Soil degradation is the loss of the intrinsic physical, chemical, and/or biological qualities of soil either by natural or anthropic processes, which result in the diminution or annihilation of important ecosystem functions. The main causes of soil degradation and, consequently, the main threats to its ecological functions are erosion, organic matter decline, loss of biodiversity, compaction, sealing, point-source and diffused contamination, pollution, and salinization (Fig. 9.14) (Montanarella, 2007). Desertification is a striking example of the impacts of soil degradation on climate and society (Fig. 9.18). According to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, desertification is the degradation of land in arid, semiarid and dry subhumid regions resulting from various factors ranging from natural causes, such as climatic variation, to human activities, such as overgrazing, deforestation, and unsustainable agricultural activities (EU, 2018).

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