Soil Degradation

By: Amy Souphalith

What is soil degradation?

ave you ever stopped to think why soil is a

big part of human life? Soil is the main source for

crops to grow because of the nutrients that it
contains. The plants and crops that we consume
contain the nutrients we need to survive. Once
the soil has been used so many times, the plants
would have taken all the nutrients out and it
becomes useless. This process is called soil
degradation.

Soil degradation is the decline in soil quality

resulting in a capacity of the ecosystem to
provide goods and service. Soil degradation is
happening throughout the world and no one has
stopped to think: what would happen if there
wasnt any more nourished soils? In this article,
I will talk about the causing issues, how it
impacts the world, and different solutions.

What is the problem/ topic?

Soil degradation around the world is becoming a
problem because it prevents one to provide
goods (crops). Soil is used over time and later
becomes useless. For example, studies on soil
show that Soil degradation is the change in soil
resulting in a capacity of the ecosystem to
provide goods and service (FAOUN, 2016).
This shows that once soil has been used so
many times, the nutrients begin to be taken
away. After all the nutrients are used, the soil
cannot be re-fertilized and used for another crop.
According to another source, soil can be
degraded in many ways such as overgrazing,
agricultural
activities,
deforestation,
overexploitation, and industrialization (UM,
2010). This means that a lot of the causes are
because of human activities and not so much of
environmental causes. People are causing soil
degradation and they dont realize it. Without
any nutrients in our soils, we wouldnt be able to
plant any crops and feed us or the animals.
Therefore, soil degradation affects the world,
worldwide and people havent stopped to look at
the consequences.

What is the causing issues?

There are many causing issues that cause soil
degradation to happen. One of the main causing
issues come from human activities such as
continuous cropping and farming. Since the
animals eat off of what is on the ground, they
consume the nutrients in the soil (Rami Zurayk
et al.,2001). This causes the soil to run out of
nutrients faster and loses its ability to help the
plants grow. In addition, if the plants are not able
to grow, the animals have less vegetables to eat.
According to another source, continuous
cropping affects the plant poorly by soil
organism communities. It also leads to change
of metabolism in microbes (Liang et al., 2013).
This means that every plant that is grown into
the same soil, continues to take up nutrients and
as time goes by, the soil will soon contain none.
This reveals that continuous cropping over many
years can lead the soil to become useless.
Therefore, we need to use soil more wisely and
make sure we have a better understanding of
how we can keep the soil healthy so that it
contains the nutrients we need for future
generations to come.

What are the impacts to the

environment?
Soil degradation also impacts the environment
in many ways. One way it impacts the
environment is by clogging and/or polluting our
water. The organization World Wildlife Fund
states that it increases the chance of flooding in
the environment. Since the converted land cant
soak up water as much, there is a greater
chance that flooding might occur. This shows
that our environment is more in risk for floods.
With more risk for floods, this can harm both
the society and the people/animals in it. Also,
the soil eroded from land as well as
pesticides/fertilizers are washed into our
waterways (WWF, 2016). This means that the
pesticides are damaging and harming the fresh
water that we drink. This can also lead to

sickness and different diseases in our

environment. In conclusion, if soil degradation
continues to happen, our environment are in
higher risk of getting harmed.

What are the impacts to global or

local communities?
Soil degradation is not only a local problem but
is also on a global scale. One way it affects
local communities is when the soil loses fibers
and when there is water, the soil loosens and
can causes landslides (REE, 2016). This
reveals that local communities near this area
are in danger of landslides which can cause
harm. Also, this can affect the plants because if
the soil loosens, it wont be able to grow
anymore plants. Studies have shown that 1.96
billion hectares are affected by human
degradation worldwide (L.R. Oldeman, 2001).
One hectare is about equivalent to 2.4 acres of
land. This shows that land is being degraded
mostly by human activity and it is going by
quickly. Furthermore, every day we are losing
our fertilized soils globally and locally.

What are the impacts to personal

health?
Despite all that soil degradation can affect, it
can also impact personal health. We get our
vitamins and nutrients from vegetables and
fruits. Plants create amino acids (necessary for
our body) when it is combined with sunlight,
water, and soils (UM, 2010). Our body wouldnt
be able to function without these amino acids.
Therefore, if the soil cant provide nutrients, the
plants cant create amino acids and we cant
consume them. Another source states that
there could be higher risks of water and food
diseases because of poor hygiene and lack of
clean water because of the access of pesticides
to our water (WHO, 2016). This shows that if
we consume contaminated waters we could be
prone to diseases. The scary thing is, we
wouldnt know if our water has been
contaminated and we would continue to drink it.
Obviously, this can cause both short and long
term effects to the body. Therefore, soil
degradation can do a lot of harm towards the
world and people arent realizing it.

What are current solutions?

What are new solutions?

Since soil degradation can cause a big impact

on the world, here are some current solutions
that people are trying to incorporate. One way
is by creating shelterbelts. Shelterbelts are
rows of trees planted as a windbreak to reduce
soil erosion of agricultural land (REE, 2016). By
doing this, it can help prevent landslides and
floods. This means that people are in less of a
risk to getting diseases and getting harm
physically. Another way people are using is the
working to reduce deforestation and the
prevention for desert expansion (WWF, 2016).
When a land is degraded in dry land areas, it
becomes a desert and the soil cant be used or
re-fertilized. With the prevention of this, we can
have more land with fertilized and useful soil.
This also shows that by reducing deforestation,
the nutrients will be able to stay in the soil and
be used by other plants. In conclusion, if states
and countries work together to come up with
solutions for soil degradation, it wouldnt be
able to affect so many things.

According to the research, there are not any

new solutions to prevent soil degradation. This
is a big issue because if we dont come up with
solutions and the rate of soil degradation
continues, we will soon lose our fertilized soils.
Based on the evidence, soil is a main source to
our daily lives. It affects the world, worldwide
and many different factors. Without soil, it
would be difficult to maintain life and get the
necessities we need. Organizations around the
world are trying to come together and create
solutions but it hasnt been enough. Therefore,
we need to take soil degradation more seriously
and come up with new solutions to help.

Conclusion
As you can see, soil degradation is a serious
problem in the world that no one is really
realizing. It impacts the environment, global and
local communities and personal health. There
are not a lot of solutions that we can do to
prevent this and that is why I am writing this
article to inform the people. Everyone is taking
advantage of soil and not realizing how much it
helps us survive. Without soil, we wouldnt be
able to grow crops and plants that help create
the necessities for our body (amino acids,
vitamins, etc.). That is why soil degradation
needs to be spread out to the world so we can
use our soils wisely.

References
[Degraded soil with roots]. Retrieved
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/Soil_Erosion_With_Roots.JPG
FAOUN. (2016). FAO SOILS PORTAL. Retrieved from
http://www.fao.org/soils-portal/soil-degradation-restoration/en/
[Impacts and causes of soil degradation]. Retrieved
www.environment.scotland.gov.uk
[Importance of soil]. Retrieved from
http://www.csrplus.com/eco_verm/soil_equation.gif
Liang Y, Lin X, Yamada S, Inoue M, Inosake K. (2013). Soil degradation and prevention in greenhouse
production.
http://www.springerplus.com/content/2/S1/S10 (Full article)
L.R. Oldeman. (2001). Impact of Soil Degradation: A Global Scenario. Retrieved from
http://isric.org/isric/webdocs/docs/ISRIC_Report_2000_01.pdf
[People around globe]. Retrieved from
http://images.clipartpanda.com/students-working-together-clipart-globe-clip-art-12.jpg
REE. (2016). Soil Degradation. Retrieved from
http://www.soils-scotland.gov.uk/about/degradation
[Soil compaction]. Retrieved

http://www.extension.umn.edu/agriculture/tillage/soil-compaction/img/1-effects-ofcompaction.jpg
[Soil contamination through erosion]. Retrieved from
http://blogs.egu.eu/geolog/files/2014/04/JR-Soils-1.jpg
[Soil degradation impacts on environment]. Retrieved from
http://cnx.org/resources/36b241d5dc16ace32d0fb4cbc159b900/graphics3.png
[Soil degraded by years of erosion]. Retrieved from
https://www.soils.org/files/images/news/extreme-erosion-maize-field.jpg
[Soil infographic]. Retrieved from
http://www.fao.org/resources/infographics/infographics-details/en/c/278954/
UM. (2010). Land Degradation. Retrieved from
http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/globalchange2/current/lectures/land_deg/land_deg.html

WHO. (2016). Land Degradation and Desertification.

http://www.who.int/globalchange/ecosystems/desert/en/

WWF. (2016). Soil Erosion and Degradation. Retrieved from

http://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/soil-erosion-and-degradation
Zurayk R. (2001). A GIS Based Methodology for Soil Degradation Evaluation.
http://tucson.ars.ag.gov/isco/isco10/SustainingTheGlobalFarm/P027-Zurayk.pdf