•LAND AND

FOREST
DEGRADATION
 Group Members
• MADHUR BANDEKAR 05
• ANIKET BHOGLE 08
• ZUHAIR FAKKI 16
• AISHWARYA RASKAR 42
• ABHIJEET MAHAGAONKAR
• JOSEPH THEVAR 57
 LAND DEGRADATION
• MEANING
• CAUSES
• EFFECTS
• REMEDIES
 MEANING
• Land degradation is a process in which the
value of the biophysical environment is
affected by a combination of human-induced
processes acting upon the land.
•It is viewed as any change or
disturbance to the land
perceived to be deleterious or
undesirable.Natural hazards are
excluded as a cause; however
human activities can indirectly
affect phenomena such as floods
and bush fires
CAUSES OF LAND DEGRADATION
 CAUSES OF LAND DEGRADATION
• Land clearance, such as clearcutting and deforestation
• Agricultural depletion of soil nutrients through poor
farming practices
• Livestock including overgrazing and overdrafting
• Inappropriate irrigation[7] and overdrafting
• Urban sprawl and commercial development
• Soil contamination
• Soil erosion
• Loss of soil carbon
• Vehicle off-roading
• Quarrying of stone, sand, ore and minerals
• Dumping of non-biodegradable trash, such as plastics
 EFFECTS OF LAND DEGRADATION
• Overcutting of vegetation occurs when people
cut forests, woodlands and shrublands—to
obtain timber, fuelwood and other products—
at a pace exceeding the rate of natural
regrowth. This is frequent in semi-arid
environments, where fuelwood shortages are
often severe.
REMEDIES OF LAND DEGRADATION
Land degradation is a broad term that can
be applied differently across a wide range
of scenarios. There are four main ways of
looking at land degradation and its impact
on the environment around it:
A temporary or permanent decline in the productive
capacity of the land. This can be seen through a loss of
biomass, a loss of actual productivity or in potential
productivity, or a loss or change in vegetative cover and
soil nutrients.
Action in the land's capacity to provide resources for
human livelihoods. This can be measured from a base line
of past land use.
Loss of biodiversity: A loss of range of species or ecosystem
complexity as a decline in the environmental quality.
Shifting ecological risk: increased vulnerability of the
environment or people to destruction or crisis. This is
measured through a base line in the form of pre-existing
risk of crisis or destruction.
 FOREST DEGRADATION
•MEANING
•CAUSES
•EFFECTS
•REMEDIES
 MEANING
• FOREST DEGRADATION,
Deforestation, clearance or clearing is the
removal of a forest or stand of trees where the
land is thereafter converted to a non-forest
use.Examples of deforestation include
conversion of forestland to farms, ranches, or
urban use. Tropical rainforests is where the
most concentrated deforestation
occurs. Almost 30% of the world is covered by
forests, excluding water mass.
• Between 2000 and 2012, 2.3 million square
kilometres (890,000 square miles) of forests
around the world were cut down.As a result of
deforestation, only 6.2 million square
kilometres (2.4 million square miles) remain of
the original 16 million square kilometres
(6 million square miles) of forest that formerly
covered the earth.
 CAUSES
• According to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
secretariat, the overwhelming direct cause of
deforestation is agriculture. Subsistence
farming is responsible for 48% of
deforestation; commercial agriculture is
responsible for 32% of
deforestation; logging is responsible for 14%
of deforestation and fuel wood removals make
up 5% of deforestation.
 REMEDIES TO DEFORESTATION
• (i) Afforestation and reforestation:
• (ii) Better harvesting practices:
• (iii) Reducing wastage:
• (iv) Protection of forests: