Environmental Studies(ES)

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

Lesson 7: Land resources

Causes for land degradation

• Causes for land degradationDeforestation: Forest soils contain much organic matter. When a forest is cleared, the trees are burnt, which leads to an immediate loss in organic matter. Cutting forest for fuel wood is another form of deforestation.
  
  
• Over grazing: When insufficient amounts of grass litter are left for the soil, the soil organisms die and the soil loses fertility.
  
  
• Agriculture: Over irrigating farmland leads to salinization, as the evaporation of water brings the salts to the surface of the soil on which crops cannot grow. Over irrigation also creates water logging of the top soil, so that crop roots are affected and the crop deteriorates. The use of more and more chemical fertilizers poisons the soil and eventually the land becomes unproductive.
  
  
• Industrialization: Industries and mining operations can pollute soils.