The document discusses soil degradation, land degradation, and desertification. Soil degradation is the decline in soil quality from improper use, while land degradation is the reduction in biological or economic productivity of land. Desertification is the process by which productive land becomes desert-like due to factors like drought, deforestation, or agriculture. It threatens 2 billion people and contributes $42 billion in annual losses. Prevention requires protecting vegetation cover, integrating land uses, and developing alternative livelihoods to reduce pressure on the land.

1. Soil Degradation

2. Soil and Land
• Soil is a thin covering over the land that
consist of a mixture of minerals, organic
material, living organisms, air and water.
• Land is part of the earth not covered by water.
Land is the solid part of the earth's surface.
Our land is home to many unique plants and
animals.

3. Soil Degradation vs Land Degradation
• Soil degradation is the decline in soil condition caused by its
improper use or poor management, usually for agricultural,
industrial or urban purposes. It is a serious environmental
problem.
• 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.

4. Land Degradation
• Degraded land is land that has lost some degree of its
natural productivity due to human-caused processes.
In the context of developing policies to reduce
emissions from deforestation and forest degradation
degraded land refers to areas with low carbon stocks.
• Land degradation is the reduction or loss of the
biological or economic productivity and complexity of
rain—fed cropland, irrigated cropland, or range,
pasture, forest or woodlands resulting from natural
processes, land uses or other human activities and
habitation patterns such as land contamination, soil
erosion and the destruction of the vegetation cover.

5. Land Degradation
• Land degradation is caused by multiple forces,
including extreme weather conditions
particularly drought, and human activities that
pollute or degrade the quality of soils and
land utility negatively affecting food
production, livelihoods, and the production
and provision of other ecosystem goods and
services.

6. Land Degradation
• Land degradation here mainly refers to the
loss of life-supporting land resource through
soil erosion, desertification, salinization,
acidification, etc. Deforestation accounts for
the major land degradation problem as it
results in severe soil erosion, flood, and loss of
fertile soil.

7. Desertification
• It is the process by which fertile land becomes
desert, typically as a result of drought,
deforestation, or inappropriate agriculture.
• “Nearly one fifth of the world's land is threatened
with desertification“
• Desertification is land degradation in typically dry
areas resulting from various factors, including
climatic variations and human activities. ... Many
things can cause desertification. Drought,
overgrazing, fire, and deforestation can thin out
vegetation, leaving exposed soil.

8. DON’T DESERT DRYLANDS
• UNCCD: 10th General Assembly/10th
anniversary decided 17 June as World day to
Combat Desertification
• UN declared 2006 as International Year of
Desert and Desertification

9. Drought and Desertification
• Natural phenomena where
an area receives no water
and become barren
• Process of turning
productive land to non
productive
Climate Change aggravates it

10. Facts and Figures (Global)
• 40% of the earth land or 5.2 billion ha of the land
is threatened by desertification affecting 2 billion
people
• Every year desertification contributes to US$ 42
billion loss in income.
• African countries are mostly affected (65% of the
total area)
• According to the United Nations Convention to
Combat Desertification, the lives of 250 million
people are affected by desertification, and as
many as 135 million people may be displaced by
desertification by 2045.

11. Facts and Figure (Nepal)
Most often related to unsustainable human use of land resources
Deforestation
Overgrazing
Over-cultivation
Poor irrigation
10,000 sq km area estimated progressing towards desertification in
Nepal

13. Land Cover Map of Nepal(2010)

14. Process of Desertification
• Desertification is a type of land degradation in which a relatively
dry land region becomes increasingly arid, typically losing its
bodies of water as well as vegetation and wildlife. It is caused by
a variety of factors, such as climate change and human activities.
• Desertification is a process of continuous, gradual ecosystem
degradation, during which plants and animals, and geological
resources such as water and soil, are stressed beyond their
ability to adjust to changing conditions. Because desertification
occurs gradually, and the processes responsible for it can often
be avoided by planning or reversed before irreparable damage
occurs. The physical characteristics of land undergoing
desertification include progressive loss of mature, stabilizing
vegetation from the ecosystem, or loss of agricultural crop cover
during periods of drought or economic infeasibility, and a
resulting loss of unconsolidated topsoil.

15. Examples of Desertification
• Erosion by wind and water; wind and water erosion leads to
development of gullies and sand dunes across the deflated
land surface.
• Continued irrigation of desertified land increases soil salinity,
and contaminates groundwater
• Vegetation loss by overgrazing, depletion of groundwater,
surface runoff of rainwater, frequent burning, deforestation,
the influence of invasive non-native species, physical
compaction of the soil by livestock and vehicles, and damage
by strip-mining.

16. • Soil erosion has been considered as the
primary cause of soil degradation because
soil erosion leads to the loss of topsoil and
soil organic matter, which are essential for the
growing of plants. Quantification of soil loss is
a significant issue for soil and water
conservation practitioners and policy makers.

17. Land Degradation in Nepal
• Slope
• Erosion
• Inundation
• Loss of soil fertility
• Weather abnormalities
• Deforestation/crop cover

18. Preventive actions
• Stop soil erosion
• Protect vegetative cover/afforestation
(Agroforestry a potential option)
• Integrate land for grazing and farming
• Creating economic opportunities with
alternate livelihood strategies

19. Agricultural Practices
• Good and efficient irrigation practices to
implement
• Water harvesting structures to develop
• Crop rotation
• Terracing and agroforestry
• Mulching
• Contour farming, contour bunding
• Use of Biochar or activated charcoal
• Adoption of Nanoclay concept (at extreme)