CHAPTER -1

INTRODUCTION

Learning Objectives
 To describe the concepts of land and land degradation
 To define land degradation, rehabilitation & related terminologies
 Chapter outline
Land degradation
Land
Land degradation
Hazards
Vulnerability to land degradation
Desertification
Land rehabilitation and restoration
Trends in land degradation
1.1 CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS
1.1.1 LAND DEGRADATION

Land
 “terrestrial bio-productive system that comprises soil, vegetation,
other biota, and the ecological and hydrological processes that
operate within the system” (UNCCD, 1996).
 delineable area, encompassing all attributes of the biosphere
immediately above or below the earth surface,

 including the soil, terrain, surface hydrology, the near-surface

climate, sediments and associated groundwater reserve, the
biological resources,

 as well as the human settlements pattern and infrastructure

The knowledge of these relationships is essential in the analysis
of the dynamic processes that intervene in land degradation.

 Land serves many purposes of man, i.e., agriculture, forests

and pastures, and infrastructure development.
 Besides these so- called economic uses,
• land performs environmental regulatory (ecological)
functions also.
• controlling global warming and acting as a sink for many
harmful chemicals. Since soil, in turn, is a component of
land, its use and functions form part of those attributed to
land.
Degradation
 Decline in the quality or performance of something or the
reduction in capacity to supply benefits to humanity.
Land degradation
 a natural process or a human activity that causes the land no
longer being able to sustain properly its economic functions or the
original ecological functions.
 Land degradation is a manifestation of loss in certain intrinsic
qualities or a decline in the land’s capability to perform vital
functions (both economic and ecological).
 a temporary or permanent decline in the productive capacity of
land, or its potential
 (i.e. mainly capability of land to produce goods such as crops,
livestock or timber or to provide services such as clean water).
a renewable resource is a natural resource which restocks to overcome resource depletion
caused by usage and consumption,
 Land degradation is a composite term, which is explained in the
above ways. However, there is considerable confusion as to what is
included within the term and how best to represent it in practical, field
terms.

The approach adopted in here is to view land degradation as an

'umbrella' term, covering the many ways in which the quality
and productivity of land may diminish from the point of view of
the land user (and of society at large).

 It therefore includes
 changes to soil quality,
 the reduction in available water,
 the diminution of vegetation sources and of biological diversity,
 urban and industrial problems, such as pollution, smog and
waste dumping,
 What is Included Here under ‘Land Degradation’?

Figure 1.3 “the land degradation wall”

Land degradation consists of many components, each of which interlocks
with many other components
Hazard a threat (whether natural or human) on the environment that can
cause loss of life, socio economic disruption, injury, property damage or
environmental degradation.

Risk
The probability of a hazard that can cause harmful consequence on the factors of a
hazard

Vulnerability
The susceptibility of community to a hazard or to the impacts of a
hazard event.
Hazards
 something that could potentially cause harm.
 Potential damaging physical events, phenomena or human
activities that cause loss of life, injury, property damage, social
and economic disruption, or environmental degradation
 they are external factors that affect the society at risk.
 Natural hazards are floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic
hazards, hurricanes, and wildfire
 can have varying level of predictability that some human
made disasters
 Human made hazards are deforestation, overgrazing,
overexploitation of land and pollution ….
 Vulnerability to land degradation
 Sensitivity and resilience are measures of the vulnerability of a
landscape to degradation.
 These two factors combine to explain the degree of vulnerability

 Sensitivity is the degree to which a land system undergoes change

due to natural forces, human intervention or a combination of both.
 for example, steep slopes, areas of intense rainfall or highly
erodible soils. These places are subject to natural hazards that
make them sensitive to change.
 Resilience refers to the ability of the region to return to its original
state after being changed in some way.
 may be enhanced by the diversity of the land management practices
adopted by land users.
 Degraded land is less resilient than undegraded land. It is less able to
recover from further shocks, such as drought
1.1.2 DESERTIFICATION
 an advanced stage of land degradation mainly occurring in the arid,
semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas of the world.
 “a diminution or destruction of the biological potential of the land
which can ultimately lead to desert-like conditions".
Desertification is a type of land degradation in which a
relatively dry area of land 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 through
 climate change (particularly the current global warming)
and through the
 overexploitation of soil through human activity
These susceptible dry lands cover 40 % of the earth's
surface and
put at risk more than 1 billion people who are dependent
on these lands for survival.

The dry land areas in Ethiopia covers 860,000 km2, or

71.5% of the country’s total land area.
 Current desertification is taking place much faster worldwide than
historically and
 usually arises from the demands of increased populations that settle
on the land in order to grow crops and graze animals.
 Degradation needs to be addressed in a variety of ways and at a
range of scales.

Figure: Areas vulnerable to desertification in different parts of the world (Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources
Conservation Service).
1.1.3 LAND REHABILITATION AND RESTORATION
 Land Rehabilitation
 Rehabilitation is making the land useful again after a disturbance
 It is the process of making land "productive" again using some of the
original species plus, where necessary, exotic species to reforest
the site
 It involves the recovery of ecosystem functions and processes in a
degraded habitat.
 Land Restoration
 Ecological restoration is the process of returning an ecosystem as
closely as possible to pre-disturbance conditions and functions.
 E.g. forest restoration is to restore a degraded forest to its original
state
 that is, to re-establish the assumed structure, productivity and
species diversity of the forest originally present at a site.
 Rehabilitation;- re-establishes the original productivity of the
forest and some, but not necessarily all, of the plant and
animal species originally present at a site.

 While restoration aims to

return an ecosystem to a
former natural condition,

 restoration is a holistic
process not achieved through
the isolated manipulation of
individual elements.
1.1.4 LAND RECLAMATION
 "The process of reconverting
disturbed land to its former or other
productive uses.

 land reclamation refers to recovering

productivity or structure of land at
a degraded site. (but little of the
original biodiversity) .

 To recover productivity at a
degraded site using mostly exotic
tree species

 ” is used for situations where

productivity or structure is regained
but biodiversity is not.
 Trends in Land Degradation

Global
 The United Nations estimate that about 30% of land is degraded

worldwide,
 and about 3.2 billion people reside in these degrading areas.

 About 12 mhs of productive land – which roughly equals the

size of Greece – is degraded every year.

 This happens because people exploit the land without

protecting it.
 It is estimated that up to 4% of the world's agricultural land is

seriously degraded.
• "About a quarter of the Earth's ice-free land area is subject to
human-induced degradation (medium confidence).
• 33% of the Earth's soils are already degraded and over 90%
could become degraded by 2050 (FAO)
• By 2050:
• 16 million square kilometers show continued land
degradation (the size of South America)
 A persistent, long-term decline in
vegetative productivity is observed
for 12-14% of agri-

cultural, pasture and grazing land,

and natural areas – with sub-
Saharan Africa worst affected.
 An additional 69 giga tonnes of
carbon is emitted from 2015 to 2050
due to land use change and soil
degradation
AFRICA
 An estimated 83 % of Sub-Saharan
Africans are dependent on the land for
their livelihoods,
 yet 40 % of Africa's land resources are
currently degraded.
 In many African countries land
degradation is higher than 65%.
 Land degradation erodes the
productivity of farming systems,
thereby reducing incomes and food

security.
Ethiopia
 Many forms of land degradation occur in Ethiopia : water
and wind erosion; salinization and acidification, and both
physical and biological degradation of soils.
 More than 85 % of the land in Ethiopia is estimated to be
moderately to very severely degraded, and about 75 % is
affected by desertification.
 The major causes of land degradation in Ethiopia are the
rapid population increase, severe soil loss, deforestation,
low vegetative cover and unbalanced crop and livestock
production. Inappropriate land-use systems and land-tenure
policies enhance desertification and loss of agro
biodiversity.