An Assignment

on
Problems of Land
Resources

Submitted to:
Dr. Sadhna Singh Bisen
Department of Humanities

Submitted by:
Nitin Varghese
B.A. Social Work Honours
4th Sem

Bhopal School of Social Sciences

2015

Introduction:
What Are Land Resources?
They occupy nearly 20 percent of the earth surface. It covers around 13000 million
hectares of the area. The houses, roads and factories occupy nearly one third of the
land. The forests occupy another one third of the land. The rest of land is used for
ploughing and for meadows and pastures. The soil forms the surface layer of land
which covers more than the 80 percent of land. The soil is defined as a natural body
which keeps on changing and allows the plants to grow. It is made up of organic and
inorganic materials.
Many factors and causal relationships influence the management of land resources.
Increased demand for monetary income has led to greater production of cash crops
for export and to inappropriate tourism development. For agriculture, this has meant
increased areas under cultivation and more mechanized production systems. Land
pressures in some small island developing States have been further worsened by the
intensification of animal production, particularly high-input production chains that
are dependent on concentrate feed. Unsustainable agricultural practices have
contributed to deforestation; changes in cropping pattern, with consequent losses of
biodiversity across the landscape; loss of soil fertility; and agrochemical pollution of
soils, freshwater and coastal resources downstream. Furthermore, land tenure and
other policy issues critically affect land management, as do a multiplicity of socioeconomic factors, such as trade and the influence of outside markets, traditional and
cultural practices, and demographics. Small island developing States rarely have an
extensive and stable cadre of professional expertise. For this reason, there is a lack of
information on land resources and appropriate tools, best practices and technologies
for implementing sustainable land-use options and making informed policy
decisions.
National decisions and the capacity to manage land resources sustainably can also be
constrained by other factors, including a lack of institutional capacity to properly
negotiate rights to exploit natural resources by foreign companies. Poorly designed
projects financed by donors have sometimes been based on purely economic
considerations, without taking due account of local environmental conditions and
national priorities, as a result of inappropriate forestry and tourism policies. The
substantial degradation and depletion that has occurred has begun to focus the
attention of communities to implement sustainable management of the remaining
resources.

Problems of Land Resources:

Land degradation
It is a process in which the value of the biophysical environment is affected by a
combination of human-induced processes acting upon the land. Also environmental
degradation is the gradual destruction or reduction of the quality and quantity of
human activities animals activities or natural means example water causes soil
erosion, wind, etc. 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. This
is considered to be an important topic of the 21st century due to the implications
land degradation has upon agronomic productivity, the environment, and its effects
on food security. It is estimated that up to 40% of the world's agricultural land is
seriously degraded.
In addition to the usual types of land degradation that have been known for centuries
(water, wind and mechanical erosion, physical, chemical and biological degradation),
four other types have emerged in the last 50 years:

pollution, often chemical, due to agricultural, industrial, mining or

commercial activities;

loss of arable land due to urban construction;

artificial radioactivity, sometimes accidental;

land-use constraints associated with armed conflicts.

Overall, 36 types of land degradation can be assessed. All are induced or aggravated
by human activities, e.g. sheet erosion, silting, aridification, salinization,
urbanization, etc.
Land degradation is a global problem, largely related to agricultural use. The major
causes include:

Land clearance, such as clear cutting and deforestation

Agricultural depletion of soil nutrients through poor farming practices

Livestock including overgrazing and overdrafting

Urban sprawl and commercial development

Soil contamination

Quarrying of stone, sand, ore and minerals

Increase in field size due to economies of scale, reducing shelter for wildlife, as
hedgerows and copses disappear
Dumping of non-biodegradable trash, such as plastics.

Soil Erosion
In geomorphology and geology, erosion is the action of exogenic processes (such
as water flow or wind) which remove soil and rock from one location on the Earth's
crust,
then transport it
to
another
location
where
it
is deposited.
Eroded sediment may be transported just a few millimetres, or for thousands of
kilometres.
While erosion is a natural process, human activities have increased by 10-40 times
the rate at which erosion is occurring globally. Excessive (or accelerated) erosion
causes both 'on-site' and 'off-site' problems. On-site impacts include decreases
in agricultural productivity and (on natural landscapes) ecological collapse, both
because of loss of the nutrient-rich upper soil layers. In some cases, the eventual end
result
is desertification.
Off-site
effects
include sedimentation
of
waterways and eutrophication of water bodies, as well as sediment-related damage to
roads and houses. Water and wind erosion are the two primary causes of land
degradation; combined, they are responsible for about 84% of the global extent of
degraded land, making excessive erosion one of the most significant environmental
problems world-wide.
Intensive agriculture, deforestation, roads, anthropogenic climate change and urban
sprawl are amongst the most significant human activities in regard to their effect on
stimulating erosion. However, there are many prevention and remediation practices
that can curtail or limit erosion of vulnerable soils.

Factors affecting erosion rates

Climate
The amount and intensity of precipitation is the main climatic factor governing soil
erosion by water. The relationship is particularly strong if heavy rainfall occurs at
times when, or in locations where, the soil's surface is not well protected

by vegetation. This might be during periods when agricultural activities leave the soil
bare, or insemi-arid regions where vegetation is naturally sparse. Wind erosion
requires strong winds, particularly during times of drought when vegetation is sparse
and soil is dry (and so is more erodible). Other climatic factors such as average
temperature and temperature range may also affect erosion, via their effects on
vegetation and soil properties. In general, given similar vegetation and ecosystems,
areas with more precipitation (especially high-intensity rainfall), more wind, or more
storms are expected to have more erosion.
In some areas of the world (e.g. the mid-western USA), rainfall intensity is the
primary determinant of erosivity, with higher intensity rainfall generally resulting in
more soil erosion by water. The size and velocity of rain drops is also an important
factor. Larger and higher-velocity rain drops have greater kinetic energy, and thus
their impact will displace soil particles by larger distances than smaller, slowermoving rain drops.
In other regions of the world (e.g. western Europe), runoff and erosion result from
relatively low intensities ofstratiform rainfall falling onto previously saturated soil. In
such situations, rainfall amount rather than intensity is the main factor determining
the severity of soil erosion by water.

Soil structure and composition

The composition, moisture, and compaction of soil are all major factors in
determining the erosivity of rainfall. Sediments containing more clay tend to be more
resistant to erosion than those with sand or silt, because the clay helps bind soil
particles together. Soil containing high levels of organic materials are often more
resistant to erosion, because the organic materials coagulate soil colloids and create a
stronger, more stable soil structure. The amount of water present in the soil before
the precipitation also plays an important role, because it sets limits on the amount of
water that can be absorbed by the soil (and hence prevented from flowing on the
surface as erosive runoff). Wet, saturated soils will not be able to absorb as much rain
water, leading to higher levels of surface runoff and thus higher erosivity for a given
volume of rainfall. Soil compaction also affects the permeability of the soil to water,
and hence the amount of water that flows away as runoff. More compacted soils will
have a larger amount of surface runoff than less compacted soils.

Vegetative cover
Vegetation acts as an interface between the atmosphere and the soil. It increases
the permeability of the soil to rainwater, thus decreasing runoff. It shelters the soil
from winds, which results in decreased wind erosion, as well as advantageous
changes in microclimate. The roots of the plants bind the soil together, and
interweave with other roots, forming a more solid mass that is less susceptible to
both water and wind erosion. The removal of vegetation increases the rate of surface
erosion.

Topography
The topography of the land determines the velocity at which surface runoff will flow,
which in turn determines the erosivity of the runoff. Longer, steeper slopes
(especially those without adequate vegetative cover) are more susceptible to very
high rates of erosion during heavy rains than shorter, less steep slopes. Steeper
terrain is also more prone to mudslides, landslides, and other forms of gravitational
erosion processes

Human activities that increase erosion rates

Agricultural practices
Unsustainable agricultural practices are the single greatest contributor to the global
increase in erosion rates. The tillage of agricultural lands, which breaks up soil into
finer particles, is one of the primary factors. The problem has been exacerbated in
modern times, due to mechanized agricultural equipment that allows for deep
plowing, which severely increases the amount of soil that is available for transport by
water

erosion.

Others

include mono-cropping,

farming

on

steep

slopes, pesticide and chemical fertilizer usage (which kill organisms that bind soil
together), row-cropping, and the use of surface irrigation. A complex overall
situation with respect to defining nutrient losses from soils, could arise as a result of
the size selective nature of soil erosion events. Loss of total phosphorus, for instance,
in the finer eroded fraction is greater relative to the whole soil. Extrapolating this
evidence to predict subsequent behaviour within receiving aquatic systems, the
reason is that this more easily transported material may support a lower solution P
concentration compared to coarser sized fractions. Tillage also increases wind
erosion rates, by dehydrating the soil and breaking it up into smaller particles that
can be picked up by the wind. Exacerbating this is the fact that most of the trees are
generally removed from agricultural fields, allowing winds to have long, open runs to
travel over at higher speeds. Heavy grazing reduces vegetative cover and causes
severe soil compaction, both of which increase erosion rates.

Deforestation
In an undisturbed forest, the mineral soil is protected by a layer of leaf litter and
an humus that cover the forest floor. These two layers form a protective mat over the
soil that absorbs the impact of rain drops. They are porousand highly permeable to
rainfall, and allow rainwater to slow percolate into the soil below, instead of flowing
over the surface as runoff. The roots of the trees and plants hold together soil
particles, preventing them from being washed away. The vegetative cover acts to
reduce the velocity of the raindrops that strike the foliage and stems before hitting
the ground, reducing their kinetic energy. However it is the forest floor, more than

the canopy, that prevents surface erosion. The terminal velocity of rain drops is
reached in about 8 metres (26 feet). Because forest canopies are usually higher than
this, rain drops can often regain terminal velocity even after striking the canopy.
However, the intact forest floor, with its layers of leaf litter and organic matter, is still
able to absorb the impact of the rainfall.
Deforestation causes increased erosion rates due to exposure of mineral soil by
removing the humus and litter layers from the soil surface, removing the vegetative
cover that binds soil together, and causing heavy soil compaction from logging
equipment. Once trees have been removed by fire or logging, infiltration rates
become high and erosion low to the degree the forest floor remains intact. Severe
fires can lead to significant further erosion if followed by heavy rainfall.
Globally one of the largest contributors to erosive soil loss in the year 2006 is
the slash and burn treatment oftropical forests. In a number of regions of the earth,
entire sectors of a country have been rendered unproductive. For example, on
the Madagascar high central plateau, comprising approximately ten percent of that
country's land area, virtually the entire landscape is sterile of vegetation, with gully
erosive furrows typically in excess of 50 metres (160 ft) deep and 1 kilometre (0.6
miles) wide. Shifting cultivation is a farming system which sometimes incorporates
the slash and burn method in some regions of the world. This degrades the soil and
causes the soil to become less and less fertile.

Roads and urbanization

Urbanization has major effects on erosion processesfirst by denuding the land of
vegetative cover, altering drainage patterns, and compacting the soil during
construction; and next by covering the land in an impermeable layer of asphalt or
concrete that increases the amount of surface runoff and increases surface wind
speeds. Much of the sediment carried in runoff from urban areas (especially roads) is
highly contaminated with fuel, oil, and other chemicals. This increased runoff, in
addition to eroding and degrading the land that it flows over, also causes major
disruption to surrounding watersheds by altering the volume and rate of water that
flows through them, and filling them with chemically polluted sedimentation. The

increased flow of water through local waterways also causes a large increase in the
rate of bank erosion.

Climate Change
Studies on soil erosion suggest that increased rainfall amounts and intensities will
lead to greater rates of erosion. Thus, if rainfall amounts and intensities increase in
many parts of the world as expected, erosion will also increase, unless amelioration
measures are taken. Soil erosion rates are expected to change in response to changes
in climate for a variety of reasons. The most direct is the change in the erosive power
of rainfall.
Other reasons include:
a) Changes in plant canopy caused by shifts in plant biomass production associated
with moisture regime;
b) Changes in litter cover on the ground caused by changes in both plant residue
decomposition rates driven by temperature and moisture dependent soil microbial
activity as well as plant biomass production rates;
c) Changes in soil moisture due to shifting precipitation regimes and evapotranspiration rates, which changes infiltration and runoff ratios;
d) Soil erodibility changes due to decrease in soil organic matter concentrations in
soils that lead to a soil structure that is more susceptible to erosion and increased
runoff due to increased soil surface sealing and crusting;
e)A shift of winter precipitation from non-erosive snow to erosive rainfall due to
increasing winter temperatures;
f) Melting of permafrost, which induces an erodible soil state from a previously nonerodible one;
g) Shifts in land use made necessary to accommodate new climatic regimes.
Studies by Pruski and Nearing indicated that, other factors such as land use not
considered, it is reasonable to expect approximately a 1.7% change in soil erosion for
each 1% change in total precipitation under climate change.

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.[2] It is caused by a variety of factors, such as climate change and human
activities. Desertification is a significant global ecological and environmental
problem.
The world's most noted deserts have been formed by natural processes interacting
over long intervals of time. During most of these times, deserts have grown and
shrunk independent of human activities. Paleodeserts are large sand seas now
inactive because they are stabilized by vegetation, some extending beyond the
present margins of core deserts, such as the Sahara, the largest hot desert.
Desertification has played a significant role in human history, contributing to the
collapse of several large empires, such as Carthage, Greece, and the Roman Empire,
as well as causing displacement of local populations Historical evidence shows that
the serious and extensive land deterioration occurring several centuries ago in arid
regions had three epicenters: the Mediterranean, the Mesopotamian Valley, and the
loessial plateau of China, where population was dense.
Drylands occupy approximately 4041% of Earths land area and are home to more
than 2 billion people.It has been estimated that some 1020% of drylands are
already degraded, the total area affected by desertification being between 6 and 12
million square kilometres, that about 16% of the inhabitants of drylands live in
desertified areas, and that a billion people are under threat from further
desertification.
The immediate cause is the removal of most vegetation. This is driven by a number of
factors, alone or in combination, such as drought, climatic shifts, tillage for
agriculture, overgrazing and deforestation for fuel or construction materials.
Vegetation plays a major role in determining the biological composition of the soil.
Studies have shown that, in many environments, the rate of erosion and runoff
decreases exponentially with increased vegetation cover. Unprotected, dry soil
surfaces blow away with the wind or are washed away by flash floods, leaving
infertile lower soil layers that bake in the sun and become an unproductive hardpan.
Desertification often causes rural lands to become unable to support the same sized
populations that previously lived there. This results in mass migrations out of rural
areas and into urban areas, particularly in Africa. These migrations into the cities
often cause large numbers of unemployed people, who end up living in slums.

Conclusion
Hence, it is clear that the problem of land resources is a serious one and should be
paid a lot of attention to. Land resources are essential for all forms of life in multiple
ways and human beings should take care to use such invaluable and important
resources judiciously and in a sustainable manner. There needs to be dialogue
between the government as well as the citizens as this concerns all people living on
the earth, as well as the plethora of life forms it supports.
Humans cannot afford to keep on ignoring the harsh truth that we are to blame for
most if not all the problems that we face when it comes to land resources.
However, we must move forward and start taking strict measures, and implement
them, more importantly, in our daily life and make them norms of societies that
everyone follows. Only then can we ensure that we leave an earth that is habitable for
our future generations.