Land degradation

The essentials

Land degradation is the temporary or permanent decline in the productive capacity of land. It is caused both by natural processes and by human misuse. Wastelands in India are classified by the processes that created them.

Key points

• Natural agents: gullied or ravinous land, desertic or coastal sands, barren rocky areas, steep sloping land and glacial areas. The Chambal ravines are a well-known example of gully erosion.
• Natural and human processes together: waterlogged and marshy areas, land affected by salinity and alkalinity, and land with or without scrub.
• Human-made: degraded shifting cultivation areas, degraded land under plantation crops, degraded forests, degraded pastures, and mining and industrial wastelands.
• Over-irrigation with poor drainage, as in parts of Punjab and Haryana and in canal command areas, causes waterlogging and salinity.
• Deforestation, overgrazing, mining and unscientific farming increase soil erosion.
• Consequences: loss of soil fertility, lower crop yields, shortage of fodder and fuelwood, siltation of reservoirs, and increased poverty and migration.
• Jhabua (Madhya Pradesh) case study: watershed management programmes with participation of local Bhil communities, for example in Petlawad block, revived degraded common lands through tree planting, soil and water conservation, and protection of pastures, improving fodder and water availability.

Exam tips

Learn the three-way classification of wastelands with two examples each. Use the Jhabua case to show how community participation can reverse degradation.

Common mistakes

Salinity and waterlogging are not purely natural; human over-irrigation greatly increases them, so they are classed under natural and human processes together.