What is Land Degradation & Desertification?
Going by the textbook definition, land degradation is the phenomenon of deteriorating productivity of soil in terms of biodiversity and economy. Desertification on the other hand is nothing but land degradation occurring in dryland regions. Climate change and human activities such as unsustainable farming, mining, deforestation, overgrazing by animals etc. are the main causes of land degradation and desertification. The relationship between land degradation and desertification and climate change is interesting to observe. Climate change is both, a cause as well as a by product of land degradation as degraded land release carbon and nitrous oxide into the atmosphere.