The Environmental Degradation Of Pakistan

“Erosion occurs when the soil lacks protective vegetative cover”. (Pimentel, Kounang, 1998) “Soil erosion reduces the productivity of the land by loss of water, soil, organic matter, nutrients, biota, and depth of soil.” (Pimentel, Kounang, 1998) With no conservation methods in place in certain places like: no contour farming, no cover crop, no terraces, no water ways, and tillage on steep hills is asking for a loss of productivity from the land. The effects on the land that non-conservation methods have is horrible. “Its effects are pervasive, and its damages are long lasting. (Pimentel and others 1995a)” (Pimentel, Kounang, 1998) Soil loss is a bigger factor then most people think. For an example an comparison of how much soil is actually lost in certain environments: “On sloping agricultural land under tropical rainfall, as much as 400t/ha/yr of soil is lost (Pimentel unpublished report,1990).”(Pimentel, Kounang, 1998) “Under arid conditions with relatively strong winds, as much as 5600t/ha/yr of soil has been reported lost (Gupta and Raina 1996).” (Pimentel, Kounang, 1998) Soil loss is a huge factor when conservation practices are not put into place. “According to some investigators, approximately 75 billion tons a fertile soil are lost annually from the world’s agricultural systems (Myers 1993).” (Pimentel, Kounang, 1998) Soil loss is a huge factor and many different things can be done to help slow it,

Forty percent of the earth’s land cover is classified as either arid or semi-arid environment (Clark Davis & Kay 1983), in which, billions of people mainly from developing countries, live and work. Many of the arid zone environment is classified as to dry to grow crops (Creswell & Martin 1998). Still, crops like sorghum, millets (CONSORTIUM 2011) and cashes (Creswell & Martin 1998) are grown with reasonable success, as the plants or farmers have been able to adapt to the dry environment (Creswell & Martin 1998).

Neglect to take care of the land after many decades is starting to show significant negative effects on the environment. Many people do not know what all entails land pollution other than the commonly known pollutions such as chemical and waste, the list may surprise you. The list includes sewage treatment, nuclear waste, construction, urbanization, industrialization, landfills, mining, logging, agricultural practices. and deforestation (Rinkesh). As humans, we have continued to develop as a species technologically, communally and agriculturally. The effects we have had on the environment through human development has not been

Land use changes, as described by Lappé, include every change of land in order to produce, or distribute, food. Annually, forests, bogs, swamps, rain forests, and other biomes are Ableman 1 destroyed for agricultural purpose. Destruction of these biomes lead to the release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere which is the most prominent greenhouse gas. The second “connection” in The Climate Crisis at the End of Our Fork is the “agricultural connection.”

Modern agricultural technologies goals is to obtain the highest yields and get the highest economic profit as possible

Human societies since the beginning of time have probably committed more land to Agricultural production than for any other purpose. Demand for land especially for Agricultural production in many parts of the globe is on the increase. Studies have revealed that the rise in demand for food to feed the world’s teaming population, the increased demand for agricultural output to produce alternative energy, high agricultural product prices are amount other factors that have caused a surge in the demand for agricultural land globally.

Even though we are only conducting a small scale sustainable agriculture on campus, we wish to achieve the goals for sustainable farming. We want to be sufficiently productive, while using resources efficiently and minimize undesired and unnecessary waste. Moreover, we want to be resilient and adaptable to any changing conditions such as weather, water shortage, and labor availability. Therefore, the main goal of our project is to maximize production with limited resources and

Today’s world is facing many challenges given the growing concerns and current repercussions of environmental climate change and demands of a growing global population. Not only is climate change effecting the worlds ecosystems, human health and fresh water resources, it is drastically effecting the worlds agriculture. Unpredictable weather such, as rising temperatures, colder temperatures, excessive flooding, and droughts are just a few of the increasing weather instabilities, which are challenging and threatening today’s agriculture growth and production. As such, crop yields continue to decline and present a risk to future food security. As a world, we are facing an adaptation deficit leaving us very vulnerable and thus, we must seek to

Soil is the most important element for agricultural ecosystems. Healthy soil comes with beneficial microbes and insects. Unfortunately, these are often killed off by the abuse of pesticides. Healthy soil can produce strong crops that are less vulnerable to pests. Damaged soils often need strong fertilizers application to produce a high amount of crops. Soil quality can be amplified in many ways, including leaving crop remainders in the field after harvest and adding composted plant material (Union of Concerned Scientists) Compared to industrial agriculture, companies continue to damage and consume natural soil. While intensive plowing and monocrop (does not rotate) agriculture systems have caused nutrient exhaustion and soil erosion. Excessive application of fertilizers and pesticides has contaminated soils and polluted waterways (Grace Communications Foundations)

“On the global basis, the soil degradation is caused by over grazing (35%), agriculture activities (28%), deforestation (30%), over exploitation of land to produce fuel wood (4%), and industrialization (4%).” 100% of what causes soil degradation is caused by humans and animals. 35% of the blame goes to the animals for over grazing, but the other 65% of the blame goes to the humans for agriculture activities and chopping down trees. Another example is, David Pimentel also states, “The bottom line on soil production is that it takes (on average) about 100 years to generate a millimeter of soil. This is about a human lifetime.” Although it is stated that animals contribute to land degradation, it’s only a small portion (35%). The main reason for loss of arable land is human development. Forests are cut down for farming space, fuel wood, or space to build some kind of industry. When land is being used and used, and no one manages it, it can become deplete; which means, the land is dried out and unable to grow vegetation. Soil production takes a long time, on average, it takes 100 years. 100 years is too long to wait for new soil to plant food.

Environmental Science Professor Delia Comeau Case Study: Grassland Soil Erosion Overgrazing of grasslands is an issue occurring in many areas around the nation. In fact, it is the leading cause of all soil degradation, being responsible for more than 30 percent (Withgott & Lapostata, 2014, p. 222). Overgrazing has many consequences: land degradation; poor soil quality; invasive species of weeds and plants; 1loss in biodiversity; increased flooding prevalence and increased magnitude; even a possible contribution to climate change (Withgott & Lapostata, 2014, p. 229; Hogan, 2010). When faced with 500,000 acres of public land that are enduring these issues, many steps need to be taken in order to determine the future of the land and if grazing will be allowed to continue. One of the main ways of helping determine the future use of the land is in the soil quality. By observing the soil color, pH, texture, and structure, the proper means of restoration and conservation can be better determined.

Much of our world’s land is destroyed to provide for our growing population through the occurrence of deforestation which causes loss of biodiversity and soil depletion. There are natural causes of deforestation such as wildfires, but most of it occurs through urban development and most notably agricultural development. We destroy acres of forests in order to have more land for cattle and other farm animals to graze upon, but also to have land to produce grain that won’t be fed to us, but to the animals. It is also seen that a majority of

Erosion removes the surface soils, containing most of the organic matter, plant nutrients, and fine soil particles, which help to retain water and nutrients in the root zone where they are available to plants. Thus it affects the productivity of plants. The remaining, the subsoil, tends to be less fertile, less absorbent and less able to retain pesticides, fertilizers, and other plant nutrients. There are over 17,000 soil types recognized worldwide. They vary widely in structure, erodibility, fertility, and ability to produce crops. A generalized soil profile for a humid, temperate climate is showed. When the natural vegetation is cleared for agriculture, soils become exposed to erosion and loss of soil fertility. The removal of the above-ground natural

Desertification is a term few people recognize and even fewer are concerned about. This paper will cover what desertification is along with why it is a global crisis, what the root causes of desertification are, what can be done to reverse the harm full desertification process, it will also cover how farmers can work together to prevent future desertification.

Agriculture is one of the major sector becoming vulnerable to climate-change. Increased incidences of abiotic and biotic stresses are likely to cause serious negative impact on crop production. Abiotic stress is defined as the negative impact of non-living factors on the living organisms in a specific environment. The non-living variable must influence the environment beyond its normal range of variation to adversely affect the performance or individual organism in a significant way. This leads to decrease in the productivity by more than 50% in major crop plants which are growing word wide (Bray et al., 2000). Increased water stress, reduction in rainfall and increased air temperature are the major reasons for yield decline in wheat and paddy crops in many parts of South Asia. The average increase in temperature per decade is measured to be 0.28 ºC over land and 0.12 ºC over ocean and predicted that it is likely to rise further to a maximum of 2.5 ºC by 2050 and 5.8 ºC by 2100 (Jones et al., 1999; Grover et al., 2011). The principal abiotic stresses in India are drought or soil moisture stress, high temperatures, soil salinity/alkalinity, low pH and metal toxicity stresses that affect nearly two-thirds area forming parts of the arid and semi arid eco systems (Grover et al., 2011).