Question

what are the main causes for the degradation of natural vegetation

Answer 1

The causes of land degradation can be divided into natural hazards, direct causes,and underlying causes. Natural hazards are the conditions of the physical environment which lead to the existence ofa high degradation hazard, for example steep slopes as a hazard for water erosion.Direct causes are unsuitable land use and inappropriate land management practices, for example the cultivation of steep slopes without measures for soil conservation. Underlying causes are the reasons why these inappropriate types of land use and management are practised; for example, the slopes may be cultivated because the landless poor need food, and conservationmeasures not adopted because these farmers lack security of tenure.There is a distinction, although with overlap, between unsuitable land use and inappropriate land management practices.Unsuitable land use is the use of land for purposes for which it is environmentally unsuited for sustainable use. An example is forest clearance and arable use of steeply sloping upper watershed areas which would have more value to the community as water sources, managed under a protective forest cover.Inappropriate land management practices refer to the use of land in ways which could be sustainable if properly managed, but where the necessary practices are not adopted. An example is the failure to adoptsoil conservation measures where these are needed. It can also refer to land use which is ecologically sustainable under low intensity of use but in which the management becomes inappropriate at higher intensifies. Examples are shifting cultivation and the grazing of semi-arid rangelands.The GLASOD assessment gives one or twocauses for each map unit and type of degradation. In this assessment, only four causes were recognized, defined as:*.de fore station and removal of natural vegetation;*.overgrazing;*.agricultural activities;*.over-exploitation of vegetation for domestic use.

Answer 2

Destruction of natural vegetation is primarily caused by deforestation. Other major causes are wildfire and overexploitation. Deforestation not only occurs as a result of firewood extraction by the local population but also as a result of the creation of arable as well as pastoral land.

The main causes of the land degradation includes climate change, land clearance and deforestation, depletion of soil nutrients through poor farming practices, overgrazing and over grafting. In India, water erosion is the most prominent reason of land degradation.