Land Degradation Endangers Quarter of World Population

photo Josh Sommers @ Flickr Land degradation is the decline in soil, water, and vegetation quality - the very things we depend on for life. For the first time scientists have used satellite pictures and GIS software to assess the degradation of land over the entire Earth. They found that from 1981-2003, 24% of the globes land surface has been degraded, often in productive areas.

"Degradation is primarily driven by land management and catastrophic natural phenomena." said Dr. David Dent, one of the authors.

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