World Environment Day 2024 Quiz

Land Degradation Causes

• Leading cause of land degradation is a combination of factors, including overgrazing from livestock, unsustainable resource extraction, and rapid urbanization.

Impact of Land degradation and Solutions

• Land degradation affects 40% of the global population, threatening well-being and disproportionately harming rural communities, farmers, and the poor, who face food shortages, failing harvests, and climate impacts.
• This leads to reduced agricultural productivity, increased poverty, and migration to urban areas, further exacerbating urbanization and its associated problems. Additionally, land degradation also contributes to water scarcity, loss of ecosystem services, and decreased resilience to natural disasters.
• The global food system is the biggest driver of biodiversity loss and significantly affects land degradation, with the production of meat, especially beef, being a major contributor to deforestation and habitat destruction.
• Prevent land degradation by composting kitchen waste, reducing landfill waste and emissions, and improving soil health via agroecological practices like crop rotation and cover cropping.
• Tree-planting, while well-intentioned, doesn't work everywhere and can harm areas like grasslands, which require specific conservation efforts.
• Plastic pollution is a threat to soil and must be addressed, but it is not the biggest driver of land loss. Instead, unsustainable agriculture practices, urbanization, and infrastructure development are the primary causes of land loss and degradation.

Deserts and Biodiversity

• The statement "The Sahara and other hot deserts are dead and have no biodiversity value" is FALSE.
• Hot deserts, including the Sahara, have unique and valuable biodiversity despite the harsh conditions.
• Soil is home to 60% of species, including microbes, fungi, and mammals, and stores carbon emissions and produces 95% of our food, yet it's threatened by erosion from deforestation and cropland expansion.

Land Degradation, Desertification and Drought Resilience