Land Degradation, Desertification Increasing in India

Contact Counsellor

Last Updated22/08/2021

According to the Desertification and Land Degradation Atlas of India, 29.7 percent of the country’s land in 2018/19 has been degraded.
As a signatory to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), India has committed to reducing its land degradation and desertification.
At the United Nations (UN) “High-Level Dialogue on Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought”, PM of India has assured that India was working to restore 26 mha of degraded land by 2030.

97.85 million hectares (mha) of India’s total geographical area (TGA) of 328.72 mha underwent land degradation during 2018-19.
There is an increase of 1.16 mha area under desertification during 2003-13.
83.69 mha underwent desertification in 2018-19.
This was greater than the 81.48 mha in 2003-2005 and 82.64 mha in 2011-13 that underwent desertification.
Around 23.79 per cent of the area undergoing desertification / land degradation with respect to TGA of the country was contributed by Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Ladakh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana.
There is an increase in the level of desertification in 28 of 31 states and Union territories between 2011-13 and 2018-19.
Land degradation and desertification were declining in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Telangana in 2018-2019.
The most significant process of desertification/ land degradation in the country is Water Erosion
The second most significant process is Vegetation Degradation, followed by Wind erosion.

Desertification and Land Degradation Atlas of India have been published by Space Application Centre, ISRO, Ahmedabad.
The Atlas provides a state-wise area of degraded lands for the time frame 2018-19.
It also provides the change analysis for the duration of 15 years, from 2003-05 to 2018-19.
State-wise Desertification/Land Degradation Status Maps prepared using on-screen visual interpretation of Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS), Advanced Wide Field Sensor (AWiFS) data.

Vegetation Degradation:

It is observed mainly as deforestation/forest-blanks/shifting cultivation and degradation in grazing/grassland as well as in scrubland.
It is responsible for 9.15 per cent of desertification in the country.

Water Erosion is loss of soil cover mainly due to rainfall and surface runoff water.
In 2011-13, water erosion was responsible for 10.98% of desertification in the country.

Wind erosion pertains to Aeolian activities which involve erosion, transportation, and deposition of sediment by the wind.
It is responsible for 5.46 per cent of the desertification in India.

Salinity/Alkalinity of soil
Spontaneous downward movement of soil and rock (mass movement)
Frost Heaving (process of ice lens formation beneath the soil surface during freezing conditions in the atmosphere)
Frost shattering (process of mechanical weathering or breakdown of rocks due to regular fluctuation in temperature, around 0 oC, in joints or cracks in rocks)
Man Made desertification processes - Mining/Quarrying, Brick Kiln, Industrial Effluents, City Waste, Urban Agglomeration etc.

UNCCD, established in 1994, is the sole legally binding international agreement linking environment and development to sustainable land management.
The Convention addresses specifically the arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas, known as the drylands, where some of the most vulnerable ecosystems and peoples can be found.
The Convention’s 197 parties work together to improve the living conditions for people in drylands, to maintain and restore land and soil productivity, and to mitigate the effects of drought.
India is a signatory to the UNCCD in 1994 and ratified in 1996.