3. Extent and Distribution of Soil Degradation

“A nation that destroys its soils, destroys itself”

 Franklin D. Roosevelt

Global extent:

My last post identified agriculture as the primary cause of soil degradation. In the 11,000 years since it began, agriculture has both expanded and intensified. As a result, the human impact on soil has become more widespread and more significant. One third of global soils are now considered significantly degraded and we may only have 60 years of farming left!

Fig. 1 Diagram I made to simply demonstrate the extent of global soil degradation

Regional distribution:
From 1988–1991 UNEP funded the first project (called the 'Global Assessment of Human-Induced Soil Degradation' or 'GLASOD') attempting to map the extent, type, degree, rate and causes of global soil degradation, at a scale of 1:10 million. The project produced the high resolution, multifaceted map shown below.

Fig. 2 The complex, multifaceted GLASOD (1988-1991) map showing the extent, type, degree, rate and main causes of global soil degradation, at a scale of 1:10 million at the turn of the 21^st century 

  
However, the map shown above is quite hard to read. The map below is a more simplified version that uses the same GLASOD data but only shows the extent and degree of degradation.

Fig. 3 This map was created by WWF (2016) for their Living Planet Report. It is based on data from the GLASOD project but is simplified to only show extent and degree of soil degradation. This makes the map much easier to read.

   
The only large areas of soil that aren't degraded are located in Northern Russia and Canada, where the climate is too cold for most forms of agriculture. Keep this in mind when reading my next post...