Combating land degradation

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LAND degradation is any change in the condition of the land which reduces its productive potential.

It is the deterioration in the quality of land, its topsoil, vegetation, and/or water resources, caused usually by excessive or inappropriate exploitation.

In Africa, it is estimated that 73 percent of agricultural dry land is degraded.

Land degradation is a dimension to Environmental degradation.

Environmental degradation is an umbrella concept which covers a variety of issues including: pollution, biodiversity loss and animal extinction, deforestation and desertification, global warming, and land degradation.

While pollution mainly arises from urban and industrialised areas, land degradation is normally driven by farming and communal communities.

What Are the Major Causes of Land Degradation?

-Soil erosion;
-Poor farming practices and the absence of conservation works;
-Buildup of salts in soils (salinisation);
-Loss of vegetation cover due to overgrazing, over exploitation and deforestation;
-Invasive alien species- exotic plants that grow prolifically and out compete indigenous plants;
-Wetlands destruction
-Veld fires

What is the impact of Land Degradation?

Land degradation is associated with several negative implications on our life system such as:

-Increased risks of floods
-Formation of gullies
-Poor crop yields
-Shortage of local water resources
-Increased level of salt groundwater

What is being done to combat land degradation?

EMA’s mandate is to promote the sustainable utilisation of natural resources and protection of the environment ensuring stakeholder participation at all levels.

To promote a sense of stewardship amongst our society, EMA has engaged in educating the society through community meetings, awareness raising campaigns and trainings.

The overall aim being to raise public awareness on the status of the environment, activities that drive degradation and to equip them with relevant information on ways to combat this degradation.

Communities are receiving training on how to implement projects that reduce pressure on existing environmental resources.

EMA is running these training programmes in collaboration with other stakeholders such as ZINWA, Forestry Commission, Environment Africa, AGRITEX, Department of Livestock and other government departments.

These such projects include;

-Bee keeping,
-Quail birds rearing,
-Fish farming,
-Nursery establishment,
-Biogas generation,
-Conservation farming
-Consolidated gardens establishment
-Conservation of water resources and wetlands
-Woodland and woodlots management, and fire suppression.

These projects are to help communities generate income and reduce that rate of environmental degradation.

Communities interested in receiving training can organise themselves and contact us on the contacts below for free training.

Please talk to us we are always ready to listen. Email: [email protected], Call 04 305543 / Toll free 08080028, sms/whatsapp 0779 565 707, Like our Facebook Page- Environmental Management Agency or follow us on Twitter @EMAeep

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