EARTH ON THE EDGE

1.5 BILLION HECTARES OF LAND DEGRADED GLOBALLY

- S V Krishna Chaitanya @Chennai

N a world increasingly threatened by the effects of human activity on natural systems, land degradation has emerged as one of the most pressing global challenges. A recent report by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, commissioned for the 16th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), reveals the alarming extent of land degradation and its wide-reaching consequences.

Over 1.5 billion hectares of land and 1.2 billion people globally are currently affected by degradation. This troubling trend is exacerbated by human activities such as unsustainable agricultural practices, deforestation, and urbanization, which push the planet further beyond six of the nine planetary boundaries critical for Earth's resilience. These boundaries include land-system change, climate change, biodiversity loss, freshwater use, biogeochemical flows, and the introduction of novel entities such as pollutants and microplastics.

The planetary boundaries framework, a scientific model introduced in 2009, defines thresholds that, if crossed, can destabilize the Earth system. Worryingly, the boundary for land-system change was breached as early as 1990. Today, only 60% of global forest cover remains, falling well below the safe threshold of 75%. Agriculture accounts for nearly 90% of deforestation, with cropland expansion dominating in regions such as Africa and Asia, and livestock grazing driving forest loss in South America.