Land degradation is the process of losing the fertility and productivity of land and
turning it unfit for proper use. It is otherwise lowering the quality of land.
Deforestation, careless management of forests, overgrazing by animals, soil erosion,
surface mining and industrial effluents cause land degradation.
At present there are about 130 million hectares of degraded land in India .28 % of it
belongs to forest degraded area, 56 % water eroded area, 10 % wind eroded area and
the rest 6% is affected by saline and alkaline deposits.