Message-ID: <Pine.SOL.3.91.960225164110.24541D-100000@rccsun> Date: Sun, 25 Feb 1996 16:41:38 +0700 From: Richard Tinsley <mailto:tinsley@AIT.AC.TH> Subject: Forwarded mail.... To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU>
---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sun, 25 Feb 1996 12:45:11 +0700 From: Amararatne Yakupitiyage <mailto:amara@ait.ac.th> To: mailto:tinsley@rccsun.ait.ac.th Subject:
02/23 2045 SOUTH ASIA-AGRICULTURE: LAND DEGRADATION A $10 ...
PENANG, (Feb. 22) IPS - Almost half of the agricultural land in South Asia suffers from degradation, which is causing economic losses of at least $10 billion a year, according to a United Nations study. In a report, the three U.N. agencies, FAO, UNDP and UNEP, estimate the countries of South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan) and Iran and Afghanistan are losing at least $9.8 to $11 billion annually as a result of losses resulting from land degradation on 43 per cent of the region's total farmland. This was equivalent to two per cent of the countries' gross domestic product, or seven per cent of the value of the agricultural output. And yet this high enough figure is a gross underestimate, because it measures only the on-site effects (for instance, reduced agricultural production) whilst leaving out off-site effects such as river silting, floods and road collapses. The 1994 report, "Land Degradation in South Asia," defined land degradation as "the temporary or permanent lowering of the productive capacity of land." The types of degradation it assessed were soil erosion caused by water, wind, soil fertility decline, waterlogging, salinization and lowering of water table. Soil erosion caused by water was the most widespread, affecting 25 per cent of all agricultural land in the region. In many areas of sloping land, for example in Nepal, it is severe, causing permanent loss of the land's productive capacity. Soil loss caused by wind erosion affects 40 per cent of farm land in the region's dry zone, while soil fertility decline, due to lowering of soil organic matter and loss of nutrients, is substantial and widespread. This is due primarily to the increased and incorrect use of fertilizers. The study found that altogether 43 per cent of the region's total agricultural land, suffered from one form of degradation or more. Of this, 31 million hectares were severely degraded and 63 million hectares moderately degraded. The worst country affected was Iran, with 94 per cent of agricultural land degraded, followed by Bangladesh (75 per cent), Pakistan (61 per cent), Sri Lanka (44 per cent), Afghanistan (33 per cent) Nepal (26 per cent), India (25 per cent) and Bhutan (10 per cent). The study concludes: "Land degradation in the region is widespread and has reached a severe degree in many areas. Environmental 'disaster areas' have occurred already, for example areas of severe and extensive salinization in parts of the irrigated Indus and Ganges plains. "Others are predicted, most notably the severe deforestation and water erosion in the mountain and hill areas of Nepal." The study says the losses are not only suffered by the present generation but future generations. Since land has been a resource for the past 2000 years, there is no reason to doubt that people will still depend on it for 2000 years ahead. Although the study does not attempt to measure the long-term losses of the present land degradation it has assessed that these losses, if permanent and not repaired, would add up to at least $20,000 billion over the next 2000 years. Apart from off-site costs like river silting, floods and landslides, there are other forms of degradation, such as deforestation, forest degradation and rangeland degradation, acid sulphate formation, soil pollution, soil destruction through mining and quarrying, urban encroachment and effects of war. The economic costs of these are not assessed in the study. If they were, the losses would have been much higher. Although the U.N. study covered only South Asia, its results have implications for other countries outside the region where land degradation is also a serious problem. For instance, at a recent national environment conference in Malaysia, Dr. Lim Jit Sai of the Agriculture Department revealed that there are 18.9 million hectares of potentially degradable land in the country, making up 57 per cent of total land areas. According to him, the main activities causing soil degradation in Malaysia are mining, agriculture, logging and urban development. The adverse effects of soil erosion include a loss of topsoil, decline in soil fertility, siltation of water reservoirs and waterways, increasing frequency of flash floods, degradation of water quality and loss of hydropower. Sai thinks it would be most useful if estimates could be had of the economic losses from soil erosion and land degradation in other countries, similar or even broader in scope than the study carried out for South Asia. Farm experts say such economic cost estimates might make it more easy for policy makers to appreciate the economic folly of activities that degrade the land and erode soil.