or opportunity. For example, planting crops at a location with heavy rainfall and steep slopes would create scientific and environmental concern regarding the risk of soil erosion by water, yet farmers could view the location as a favourable one for high crop yields. Different types In addition to the usual types of land degradation that have been known for centuries (water, wind and mechanical erosion, physical, chemical and biological degradation), four other types have emerged in the last 50 years: pollution, often chemical, due to agricultural, industrial, mining or commercial activities; loss of arable land due to urban construction, road building, land conversion, agricultural expansion, etc.; artificial radioactivity, sometimes accidental; land-use constraints associated with armed conflicts. Overall, more than 36 types of land degradation can be assessed. All are induced or aggravated by human activities, e.g. soil erosion, soil contamination, soil acidification, sheet erosion, silting, aridification, salinization, urbanization, etc. Causes Land degradation is a global problem largely related to agricultural use, deforestation and climate change. Causes include: Land clearance, such as clearcutting and deforestation Agricultural depletion of soil nutrients through poor farming practices Livestock including overgrazing and overdrafting Inappropriate irrigation and overdrafting Urban sprawl and commercial development Vehicle off-roading Quarrying of stone, sand, ore and minerals Increase in field size due to economies of scale, reducing shelter for wildlife, as hedgerows and copses disappear Exposure of naked soil after harvesting by heavy equipment Monoculture, destabilizing the local ecosystem Dumping of non-biodegradable trash, such as plastics Invasive Species Climate change Loss of soil carbon Overcutting of vegetation occurs when people cut forests, woodlands and shrublands—to obtain timber, fuelwood and other products—at a pace exceeding the rate of natural regrowth. This is frequent in semi-arid environments, where fuelwood shortages are often severe. Overgrazing is the grazing of natural pastures at stocking intensities above the livestock carrying capacity; the resulting decrease in the vegetation cover is a leading cause of wind and water erosion. It is a significant factor in Afghanistan. The growing population pressure, during 1980–1990, has led to decreases in the already small areas of agricultural land per person in six out of eight countries (14% for India and 21% for Pakistan). Population pressure also operates through other mechanisms. Improper agricultural practices, for instance, occur only under constraints such as the saturation of good lands under population pressure which leads settlers to cultivate too shallow or too steep soils, plough fallow