1. Soil Degradation & Management

2. Tasks What is soil? (260) The importance of time in soil formation?
What are leaching & salinisation?
What is alluvium?
What are: pastoral & arable farming?

3. Soil degradation What is soil degradation?
Causes of soil degradation including examples
deforestation (where, why, effect)
overgrazing (where, why, effect)
Monocultures (what & why, examples, problems)
Irrigation & salinisation.

4. Consequences of degradation
Loss of fertility  ↑ pressure on the land  over-use of land  depletion of nutrients  ↑ need for fertilisers:
↑ costs for farming  ↑ food prices.
 environmental impact  leaching into water supplies  health issues & unintended impacts (eutrophication).
Loss of farmland  ↑ land prices in fertile areas & depletion of food supply  ↑ food prices  ↑ % of income spent on food (especially poor)  trapped in poverty & reliance on aid.

5. Degradation of soil  ↓ in farming in that area  less rural jobs  rural-urban migration & associated problems.
Loss of vegetation  rapid soil erosion & unstable slopes  landslides & problems of deposition of material elsewhere
Loss of productivity of land in LEDCs often leads to ↓ in dietary variety  malnutrition & possibly starvation.

13. Tasks Short notes about soil management:
Afforestation.
Crop rotation.
Draw a diagram & label it to explain how terraces protect the soil.
Organic material.
Strip farming.
Stone lines.
Case study: china – issues p.280 & solution p.283.