Global Extent of Land Degradation and Its Human Dimension - Principles of Sustainable Soil Management in Agroecosystems - page 203

9 Global Extent of Land

Degradation and Its
Human Dimension

Ephraim Nkonya, Joachim von Braun,
Jawoo Koo, and Zhe Guo

CONTENTS
9.1 Introduction .................................................................................................. 203
9.2 Analytical Methods and Data ....................................................................... 205
9.2.1 Impact of Land Degradation on Food Security ................................ 205
9.2.2 Relationship between Land Degradation and Its Major Drivers ...... 207
9.3 Extent of Land Degradation and Its Relationship with Poverty ...................209
9.3.1 Extent of Land Degradation .............................................................209
9.3.2 How Is Land Degradation/Improvement Related to Poverty at
Global Level? ....................................................................................209
9.3.3 Relationship of Poverty and Land Degradation at Household
Level—Case Studies ......................................................................... 213
9.4 Drivers of Land Degradation ........................................................................ 214
9.4.1 Agricultural Intensification ............................................................... 215
9.4.2 Population Density ............................................................................ 215
9.4.3 Economic Growth (GDP) ................................................................. 215
9.4.4 Government Effectiveness ................................................................ 216
9.5 Impact of Land Degradation on Food Security ............................................ 218
9.5.1 Relationship of Land Degradation and Crop Yield Gap................... 218
9.5.2 Impact of Land Degradation on Maize and Rice Yield: The
Case of Mali and Nigeria .................................................................. 219
9.6 Conclusions and Policy Implications ............................................................ 221
Abbreviations ......................................................................................................... 222
References .............................................................................................................. 222

9.1 INTRODUCTION
Since the poor depend heavily on natural resources, land degradation has a direct
impact on their livelihoods. For example, 29% of national wealth in low income
countries is based on natural resources compared to only 2% in high income coun-
tries (World Bank 2008).

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