Addressing Soil Loss

Introduction

  • India’s land area is about 2.5 per cent of the global land area, and it supports more than 16 per cent of the total human population along with around 20 per cent of the global livestock population.
  • Clearly, the pressures of constantly increasing production have in turn resulted in a persistent decline in soil fertility, a major challenge that Indian agriculture is currently facing.
  • With rising population, limited availability of agricultural land, small land holdings and declining soil fertility, India is under serious threat of losing its food surplus status in the near future.
  • According to estimates, the demand for food grain is expected to increase from 192 million tonnes in 2000 to 355 million tonnes in 2030.

Need for ensuring soil fertility

  • Los of soil fertility led to rise in cultivation cost.
  • Sustainability of food production is directly affected by soil sterility.
  • Ensuring livelihood sustainability of poor.
  • Protection of ecology and environment and thereby support ecosystem services.
  • Ensuring minimum level of soil fertility is important to check desertification.

Present Issue in Kerala

  • Roads and houses will be rebuilt, and crop losses compensated partially through insurance, the gradual loss of soil productivity can have a lasting impact on the local economy.
  • Soil degradation due to Flooding:
  • Soil degradation due to flooding is a serious concern. A 2014 review of soil degradation in India by multiple institutions shows that an estimated 14 million hectares suffer soil degradation due to flooding annually.
  • The impact of floods on soil was also studied in detail following the 2009 floods in North Karnataka, which killed over 170 people and caused an estimated loss of over `16,500 crore.

Location: Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Geneva Convention 1949

Image
Why is it in news? Pakistan violated the Geneva Convention What is Geneva Conventions? The Geneva Conventions are a series of treaties on the treatment of civilians, prisoners of war (POWs) and soldiers. It is also known as the Humanitarian Law of Armed Conflicts. It was adopted in 1949. It includes four conventions, with three protocols added on since 1949. Their purpose is to provide minimum protections, standards of humane treatment, and fundamental guarantees of respect to individuals who become victims of armed conflicts. These Conventions and their Additional Protocols set out how soldiers and civilians should be treated during armed conflict. What are the four conventions? Convention I: This convention protects wounded soldiers and ensures humane treatment without discrimination based on race, colour, sex, religion or faith, birth or wealth, etc. The convention prohibits torture, assaults upon personal dignity, and execution without judgment. It also grants the ri
Read more

ICJ on decolonisation of Mauritius

Image
Context: The International Court of Justice (ICJ)  dismissed the UK’s right to govern the Chagos Islands  in the Indian Ocean and called on its government to withdraw from the archipelago. What is the issue? The Chagos Archipelago is a group of seven atolls comprising more than 60 islands in the Indian Ocean about 500 km south of the Maldives. It had been part of Mauritius since the 18th century when the French first settled the islands. All of the islands of French colonial territory in the region were ceded to the British in 1810. Before Mauritian independence, in 1965, the UK split the archipelago from the territory of Mauritius to form the British Indian Ocean Territory and permitted the US to use it for defence purposes for 50 years (until December 2016) followed by a 20-year optional extension and US Military Base was setup in Diego Garcia, the largest of the islands. 2,000 inhabitants were resettled in Mauritius and the Seychelles. The UN resolutions banned the
Read more

Global Energy Transition index

Image
About the index Global Energy Transition Index 2019 released by WEF for shaping the future energy with sustainable use along with environment protection. It is System Initiative on Shaping the Future of Energy. The index benchmarks 115 countries on the current level of their energy system performance and the readiness of their macro environment for transition to a secure, sustainable, affordable and inclusive future energy system. It measures how well they are able to balance energy security and access with environmental sustainability and affordability. The report says in order to achieve a stable, sustainable and affordable global energy system will require a collaborative and systematic approach to solving problems and exploiting opportunities such as new technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Report details – World performance Sweden remains on the top on the list and is followed by Switzerland and Norway in the top three. Among major economics, the UK
Read more