Desertification and Land Degradation Atlas : Environment for UPSC Exams

Desertification and Land Degradation Atlas : Environment for UPSC Exams

• The report is a part of an on-going study, initiated by the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change, was led by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

• As per the report, nearly 30 per cent of the country’s total geographical area is undergoing degradation.

• The degrading area has increased over 0.5 per cent to 29.3 million hectares during the period, as shown by comparative remote-sensing satellite imageries of the States for the periods 2003-05 and 2011-13.

• Desertification increased by 1.16 million hectares (m ha) and stood at 82.64 m ha during 2011-13.

• There was high desertification and degradation in Delhi, Tripura, Nagaland, Himachal Pradesh and Mizoram, while Odisha, Telangana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh showed some improvement.

• India has committed itself to the U.N. Convention on Combating Desertification that it would fully stop land degradation by 2030.

• The atlas, adding 68 vulnerable districts, would form part of the country’s action plan to arrest the phenomenon and also be a status report to the U.N. body.

• Just nine States(Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana) together account for nearly 24 per cent of desertification; the other States have less than one per cent of this land.