Issue: Direct pressure of human activities on the land - Soil loss and loss of soil quality
This is an issue under the Land theme of the Data Reporting System.
Why we need to know about this issue
Soil is created partly from the remains of plants, animals and other biota and is held together, shaded and watered by the vegetation that grows in it. Most terrestrial vegetation cannot grow without it. Soil carbon levels and soil stability are affected by changes in vegetation but, in turn, affect the land’s capacity to sustain vegetation.
Where unstable soil is lifted as dust it can affect air quality and can also place pressure on land, human settlement and even the ocean when it is deposited. When excess soil is washed into inland waters it can cause turbidity affecting aquatic life.
Indicators
- LD-04 Area and change in area of exposed soil surface contributing to erosion
As well as being indicative of land condition in relation to soil stability and vegetation, changes in area of exposed soil are indicative of both the pressure of land clearing on the land and of the pressure of soil loss on the land’s capacity to revegetate. - LD-05 Terrestrial carbon loss rate and rate of land carbon sequestration
Removal of terrestrial carbon through removal of vegetation and other life forms (eg the clearing or burning of vegetation and the harvesting of crops or of animals that have grazed on the vegetation), places pressure on the land by reducing the availability of soil carbon. Removal of carbon from the land inhibits the reestablishment of vegetation. Rates of loss and sequestration are indicators of this pressure. - LD-39 Change in biomass stock
Biomass is a measure of quantity of the total mass of matter that is currently engaged in being alive. A decrease in total biomass represents a decrease in the quantity of matter available for the continuation of life. The conversion of biomass into atmospheric carbon and other greenhouse gases represents not only an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, with implications for climate change, but also a reduction in number of individual life forms present, and a reduction in organic material available for the maintenance of life forms, as individuals, species and ecosystems. - LD-26 Dust storm index
As well as being indicative of land condition in relation to soil stability and vegetation, changes in area of exposed soil are indicative of both the pressure of land clearing on the land and of the pressure of soil loss on the land’s capacity to revegetate.
Related issues
- Land - Land condition- Land cover
- Land - Land condition- Soil stability and quality
- Land - Direct pressure of human activities on the land- Soil loss and loss of soil quality
- Land - Direct pressure of human activities on the land- Land clearing
- Land - Contributions and pressures between the land and inland water- Condition of species at the land-inland waters interface
- Land - Contributions and pressures between the land and inland water- Pressures of changes to inland waters on land
- Land - Contributions and pressures between the land and inland water- Pressures of changes to the land on inland waters
- Land - Contributions and pressures between the land and the atmosphere- Airborne substances
- Land - Societal responses- Responses to vegetation loss, carbon loss, species loss and species change
- Inland Waters - Habitat scale influences- Water Quality (for surface and groundwater)- Sediment and turbidity
- Inland Waters - Catchment scale influences- Land and vegetation condition- Erosion
- Atmosphere - Air quality- Regional air quality
Key
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