Degradation of fragile ecosystems

In developing countries population pressure expands against a limited land resource base and pushes cultivation out onto more fragile resources, thereby rapidly destroying forests, grasslands and rainfed uplands. Increased production on fragile lands increases soil erosion, causes flooding and deforestation and reduces agricultural production.

1. Natural environment degradation
2. Cultivation of marginal agricultural land

1. Tropical deforestation
2. Permafrost instability
3. Destruction of wetland environments

1. Natural disasters

1. Vulnerability of food chains
2. Vulnerability of ecosystem niches
3. Overestimation of the resilience of ecosystems
4. Forced relocation of peasants onto marginal lands
5. Environmentally destructive redirection of water flows

1. Fragility
2. Destruction of the countryside

1. Protecting fragile ecosystems
2. Damaging ecosystems

1. Fragility
2. Degradation