The pie chart below shows the main reasons why agricultural land becomes less productive. The table shows how these causes affected three regions of the world during the 1990s.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
The pie chart compares four causes of farmland becoming degraded in the world today, while the table illustrates how these four causes affected differently in three regions in the 1990s.
Overall, it is clear that animal grazing and tree clearance were two dominant causes of land degradation. it is worth noting that europe suffered the most severely from farmland degradation.
globally, 65% of degradation is caused by too much animal grazing and deforestation, constituting 35% and 30% respectively. A further 28% of global degradation is caused by over-cultivation of crops, while other causes accounted for only 7%.
Regarding regions affected. europe, with the highest percentage of land degraded (23%), had nearly 10% of degradation due to deforestation, while the impact of this cause on oceania and north america was minimal, recording only 1.7% and 0.2% of land degraded, respectively. europe also suffered from over-cultivation (7.7%) and too much grazing (5.5%). In contrast, oceania had 13% of degraded farmland mainly due to over-grazing (11.3%). Furthermore, north america had the lowest proportion of degradation (5%), and the most prominent causes were over-cultivation (3.3%) and, to a lesser extent (1.5%).
