In a span of less than a decade, the State has seen over 100 sq km of its area becoming irreversibly degraded, says a report by the ISRO.
Using satellite imagery to study the extent of desertification between 2011 and 2013, the report shows that Karnataka is the fifth largest State in terms of degraded land. The State follows the arid Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Jammu & Kashmir in terms of degraded area. Over 36.24 per cent of the geographical area is desertified or degraded. This represents a 0.05 per cent increase since the last report in 2003-05.
However, even this increase represents a worrying trend, said Rajendra Hegde, head of the National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning, Bengaluru, which worked with ISRO for the study. “Degradation has set in in Karnataka and continues to grow as there is no integrated approach to improve soil health… the very definition of degradation means that it cannot be reversed in a man’s lifetime,” he said.
The primary cause of degradation is water erosion (which accounts for nearly a quarter of observable desertification in the State) and vegetation degradation.
“The erosion is most apparent in rain-fed areas where there is an excessive number of sheep and goats. Over-grazing here leads to low regeneration of grassland and is a vicious cycle which sees more erosion,” Mr. Hegde said and added that there needs to be “control” to ensure a balance of number of livestock and carrying capacity of the land.
For Karnataka’s forests, encroachments and lack of maintenance of replanting under forest development programmes have led to land being degraded, he said.
