The bar chart compares the main causes of agricultural land degradation in three regions of the world: North America, Europe and Oceania.
Overall, the leading cause of land degradation varies across the three regions. Over-grazing is the most significant factor for land destruction in Oceania, whereas deforestation is the main cause in Europe. In contrast, over-cultivation is the major fact for land degradation in North America. Moreover, Europe recorded higher percentage of land degradation as compared to other two regions.
In Europe, deforestation is the primary cause for land destruction, accounting for 9.8%, following by over-cultivation, which is around 8%. In addition, over-grazing is also a known cause which contributes to land degradation, with figures just over 5%. Similarly, other causes contribute approximately 7%. However, in Oceania, over-grazing is by far the most important factor, with numbers up to 10%. By comparison, deforestation contributes only 1.7% to land degradation, while 0.3% is attributed to other causes. No land degradation in Oceania is caused by over-cultivation.
On the other hand, North America shows different pattern. In this region, the major problem with land degradation is over-cultivation (3.7%). In contrast, 1.8% of land destruction is resulted from over-grazing, while deforestation and other causes have only a minor impact.