The bar chart illustrates the proportion of land that was affected by deforestation in North America, Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa and Australia in 1990 and 2010.
Overall, Sub-Saharan Africa had the highest percentage of land that lost agricultural productivity during both periods while Europe was least affected.
In 1990, about a quarter of Sub-Saharan Africa experienced adverse effects of desertification on it’s land. The percentage jumped to hit a peak of 30% by 2010 . Similarly, an increasing trend was experienced by North America and Europe, though in smaller increments. In North America, the proportions increased from 12% in 1990 to 15% 2010 as that of Europe rose marginally from 10% to 12%. Notably, the average percentage of land destruction remained the least in Europe.
On the contrary, Australia had a different pattern. While all the other regions went up, land degradation in Australia decreased though with very small margins. In 1990 the total degraded area was 15% . This amount however dropped slightly by about 2% in 2010.
