The pie chart gives information about the major reasons of worldwide land degradation, while the table shows how these causes impacted three regions during the 1990s.
Overall, what stands out from the pie chart is that the percentage of over-grazing and deforestation were generally the highest reasons, while other causes’ proportion of land degradation was considerably lower. In terms of causes of land degradation by region, Europe was the region most affected by land degradation, mainly due to deforestation, whereas North America was the least affected region.
To begin with, over-grazing had the highest proportion of land degradation, with around 35%. Over -cultivation was almost as high as deforestation, 28% compared to 30%. In contrast, other causes of land degradation took place less, at mere 7%.
Regarding to causes of land degradation by region, Europe had the highest percentage of degraded land, at 23%, with deforestation accounting for 9,8%, over-cultivation for 7,7%, and over-grazing for 5,5%. This was followed by Oceania with 13%, where over-cultivation took place the most, with 11.3%, compared to 1,7% from deforestation and over-cultivation was at mere 0%. With regards to North America, it had by far the lowest figure, at only 5% overall, mainly due to over- cultivation at 3,3%, while over-grazing and deforestation contributed, at 1,5% and 0,2% respecti
vely.