APPENDIX 1: Hot Spots of Land Degradation

Nutrient Depletion	Salinization	Constraints to Yield Increases	Erosion	Deforestation in Threatened Habitat	Vegetation Degradation	Water Scarcity or Conflict	Agrochemical Pollution
South and West Asia
Mid-altitude hills of Nepal (with decline in nutrient supplements from forests) Poor soil quality in areas of northeastern India in transition to permanent agriculture	Indus, Tigris and Euphrates River basins	Rice-wheat region (unspecified stagnation) Lack of suitable technology for marginal arable lands in Syria. Jordan and Iran	Foothills of the Himalayas Conversion of rangelands in West Asia to grain production, creating erosion		Rangelands, trans-Himalaya, West Asia, Pakistan, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh in India Grazing land in mid-altitude hills of Nepal, India and Pakistan	Conflict in arid and semi-arid regions, especially the Euphrates River (Turkey, Syria and Iraq) and he Jordan River (Syria, Jordan and Israel) Depletion of the water table due to overpumping of wells (Syria)	Heavy use of pesticides on cotton in Turkey
East and Southeast Asia
Nutrient mining in sandy soils of northeastern Thailand and remote upland areas in the region Poor quality soil in Myanmar, degrading in transition to permanent agriculture	Northeastern Thailand and China	Stagnant yields of intensive irrigated rice in dense areas of Java, China, the Philippines and Vietnam (waterlogging, nutrient imbalance)	Sloping areas in southern China and Southeast Asia	Loss of biodiversity with forest clearing Forest frontier of Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos	Expansion of Imperata grasslands in Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines Grazing lands in mid-altitude hills of Myanmar Devegetation of mangroves and drainage problems in coastal peats and acid sulphate soils	Conflict in high density areas Urban water quality problems	Water pollution in high density areas and coastal areas Pollution from peri-urban agriculture Coastal and delta degradation due to sedimentation
Africa
Semi-arid croplands of Burkina Faso and Senegal (leading to outmigration) Large areas under transition to short fallow or permanent cropping Reduction of silt deposits in the Nile Delta following construction of the Aswan High Dam	Nile Delta	Unsustainability of annual crops in humid lowlands of West Africa Densely populated highlands in Rwanda, Burundi and Kenya-no obvious source of productivity increase Lack of suitable technology for crops grown in areas below 300 millimeters of rainfall in North Africa Poorly developed seed industry in North Africa	Subhumid southeastern Nigeria on sandy soils Wind erosion in Sahel Mechanization in North Africa causing water and wind erosion Mechanization with inappropriate plowing techniques, leading to devegetation and loss of topsoil (for example, transition zone in West Africa)	Conflicts between farming and protected areas in Madagascar	Arid and semi-arid rangelands devegetation (for example, Ciskei), particularly near water sources Devegetation due to intensive collection of wood fuel Devegetation due to overstocking (for example, Morocco and Tunisia) Reduced yields due to Imperata and Chromlaena infestation in degraded soils	Water conflicts: Nile River, Niger River, Logone River, Chari River and (pumping for irrigation) Senegal River Exhaustion of irrigation potential in North Africa by 2020 Nile and Senegal River systems problem of allocation of water between agricultural and urban growth
Latin America
Subhumid Central American hillsides Semi-arid Andean valleys Northeastern Brazil Santa Cruz, Bolivia Caribbean Basin lowlands intensification	Northern Mexico Highland irrigation systems South American irrigation zones		Subhumid Central American hillsides Semi-arid Andean Valley Haiti Cerrados of Brazil	Humid Amazon and Central American hillsides Lower Amazon Basin Itapua, Paraguay Pacific rainforest of Colombia and Ecuador Chaco region Atlantic lowlands of Central America	Overgrazing in Haiti Northeast Brazil Lower Amazon Brazil Overgrazing in Caribbean Basin lowlands	Paramo water scarcity	Banana plantation pollution Santa Cruz, Bolivia, intensive agriculture Peri-urban agriculture in Mexico City

Source: Scherr and Yadav (1995)