Environmental Science W3 Q2

Land Quality Standards

Environmental Science W3 Q2 • provide physical space for settlements, industry and
recreation
Land Quality Standard
• influence the global energy balance and the global
What is celebrated every 5th of December?
hydrological (water) cycle, and provides both a source and a
World Soil Day sink for greenhouse gases

Land Quality Standards • regulate the storage and flow of surface water and
groundwater
Land
• buffer, filter or modify chemical pollutants
➢ is defined as the solid part of the surface
• store and protect evidences from the historical or pre-
of the earth historical record (fossils, evidence of past climates,

➢ comprises the physical environment, including climate, archaeological remains, etc.)

plant and animal communities, soils, water resources and • enable or inhibit movement of animals, plants and people
vegetation between one area and another

Functions of land Land Use

• store properties for individuals, groups, or communities ➢ refers to the purpose the land serves, for example,

• produce food, fiber, fuel or other organic materials for Settlements, recreation, wildlife habitat or agriculture.
human use
➢ ‘wild’ or ‘natural’ land- land that is not being used by
• Store minerals and raw materials for human use humans for any purpose

• provide biological habitats for plants, animals and micro-

organisms
Environmental Science W3 Q2
Land Quality Standards
➢ ‘semi-natural’- land that is only lightly used by humans,
with little disturbance of the natural processes that take
Land Characteristic •
place on it
How many percent of the Earth’s total land surface is ideal
Land Characteristic for crops?
> 10%
➢ is an attribute of land that can be measured or estimate
• What are the three ways in which farmers can grow food
➢ Examples: slope angle, rainfall, soil texture, available
on nearly 40% of the land?
water capacity, biomass of the vegetation, etc.

Land Quality
> Technology, Innovation and Best Management Practices
➢ is the suitability of land for a specific kind of use
Land Characteristic
➢ is the condition, state or "health" of the land relative to
human requirements, including agricultural production, • How important is sustainable land management?
forestry, conservation, and environmental management
> Land management is important to avoid land degradation
➢ the ability of the land to perform specific functions and restore overused land.
without becoming degraded
Land Management
➢ Examples of factors to be considered for land quality
•Why do we need healthy soil?
are moisture availability, erosion resistance, flooding
hazard, nutritive value of pastures and accessibility. •How important is soil quality to land management?

•What is the negative impact of intensive use of

agricultural landscape?

Land Degradation
Environmental Science W3 Q2
Land Quality Standards
➢ the temporary or permanent decline in the productive National Land Use Scheme Purpose:
capacity of the land, and the reduction of the productive
a) to provide a rational, orderly and efficient acquisition,
potential, including its major land uses, its farming
utilization and disposition of land and its resources in order
systems, and its value as an economic resource.
to derive therefrom maximum benefits; and
Land Degradation b) to encourage the prudent use and conservation of land
resources in order to prevent an imbalance between the
➢ Some causes of land degradation are erosion,
nation’s
salinization, soil compaction and organic matter loss.
needs and such resources.
➢ Climate change, pressures from increasing population
and unsustainable land use practices such as burning have
also led to increasing land degradation and a reduction in
the ecosystem services our land provides.

➢ One of the effects of degradation is desertification

wherein fertile land becomes a desert and becomes
incapable of supporting life.

•What is the purpose of National Land Use Scheme?