Land - the land is used or can be used in human activities. Of the 149.4 million square kilometers. land surface 134,000,000 sq km. falls on its land bank. Diagrams to map the structure of land fund and its distribution across different regions of the planet.
greatest human impacts have agricultural land and land settlements. Agricultural lands are the most productive. Arable land (cultivated land) - is part of the land fund, from which humanity gets to 80% of food products. Availability of arable land in regions of the world is very uneven. It depends on natural conditions and the level of agricultural development of the territory, culture, economy. Among the regions of the world's highest percentage of arable land is allocated Europe. Here, the least unsuitable for land-use, high culture of management, mostly favorable climate and topography. Among the countries most arable lands are USA, India, China, Japan, Kazakhstan, Ukraine. Each year an area of agricultural land decreases. The reasons for this are open-pit mining, flooding of land being built reservoirs, low culture of management (as a result - the degradation of land and its desertification). Under the degradation of agricultural land, scientists understand the depletion of land fertility decline and soil erosion, pollution, reducing the biological productivity of natural pastures, salinity and waterlogging of irrigated areas. At the same time, population growth and decline zemleobespechennosti require an increase in arable land and more efficient use of already cultivated land.
Geography of Natural Resources
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