High demographic pressure on land

Due to burgeoning human and livestock population in the country, there has been large scale degradation of available natural resources, both in quantitative as well as qualitative terms. Degradation of natural resources is ongoing and being aggravated by continuous over-exploitation of soil, water, and vegetation resources, leading to frequent nutrient deficiencies, decline in soil health, in situ chemical degradation of soil, depleting water table and ground cover, loss of biodiversity, water erosion (93.6 million ha), formation of ravines (2.51 million ha), and pollution of water bodies. As such, degradation in the state of natural resources is leading to serious threats to environmental quality and food security.

Factors contributing to land degradation in India

Large land degradation in India (146.02 million ha) can be attributed to a variety of factors, mainly intensive agriculture; improper crop rotations; shifting cultivation; unscientific, arbitrary, and non-sustainable land management practices; excessive irrigation and salinity in unlined canal command areas; imbalances in fertilizer use and over-exploitation of soil nutrients; excessive pumping of underground water; overgrazing and grazing of forests; deforestation beyond permissible limits; forest fires; open cast mining; extension of agriculture on marginal, sloping, and steep lands; and socioeconomic factors, mainly poverty.

Need for sustainable resource management

This is a crucial and high time for reverting the process of degradation of natural resources through suitable region-specific technological options; realistic planning, execution, monitoring; and investments to address environmental and food security concerns in the country.

About the book

This book entitled “Conservation of Natural Resources for Food and Environmental Security” contains 43 chapters under seven major themes. It deals with the status of natural resources; management and efficient utilization of water resources; conservation technologies for food and environmental security; livelihood security and watershed management; rehabilitation of problem soils; governance and policy issues for community empowerment; regional experiences; and future thrust areas. The book is contributed by eminent scientists, scholars, and officers with rich experience in natural resource conservation and management for sustaining environmental quality and food security amidst India’s growing population.

We hope that this book will be highly valuable to scientists, teachers, scholars, policymakers, managers, and extension agencies working in the field of natural resource management in the country in the years to come.