Page 49 - Soil Degradation, Conservation and Remediation

34 1 Soil Resources and Soil Degradation

Fig. 1.7 Open dumping of municipal wastes at the edge of Chittagong Metropolitan area,
Bangladesh (Photo courtesy of Dr. Animesh Biswas)

of Cd. Poultry and pig manures add some zinc, arsenic, and copper. Pesticides,
another group of agrochemicals, include insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides.
Some organophosphorus compounds, organochlorines, the carbamates, and the
pyrethroids are used as pesticides. They are highly toxic chemicals, and some are
persistent. Their indiscriminate use is not desirable. Soil degradation due to agro-
chemicals has been described in soil pollution (Chap. 6 ).

1.7.2 Institutional Initiatives for Assessment
of Land/Soil Degradation

Current status of soils is not widely known on a global scale, although wide infor-
mation on some other natural resources like forests, water, air, and biodiversity may
be obtained. The FAO–UNESCO Soil Map of the World is the only available map,
which has a fully global coverage. This map is at a scale of 1:5M, based on soil
survey data prior to the 1970s. The United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP) formulated a project proposal for Global Assessment of the Status of
Human-Induced Soil Degradation (GLASOD) in 1987 which developed methodol-
ogies to create soil and terrain databases. The main objective of the GLASOD proj-
ect was to strengthen global awareness of policy makers and decision makers of the
dangers resulting from inappropriate land and soil management. The project also