Land-cover change, land degradation and biodiversity loss: causes and case studies

What this note covers

1. Land cover and land use are not the same thing
2. What drives land degradation: overgrazing, clearing, erosion and salinity
3. Biodiversity loss: habitat, fragmentation and knock-on extinction risk
4. Worked example: reading a land-cover and biodiversity data table
5. Human drivers behind the pattern
6. Feedback into ecosystem services
7. Management responses that address the specific cause
8. How this is examined and what a specific case study needs

8 sections · 11 key terms & formulas · 6 common mistakes