What is India losing by not conserving its land?

05 Feb 2018
Dr Pia Sethi

land degradationAn assessment of the costs of land degradation in six different parts of India

India aspires to be land degradation-neutral by 2030, and for good reason. Land degradation has far-reaching consequences and affects the wellbeing of the environment, the country's economy and its people. In fact, its repercussions are felt across all life forms. A TERI study on the economic costs of land degradation revealed the following –

  • In 2014-15, the cost of land degradation and land use change ate up to 2.54% of India’s gross domestic product (GDP)
  • Of this, 82% of the estimated cost was on account of land degradation and only 18% due to land use change
  • The economic cost of forest degradation accounts for over 55 per cent of the total cost of land degradation
  • In physical terms, forest degradation ranks second in its contribution to India's degraded land area
  • The total investment required to reclaim India’s degraded land is lower than the annual costs of land degradation

To find out more about land degradation, read the executive summaries below. The study is a micro-economic assessment in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid regions in six states of the country.

Vol I: Macroeconomic assessment of the costs of degradation in India

Vol II: Six micro-economic case studies

Themes