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The Asia and Pacific region covers about 23 per cent of the total land
area of the Earth. The most critical land issues are degradation (including
desertification), land use change and soil contamination. Population growth
and high population density, poor land management practices, and emerging
inequities in land and resource access have been the major driving forces
for change over the past 30 years. Pressures behind degradation problems
vary across the region. Overgrazing, overcropping and overuse of inorganic
fertilizers are issues in most sub-regions while mining, logging, monocropping
and alien invasive species have had dramatic outcomes in the Pacific Island
countries (PICs).
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