engleski

Agricultural Soil Degradation in Croatia

Croatian agriculture has a small impact on the country’s economy (around 4% of the Croatian Gross Domestic Product), but agricultural activities affect agricultural land and reduce quality and productivity. The types of land degradation are not distributed equally in the territory, considering an environmental diversity between the Mediterranean, Mountain and Continental parts of Croatia, different pedological and geomorphological conditions, and cropping and management systems. In Croatia, the most widespread degradation problems are soil erosion by water and soil compaction. Together with soil salinity and soil contamination, these processes decrease soil ability to provide ecosystem services in quantity and quality. Soil compaction and erosion by water present the greatest challenge for soil protection, considering the impact of future climate change conditions. Croatia still has not established comprehensive monitoring of the soils. Thus, currently, the less visible degradation processes in Croatia (microplastics, metal contamination) are not recognized as an important threat to soil quality and productivity. This chapter summarizes the occurrence, distribution, and causes of various physical and chemical soil degradation processes and national reclamation and conservation practices.

Land abandonment ; Machinery traffic ; Sediment detachment ; Soil contamination

nije evidentirano