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accessInformation:	Created by Environment Agency Abu Dhabi as part of the Abu Dhabi Soil Survey project. Data Origin:EAD.
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description:	<DIV STYLE="text-align:Left;"><DIV><DIV><P><SPAN><SPAN>The soil interpretation for ‘Land Degradation’ evaluates the soil factors that imply the presence of a soil condition that may be limiting to plant growth. Categorizing land degradation in a highly eroded and eroding desert environment is problematic. Thus the evaluation presented here has been developed through a consultative process to obtain a consensus of important factors in this environment. The evaluation deviates from conventional assessments of land degradation that usually consider either the soil’s risk (vulnerability) to erosion and degradation under a given set of circumstances (e.g. irrigated agriculture), or the level of degradation that has occurred as a result of human intervention. In this case the evaluation accounts for long-term natural factors that have led to the land being in a relatively degraded state. Thus a saline soil is considered to be degraded even though this may now be considered its natural condition. Similarly a surface lag of gravels is evidence that erosion has happened in the past. The soils may now be stabilized by this surface cover and erosion may no longer occur though the current evaluation would show them as being degraded. In contrast the dune systems that are by definition evidence of soil particle mobility are evaluated as having no degradation. The ratings are for soils in their natural condition; however they also take present land use into consideration by considering land under forestry or agriculture as being protected and so not degraded.</SPAN></SPAN></P></DIV></DIV></DIV>
licenseInfo:	<DIV STYLE="text-align:Left;"><DIV><P><SPAN><SPAN>The data must be used appropriately for the scale of mapping. Prior to decisions about land use more detailed site inspection is likely to be required to develop detailed understanding of soil and site characteristics related to the planned use.</SPAN></SPAN></P></DIV></DIV>
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title:	Land Degradation
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tags:	["Agriculture","Environment","Land Use Planning","Strategic Planning","Research","Engineering","Education and Public Awareness","Soil Survey","Abu Dhabi Emirate","United Arab Emirates","Current 2009","Full depth of 200cm","or the Pedon Control Section or 100 cm as defined in The USDA Soil Survey Manual","Deep drilling extends to 5 meters or 10 meters","Soil Science","Pedology","Soil Classification"]
culture:	en-US
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minScale:	150000000
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