LAND DEGRADATION THROUGH EROSION IN ROMANIA IN THE ECO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CONTEXT

Land degradation through erosion is a global problem with cascading effects on the environmental components at regional and local level. Recent researches show that the land area affected by water erosion in Europe is about 12% [7] [12]. Deforestation, inappropriate agricultural techniques, intensive grazing and abandonment or lack of land reclamation activities have gradually led to increased erosion and land degradation. These anthropogenic factors are associated and amplify the effects of natural factors. Corroboration of natural and anthropogenic causes led to the extension of degraded land, which today occupies over 2% of the land fund in Romania. These lands are total unproductive due to physical and chemical degradation processes. To these are added the agricultural areas affected by various limiting factors. Agricultural land, particularly arable and pasture, are the most subject to degradation, water erosion being the most important limiting factor, which affects about 6.3 million ha (43.2% of agricultural land). In this paper is analyzing the land degradation phenomenon in Romania in recent decades, based on the data provided by the National Institute of Statistics (INSSE).