1.   The report notes that a combination of soil degradation and poor rainfall have increased food shortages and poverty.

2.   Among the litany of environmental problems it lists soil degradation, groundwater pollution, low quality of drinking water, deteriorating air quality and deforestation.

3.   The survey, by Khon Kaen University, shows severe soil degradation, soil fertility loss, salinity and deforestation in the region.

4.   Fertile lands in the highlands suffer from severe soil degradation, erosion and extensive deforestation.

5.   Morocco already is producing competing products with even fewer environmental restraints than in Andalusia, and the soil degradation here is being replicated in the oases over there.

6.   High temperatures, drought, floods and soil degradation likely will diminish food production in arid, tropical and temperate parts of Asia.

7.   That is not to mention the problems of pollution, soil degradation and consequent cycle of droughts and floods which will follow.

8.   In Somalia, soil degradation contributed to the outbreak of clan fighting, political instability and the breakdown of social structures, according to the study.

9.   Soil degradation, erosion in particular, is a major problem in Europe especially in the Mediterranean area.