from an environmental point of view unsustainable land use is an important factor in land degradation may pose a threat to ecosystems and lead to natural habitat loss and landscape changes degraded land includes land affected by soil erosion deterioration of the physical chemical and biological or economic properties of soil andor longterm loss of natural vegetation in many developing countries it is a major cause of poverty and further environmental damage due to overuse of national resources the indicator can also be seen as an overall measure of the reduction in quality of land resources