Land is one of our most real assets and one of our major natural non-renewable resources. It provides all the fundamental needs. Thus it is a valuable life-supporting resource and needs to be taken care of and preserved. But today most of the fertile landmasses are converted into an unproductive wasteland due to a number of natural and anthropogenic activities. The land which was once biologically productive has been degraded or totally destroyed and left in a state that it cannot be used even for leisure or recreational activities. The causes are over utilization of forest, overgrazing, desertification; mining, unscientific land management etc. This has transformed vast stretches of land covering to sterile lands. With ever increasing demand for agricultural lands and afforestation programmes, there is an urgent need to make a large bulk of this waste land productive and fertile. This is only possible through sustainable scientific methods of restoration and reclamation. Reclamation is the process by which derelict or highly degraded lands are returned to productivity and by which some measure of biotic function and productivity is restored. This paper reviews the major causes of wasteland generation and some of the practical methods of their reclamation and ecorestoration.
Degraded land, derelict land restoration, reclamation, rehabilitation
