GROUP - 4

• Land may be defined as the solid component of the

earth which goes deeper than the surface.
• It may be a portion of the Earth’s surface which could
be owned as a property.
• It may also refer to a nation or country.
• Prof. Ernesto Serote describe land as a natural
resource, an economic good, a property and a
territory.
• As a natural resource, land has ecological functions.
• Land in cities are usually more expensive than those in rural areas.
• In a commercialized urban area a square meter (1 m2) of prime lot could
cost as much as a hundred thousand pesos (₱100,000) while in an
agricultural rural area a hectare (10,000 m2) of land cost about twenty
thousand pesos (₱20,000).
• Some families have owned huge tracts of land or landed estates, also known
as haciendas, since the Spanish colonial period in the Philippines.
• They usually pass on the ownership of land from generation to generation.
• This power of ownership extend to all the areas within the boundary of the
country.
• This also includes the air space above these territories, as well as the soil,
water and other components below the surface.
• Sovereignty refers to the independence of the country to rule over its people
and manage its resources
• There are physical, chemical, and social problems which arise from
how we manage the soil and land.

• Soil as an important resource provides us with a number of materials

and chemicals which cannot be found in the hydrosphere or the
atmosphere.

• Erosion is the transfer of soil particles and its other components into
another place.

• Wind and Water are two major agents which bring about this
transfer.
• Rainwater, hail and snow bring about changes in the landscape is one
of the leading causes of pollution of bodies of water.

• When water becomes turbid, it results to less penetration of sunlight

and less photosynthetic reactions take place within the river or lake.

• Removal of plants and trees from vegetated and forested areas

hastens soil erosion. This happens because the plants roots that hold
the soil together are removed.

• Sedimentation is one of the leading causes of pollution of bodies of

the water
• Overgrazing occurs when the livestock that grave in a grassland are beyond the carrying capacity.

• Desertification this is a condition in which the soil has become very dry and infertile due to the absence of
the plant nutrient and the presence of too much salts.

• Salinization results when the concentration of salts ions builds up in the soil.

• The plant nutrients actually contain salt ions such as potassium (K +), Sodium Na+), nitrate (NO3-), chloride (CI-),
and phosphate PO4-3).

• Waterlogging in this case the soil becomes oversaturate with water. The plant roots are submerged in water
and plants eventually die.

• Leaching is the process of removing or extracting the components of a soluble material with the help of a
solvent which, in soil, is usually water.

• Pesticides contaminate the bodies of water through irrigation runoff.

• The disastrous effect of the mining is so huge that it can also leand to deforestation, desertification, soil
erosion, air and water pollution, and even health risks to humans and animals.
• Mercury is used to extract gold from its ore, mercury contamination of the soil and water became a common
problem in many gold mining sites.

• A prominent example is the Mt. Diwata (Known also as Mt. Diwalwal).

• To provide safeguard, the government can declare an environmentally critical area placing it under its control
and protection.