Wastelands are the degraded and unutilized lands (i.e.) which cannot be used for any fruitful purpose.

These degraded lands are ecologically unstable with almost complete loss of top soil and are unsuitable for cultivation due to decline in their quality and productivity.

The wastelands in the country were placed at 175m.ha. Maximum wasteland area is present in the state of Rajasthan , followed by Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh

 Degraded forestlands Non-forest public degraded lands Private degraded lands

o Culturable wastelands which includes gullied and/or

ravenous land, undulating upland, surface waterlogged land and marsh, salt affected land, shifting cultivation area, degraded forest area, degraded non-forest plantation, sandy area, mining and industrial wasteland, and pasture and grazinglands. o Unculturable wastelands which includes barren, rocky, stony wastes, sheet rock area, steep sloping area and snow covered and/ or glacial area.

 Strip mining

Dumping chemicals from industries

Wastes released from industries Nuclear accidents

Deforestation and over grazing

Natural processes which include undulating uplands,

deserts, snow covered areas etc.

Definition: To recover the land that has lost its productivity and make it usable again.

 Derelict land: Land that is damaged or abandoned and

cannot be put to any use until the damage is repaired.

Wetlands

: Areas that are flooded for all or part of the year with fresh or salt water. : Islands which are manually created.

On Sea

Some real life examples of derelict land are: Sunway Lagoon Park in Malaysia is built by reclaiming the former tin mine area. Bukit Batok Town Park in Singapore is a nature park which is a granite quary before. Advantages: Agriculture Housing Industries Tourism

 These wetlands can be reclaimed by draining excess

water from the lands. Dikes need to be built around the area being reclaimed to prevent more water from going in. After which, the area can then be drained by pumping out the water, or constructing artificial channels called drainage canals. An area that has been drained is usually lower than the surrounding areas. Sand and rocks are fill materials which are most conveniently obtained from nearby hills which are also levelled out in the process. Sand and gravel from the seabed can also be used as fill material.

Some real life examples of wetlands are: Tanjong Karang in Malaysia California in U.S.A Advantages: Agriculture Housing Industries which require more water.

Although as there are no waste lands in sea. Man is creating artificial lands on sea for the need of human activities. Some real life examples are: International airports like Kansai International Airport, Japan and HongKong International Airport The Palm Islands, The World and hotel Burj al-Arab in Dubai. Major cities like California, Wellington, Flevopolder, Rio di Janerio and Mumbai are extending their areas by reclaiming the sea

Advantages: Tourism Increase in land area.

Land development and Leaching: To reclaim the salt affected soil, leaching is done(i.e.) by applying large amounts of water to push down the salts. Drainage: This is required for water-logged soil reclamation where excess water is removed by artificial drainage. Irrigation Practices: surface irrigation with precise land leveling, smoothening and efficient hydraulic design help to reduce water logging and salinity

 Selection of tolerant crops and crop rotation :

tolerance of crops to salts is found to range from sensitive (),semi-tolerant (rice, millets, maize, brinjal, etc,) and tolerant to highly tolerant (barley, sugar beet, and date-palm) Gypsum amendment : amendment of sodic soils with gypsum is recommended for reducing soil soidcity Afforestation and social forestry programmes : NCA launched several afforestation schemes with cope up with the problem of spreading waste land . strip plantation on road ,rail and canal-sides is the major social forestry programme .

Making edible oil: Jatropha curcas is known to thrive on eroded lands, under harsh climate conditions