A third of Europe threatened by erosion, UN official says
Copyright 2000 Agence France Presse
December 19, 2000
BONN, Dec 19 - Some one third of Europe's fertile land is threatened by erosion, the director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Klaus Toepfer, told a UN-sponsored world conference in Bonn on desertification Tuesday.
Damage to the soil in some parts of southern, central and eastern Europe is so serious that the land can no longer support human life and the eco-system cannot be preserved, Toepfer said, citing the findings of a joint study by UNEP and the European Environment Agency.
The condition of land in Europe is deteriorating through acidification, erosion, pollution, and climate change, as well as denser human settlement and more intensive agriculture, Toepfer said.
He warned that the trends would accelerate unless urgent counter-measures were taken.