A German researcher has revealed that Rwanda loses $77 million
due to land degradation every year. Mark Schauer, a scientist
with German-based Economics of Land Degradation, a body that
researches on the global ecosystem, further revealed that the
world incurs a loss of $490bn per year in land degradation. The
Economics of Land Degradation carries out research on land
degradation, while producing systematic tips on how to protect
the environment for sustainable development. He revealed the
disturbing findings during a three-day international conference
on land value held in Kigali last week under the theme "Land
value: Natural Capital and ecosystem services." The meeting
brought together environmentalists, scientists and government
officials from various countries around the globe. Schauer
further said that it takes an average of 200 years for a five
centimeters layer of soil to recover once eroded. "It's not
recoverable in my opinion, Schauer observed, adding that it was
urgent to curb this wanton loss. Scha