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Life on Land pp 1–14Cite as

Habitat Degradation: Pressures, Threats, and Conservation

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Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals ((ENUNSDG))

Definition

The word habitat comes from the Latin verb habitāre, meaning “to live in a place,” and is the frequentative form of habēre, meaning “to have or to hold.” One of the most commonly cited definitions of habitat is from the Convention on Biological Diversity, according to which habitat is a place or type of site where an organism or population naturally occurs. Degradation is a process by which something changes to a worse condition. Hence, habitat degradation is a process by which habitat quality deteriorates and which poses one of the main threats to biodiversity.

Introduction

Over the past decades, we have been witnessing a deterioration in the quality of the environment, the depletion of natural resources, and natural disasters all becoming more frequent. Ecosystems have been significantly changed over the last 70 years; nearly every ecosystem has been impacted by human activity. Humanity faces a shared responsibility for growth in accordance with the principles of...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Forestry, Department for Landscape Architecture and Horticulture, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia

    Marija Nešić & Ivana Bjedov

Authors
  1. Marija Nešić
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  2. Ivana Bjedov
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marija Nešić .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. European School of Sustainability, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

  2. Center for Neuroscience & Cell Biology, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    Anabela Marisa Azul

  3. Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Passo Fundo University Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Passo Fundo, Brazil

    Luciana Brandli

  4. HAW Hamburg, Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Amanda Lange Salvia

  5. International Centre for Thriving, University of Chester, Chester, UK

    Tony Wall

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Crop Sciences, College of Agricultural and Marine Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman

    Muhammad Farooq

  2. Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan

    Muhammad Farooq

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Nešić, M., Bjedov, I. (2020). Habitat Degradation: Pressures, Threats, and Conservation. In: Leal Filho, W., Azul, A., Brandli, L., Lange Salvia, A., Wall, T. (eds) Life on Land. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71065-5_65-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71065-5_65-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-71065-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-71065-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Earth and Environm. ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences

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