Population pressure in Asia is causing deforestation of the Himalayan foothills in Nepal, India and Pakistan, and a consequent loss of the soil. Demand for agricultural land for farming and wood for firewood and furniture and construction materials, as well as over-grazing by animals, causes the soil loss. The same process is occurring in the Andes in Peru, Colombia and all the other Andean countries. In Africa, the Ethiopian Amhara plateau, and the Kenyan, Tanzanian and Ugandan highlands, are all being deforested. In the Alps, the hill agricultural populations have drastically declined in France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Italy and Yugoslavia, while the tourist population increases. Developments have already destroyed much of the land.
Soil erosion is increasing in many hilly sections of both developed and developing countries through the extension of cultivation onto sleep slopes in an inappropriate manner, especially when accompanied by extensive deforestation.