Land degradation is a major issue worldwide and poses a threat to the sustainability of agriculture and economic development of many third world countries. which statement best describes the major cause of land degradation in these countries?

The correct answers are: Poverty, land shortage, increasing population.

The land degradation throughout the world, but especially in the less developed countries, is a major issue, and there's multiple reasons for that.

The poverty is one of the major reasons, where people only think short term as to how to produce something, and do not take into consideration the damage that they are causing to the soil, and that actually it will bounce back on them on the long run.

The land is limited, and not all of it is arable land, which makes it even more scarce. The fact that more and more food is needed, means that the production should increase as well, but unfortunately, that is made unplanned, and instead of increasing the productivity and make it sustainable, the land is used, destroyed, and than people move on on other land.

The increasing population means more mouths to feed, thus more food production is needed. To the land, that means that more of it is used, and unfortunately in a bad manner, where it ends up degraded.