Abstract
There is a continual reference to the loss of natural resources and environmental deterioration; however, concepts such as land degradation, deterioration and desertification are ideas implicitly understood in environmental discourses. The meaning of these terms supposes their application at different scales of approximation and different spheres; nevertheless, they are neither clearly defined in an individual manner nor in the relation they have with one another. The fact that said concepts are vague, are used as synonyms or have multiple facets has consequences when the process is assessed, since the environmental aspects that have to be taken into account to characterize degradation become vague as well.
The essay gathers various ideas that have been stated recently around the concept of environmental deterioration and its application in rural areas. We revise the studies that some authors have carried out to assess this phenomenon directly or indirectly and its possible relations with continual socioeconomic elements. A definition and a classification of the process of environmental degradation are proposed on the basis of a case study developed in La Montaña de Guerrero region, Mexico, which is briefly explained.
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