Intensive grazing by animals on an area of land, particularly rangelands and grasslands, such that vegetation is damaged and the soil becomes liable to erosion by wind and rain, sometimes resulting in desertification. The main pressures leading to widespread overgrazing have been the need to increase the size and numbers of domestic herds to produce more food for an increasing human population, and the transformation of traditional pasture land into plantations to grow cash crops. (Source: GEMET/WRIGHT)