Problem
Even though scientists have been studyingsoil erosion for centuries, the problem of declining food security caused by land degradation has yet to be adequately solved. At Alterra, this problem of diminishing productivity is being tackled by deploying knowledge of processes and technological expertise in combination with applied research on soil erosion. This is in line with the slogan of WageningenUniversity and Research Centre: 'Safe Food in a Vital World'.
Research done by Alterra
Alterra conducts applied research on soil erosion in the context of international projects funded by the European Union, governments and NGOs. At the core of many of the projects is ‘the participatory approach’, which entails involving farmers and other interested parties. Important perspectives in the projects in which Alterra scientists are working are agronomy, biophysics and social economics. Alterra contributes expertise in soil physics, the interactions between soil, water and plants, landuse analysis, and modelling. High-tech equipment from Alterra is deployed in support of the necessary measuring campaigns.
Projects
Examples of projects from around the world:
Europe
Limburg: research on soil erosion in the cultivated loess area in the Netherlands. This is where the LISEM soil erosion model was developed.
Asia
China: the EroChina (1998 – 2001) and EroChinut (1999 – 2002) projects (both co-funded by the EU) were to do with soil and nutrient losses on the Chinese loess plateau. Soil erosion modelling was combined with participatory landuse planning; the result was a sustainable strategy.
India, Nepal and Pakistan: the Himalayan Degradation project (2000 – 2005) was to do with soil and forest degradation in the Himalayas. Models of soil degradation and bio-economics were combined in order to produce landuse plans to promote reafforestation, the abatement of soil degradation and the economic betterment of the local people.
Africa
Ongoing projects in rural areas of West and East Africa are addressing the exhaustion of soil nutrients and the soil erosion resulting from intensive farming.
Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania: NUTMON, EROAHI (2000 – 2004, co-funded by the EU) and the Policy East Africa projects.
The sub-humid agro-ecological zone of West Africa: the IVC (V1) and VINVAL projects.
Oceania
As a result of the high population density, unsustainable methods of farming are being used on the islands of Oceania. The CROPPRO project (2001 – 2004, co-funded by the EU) set out to develop integrated farming methods, in order to achieve sustainable farming. It entailed performing a socio-economic analysis of the local situation and then defining alternative methods of farming in consultation with the actors involved. This resulted in customised recommendations being prepared for each group of islanders, to help them achieve sustainable use of their land.
South America
The Maroons and indigenous people on the Guyana shield in South America are repositories of knowledge about agroforestry systems in the jungle. But there is such enormous pressure on production that the management of the forest area is no longer sustainable. In the GUYAGROFOR project, Alterra is seeking to integrate local knowledge into sustainable land use that has economic potential.
World
The DESIRE project was started in 2006 and is due to end in 2011. It focuses on the problems of desertification in semi-arid areas in Asia, Africa, Europe, South America and Australia. There are 28 partners and Alterra is responsible for coordination. The aim of the project is to develop promising landuse strategies for 16 soil degradation and desertification ‘hotspots’ in the world.
References
Websites
www.geog.uu.nl/lisem
www.erochina.alterra.nl
www.erochinut.alterra.nl
www.eroahi.alterra.nl
www.croppro.alterra.nl
www.guyagrofor.alterra.nl
Publicaties
Erik van den Elsen, Yun Xie, Baoyuan Liu, Jannes Stolte, Yonqui Wu, Kim Trouwborst and Coen J. Ritsema, Intensive water content and discharge measurement system in a hillslope gully in China, CATENA, Volume 54, Issues 1-2, 30 November 2003, Pages 93-115.
Erik van den Elsen, Rudi Hessel, Baoyuan Liu, Kim O. Trouwborst, J. Stolte, Coen J. Ritsema and Harry Blijenberg, Discharge and sediment measurements at the outlet of a watershed on the Loess plateau of China, CATENA, Volume 54, Issues 1-2, 30 November 2003, Pages 147-160.
Hessel, R., Van den Bosch, R., Vigiak, O., 2006. Evaluation of the LISEM soil erosion model in two catchments in the East African Highlands. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 31, 469-486
Hessel, R., 2006. Consequences of hyperconcentrated flow for process based erosion modelling on the Chinese Loess Plateau. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 31, 1100-1114
Hessel, R., 2005. Effects of grid cell size and time step length on simulation results of the Limburg soil erosion model (LISEM). Hydrological Processes 19, 3037-3049
Rudi Hessel, Victor Jetten and Zhang Guanghui, Estimating Manning's n for steep slopes, CATENA, Volume 54, Issues 1-2, 30 November 2003, Pages 77-91.
Rudi Hessel and Theo van Asch, Modelling gully erosion for a small catchment on the Chinese Loess Plateau, CATENA, Volume 54, Issues 1-2, 30 November 2003, Pages 131-146.
Rudi Hessel, Victor Jetten, Baoyuan Liu, Yan Zhang and Jannes Stolte, Calibration of the LISEM model for a small Loess Plateau catchment, CATENA, Volume 54, Issues 1-2, 30 November 2003, Pages 235-254.
Rudi Hessel, Ingmar Messing, Chen Liding, Coen Ritsema and Jannes Stolte, Soil erosion simulations of land use scenarios for a small Loess Plateau catchment, CATENA, Volume 54, Issues 1-2, 30 November 2003, Pages 289-302.
Guobin Liu, Mingxiang Xu and Coen Ritsema, A study of soil surface characteristics in a small watershed in the hilly, gullied area on the Chinese Loess Plateau, CATENA, Volume 54, Issues 1-2, 30 November 2003, Pages 31-44.
Ingmar Messing, Liding Chen and Rudi Hessel, Soil conditions in a small catchment on the Loess Plateau in China, CATENA, Volume 54, Issues 1-2, 30 November 2003, Pages 45-58.
Coen J. Ritsema, Introduction: soil erosion and participatory land use planning on the Loess Plateau in China, CATENA, Volume 54, Issues 1-2, 30 November 2003, Pages 1-5.
Stolte. J., C.J. Ritsema and J. Bouma. 2005. Developing interactive land use scenario’s on the Loess Plateau in China, presenting risk analyses and economic impacts. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 105:387-399.
Jannes Stolte, Bas van Venrooij, Guanghui Zhang, Kim O. Trouwborst, Guobin Liu, Coen J. Ritsema and Rudi Hessel, Land-use induced spatial heterogeneity of soil hydraulic properties on the Loess Plateau in China, CATENA, Volume 54, Issues 1-2, 30 November 2003, Pages 59-75.
J. Stolte, B. Liu, C. J. Ritsema, H. G. M. van den Elsen and R. Hessel, Modelling water flow and sediment processes in a small gully system on the Loess Plateau in China, CATENA, Volume 54, Issues 1-2, 30 November 2003, Pages 117-130.
Jannes Stolte, Effects of land use and infiltration behaviour on soil conservation strategies, Doctoral Thesis. September 2003. Alterra Scientific Contributions 11, ISBN 90-5808-854-5.
Yongqiu Wu, Kunqing Xie, Qingchun Zhang, Yan Zhang, Yun Xie, Guanghui Zhang, Wenbo Zhang and Coen J. Ritsema, Crop characteristics and their temporal change on the Loess Plateau of China, CATENA, Volume 54, Issues 1-2, 30 November 2003, Pages 7-16.