Soil loss due to water runoff could increase greatly around the world over the next 50 years due to climate change and intensive land cultivation.
Soil loss due to water runoff could increase greatly around the world over the next 50 years due to climate change and intensive land cultivation. This was the conclusion of an international team of researchers led by the University of Basel, which published the results from its model calculation in the scientific journal PNAS.
Soil erosion has far-reaching consequences. For example, it results in a loss of fertile soil, reduces agricultural productivity and therefore threatens the food supply for the world’s population. Based on a global model, the new study now predicts how soil loss from water erosion is likely to change by the year 2070.
Erosion is the process by which soil is carried away by wind and, above all, water. Intensive agricultural land use and agricultural methods that increase erosion, along with deforestation and overgrazing, are responsible for accelerating the loss of soil. In addition, in some parts of the world climate change is expected to further increase the amount of precipitation that will erode the soil.
Read more at University of Basel
Image: Erosion by water: Sprinkler irrigation creates runoff and erosion of the soil (in the foreground); seasonal rainfall increases the effect. (Photo: Lance Cheung, US Department of Agriculture | Public domain)
