Making soil erosion understandable and governable at the river basin scale for food, water and hydropower sustainability in Latin America
Funded by and , a Chilean government agency
Principle Investigator: Professor Will Blake (UK) and (Chile)
This soil is lost mostly through unsustainable agricultural and forestry practices. But the impact of this soil erosion affects those very same industries by reducing farmland, polluting waterways that supply the fishing industry and aquaculture and reducing hydropower capacity due to reservoir siltation.
At the same time, the demand for global food production is increasing with estimates suggesting it will need to grow by 70% to feed the world’s growing population.
Soil erosion is complex in its nature and slow moving – its impact cannot always immediately be seen. It poses a serious threat to water and nutrient retention, biodiversity and plant primary productivity on agricultural land. Yet, agro-ecological practices can stop it and even reverse it.
