How does flooding cause erosion

This is already happening in China, where the Grain-for-Green project in the Yellow River basin conserved soil and water and reduced carbon emissions. On the flip side, unchecked climate change can worsen erosion. The risk of erosion will become even higher in the future due to emissions-driven temperature changes, with resulting decreases in agricultural production, land value and human health. Similar erosion-related floods have occurred in many other countries, such as Colombia , India , the Philippines and Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Soil erosion is not only an environmental issue; it also causes huge losses to the economy. The U. This value includes lost productivity, along with sedimentation and water pollution.

Terraced farming needs to be implemented to make hillside agriculture manageable. Terraces prevent erosion and allow more water to flow to crops. In addition, hillside farm fields need full crop cover to help keep the soil in place. This can be accomplished by intercropping, which means growing two crops together in the same field, such as planting rows of maize or soybean between rows of oil palm trees. For smallholders, agroforestry systems where a diverse set of crops, including trees, are grown together can be effective.

Access to manure improves the organic matter of the soil, which inhibits erosion. Finally, alternating deep-rooted and shallow-rooted crops improves soil structure and reduces erosion at the same time. Although the science of sustainable land management has been gaining support, the socio-economic context often makes implementation difficult. Sustainable land practices need to be financially viable for farmers. Governments and banks must help farmers get access to credit and support in implementing erosion prevention.

This is not only a good deal for the farmer, but for the whole community. The key to managing and reducing soil erosion is to rehabilitate already-damaged land , stop further degradation and put erosion-preventative measures at the core of land management policy.

Environmental assessment of soil for monitoring. Review of the classification of landslides of the flow type. Environmental and Engineering Geoscience, 7, Earth Syst. Tier-based approaches for landslide susceptibility assessment in Europe.

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The Magdalena River in Colombia is a dramatic illustration of the changes, and the inter-relationships between economic growth, sediments and flooding. But present-day navigation on the Magdalena is very limited, partly because of excess sediments accumulated in the riverbed.

Two-and-a-half million became climate refugees. One million hectares of cropland were flooded and more than roads destroyed. Colombia is responsible for 5 percent of global forest loss, and ranks seventh in the U. The situation is particularly critical in the Magdalena Basin, where less than 10 percent of the original vegetation cover remains.

Add in mining and construction activities and human contributions could account for almost half of the total sediments of the basin, he said. Most of these sediments end up in a regional system of low-elevation river lagoons and wetlands called the Momposina depression.

This region acts a sort of hydraulic shock absorber, with excess water stored in the lagoons, preventing flooding downstream. Researchers estimate that 20 to 45 percent of the sediments that arrive are trapped in the depression, slowly clogging the system.

The spending plan includes new houses and infrastructure, relocation of communities away from risk areas, and the construction of levees and other hydraulic control structures. This month, the Colombian Ministry of Environment and the U. Actions will include an overhaul of climate information systems, rehabilitation of wetlands, and support for resilient agriculture and institutional capacity-building projects.