Soil erosion has been recognized as one of the biggest problems of agriculture worldwide and even more so in developing countries. This dissertation models the dynamic effects of soil erosion both at the farm level and its off-site cumulative effects on inland wetlands by using optimal control theory. Based on a productivity approach, two empirical procedures are derived from the theoretical model. One procedure relies on a limited data set to estimate the shadow price of soil erosion. The other procedure estimates the off-site impacts of soil erosion on wetland services, specifically flood control, that have been gradually reduced due to sedimentation between 1975 and 2001. These estimates of on-site and off-site impacts of soil erosion are then used to assess the cost of agricultural modernization due to environmental degradation and to establish a baseline for policy analysis. The empirical studies are done in a watershed of about 1.4 million hectares located in the south of CÃ3rdoba, Argentina, where agricultural modernization driven, mainly by market forces, has been gradually moving away from low input to intensive agriculture. This transformation is causing an increase in production but it is also reducing the long-term productivity of agriculture had and degrading wetlands. The results show that agricultural modernization has gradually increased the cost of soil erosion. Between 1986 and 1999, the total cost imposed by agricultural modernization was between $182 and $316 million in real 2000 dollars. Assuming that the historical trend holds, the baseline measured by the net present value loss (at a 6% of discount rate) for the next 30 years will be about $121 million, which includes $81 million lost due to future wetland degradation and $40 million lost due to increasing the soil erosion rate on-site. The results also suggest that loss of wetland services by degradation can be as important as the loss of the wetlands themselves. However, the former is often ignored in the political agenda. Finally, the study concludes that along with agricultural modernization, a policy to control soil erosion and prevent inland wetland degradation should be established.

First published in 1985. This book examines wide variety of ways in which environmental deterioration, in particular soil erosion, can be viewed and the implicit political judgements that often inform them. Using the context of developing countries, where the effects tend to be more acute due to underdevelopment and climatic factors, this work aims to examine this source of uncertainty and make explicit the underlying assumptions in the debate about soil erosion. It also rejects the notion that soil erosion is a politically neutral issue and argues that conservation requires fundamental social change. This title will be of interest to students of environmental and developmental studies.

Contents: Dirt poor: poverty, farmers and soil resource investment/ by Leslie Lipper; Methodological issues in analysing the linkages between socio-eocnomic and environmental systems/ by Dan Osgood and Leslie Lipper. Includes 1-page abstracts in French, Spanish and Arabic

This volume deals with land degradation, which is occurring in almost all terrestrial biomes and agro-ecologies, in both low and high income countries and is stretching to about 30% of the total global land area. About three billion people reside in these degraded lands. However, the impact of land degradation is especially severe on livelihoods of the poor who heavily depend on natural resources. The annual global cost of land degradation due to land use and cover change (LUCC) and lower cropland and rangeland productivity is estimated to be about 300 billion USD. Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) accounts for the largest share (22%) of the total global cost of land degradation. Only about 38% of the cost of land degradation due to LUCC - which accounts for 78% of the US$300 billion loss – is borne by land users and the remaining share (62%) is borne by consumers of ecosystem services off the farm. The results in this volume indicate that reversing land degradation trends makes both economic sense, and has multiple social and environmental benefits. On average, one US dollar investment into restoration of degraded land returns five US dollars. The findings of the country case studies call for increased investments into the rehabilitation and restoration of degraded lands, including through such institutional and policy measures as strengthening community participation for sustainable land management, enhancing government effectiveness and rule of law, improving access to markets and rural services, and securing land tenure. The assessment in this volume has been conducted at a time when there is an elevated interest in private land investments and when global efforts to achieve sustainable development objectives have intensified. In this regard, the results of this volume can contribute significantly to the ongoing policy debate and efforts to design strategies for achieving sustainable development goals and related efforts to address land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.

Soil erosion has become a problem of crisis proportions in developing countries around the globe, and better approaches to land management are desperately needed. This book provides analytical frameworks to guide the creation and appraisal of soil erosion control programs. The authors discuss a broad range of important issues involved in designing and implementing more effective soil conservation programs. The book begins with a discussion of the physical and economic dimensions of soil erosion and an estimation of the extent of the problem. It then explains how to improve the evaluation of soil conservation programs by integrating scientific knowledge with economic methods and procedures. A series of practical illustrations graphically demonstrates the application of the concepts derived from the theory. The most important organizational, institutional, technical, and macroeconomic aspects of soil and land management appraisal are outlined, and the major elements of project or program design are also pinpointed and illustrated. Finally, the book suggests areas most in need of future research.