Environmental and economic costs of soil erosion and conservation benefits
Abstract
Soil erosion is a major environmental threat to the sustainability and productive capacity of agriculture. During the last 40 years, nearly one-third of the world's arable land has been lost by erosion and continues to be lost at a rate of more than 10 million hectares per year. With the addition of a quarter of a million people each day, the world population's food demand is increasing at a time when per capita food productivity is beginning to decline.
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The effects of fire retardants on terrestrial ecosystems is negligible based on actual use, though some plants may be more sensitive.
“The effects on terrestrial ecosystems is negligible based on actual use, 145,146 though some plants may be more sensitive.147”
From The costs and losses of wildfires: a literature survey (2017) · cites this paper as [147]
Despite its limitations, GLASOD remains the only complete, globally consistent information source on land degradation and has been widely used and interpreted.
“Despite its limitations, GLASOD remains the only complete, globally consistent information source on land degradation and has been widely used and interpreted (e.g., Bot, Nachtergaele, & Young, 2000;Crosson, 1995Crosson, , 1997;;Pimentel et al., 1995;Sonneveld & Dent, 2007).”
From Mapping the world's degraded lands (2015) · cites this paper as Pimentel et al., 1995
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- Authors
- Pimentel, D., Harvey, C., Resosudarmo, P., Sinclair, K., Kurz, D., McNair, M., Crist, S., Shpritz, L., Fitton, L., Saffouri, R., & Blair, R.
- Affiliations
- Cornell University (US)
- 5126 Comstock Hall, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853-0901, USA.
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 1995-02-24
- Volume
- 267
- Issue
- 5201
- Pages
- 1117-1123
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- OpenAlex
- W2050154560
- Cited by
- 2,861
- References
- 72
- Citations by year
- 2026: 83 · 2025: 117 · 2024: 111 · 2023: 135 · 2022: 110 · 2021: 137 · 2020: 149 · 2019: 148 · 2018: 142 · 2017: 142 · 2016: 131 · 2015: 130 · 2014: 128 · 2013: 118 · 2012: 128
- FWCI
- 87.78
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil erosion and sediment transport
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Socioeconomics of Resources and Conservation
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil Science and Environmental Management
- Keywords
- soil erosion, soil conservation, environmental costs, arable land loss, agricultural productivity, food demand, sustainability of agriculture
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