How do human-induced factors influence soil erosion in developing countries?
Kirschke, D. | Morgenroth, S. | Franke, C.
Soil erosion has reached an alarming extent in many developing countries.Theoretical literature points to socioeconomic conditions such as poverty, to population pressure and agricultural intensification as main causes. However, the empirical basis for the various and often contradictory hypothesis is narrow, and without exception restricted to the local context. The authors make use of the first global assessment of soil degradation data (GLASOD), in order to empirically identify specific socioeconomic, demographic, land use and also natural determinants of soil degradation, and to quantify their relative impact. Based on the GLASOD data and on data sets for the considered determinants, an exploratory analysis for 73 developing countries and 62 variables is carried out covering the period 1961-1990. Factor analysis is used to effectively reduce the number of determinants and to prepare regression analysis. The regression results for different agroecological zones show, that up to 75 percent of the extent to which a country's land area is eroded can be explained. They also indicate, that besides the natural conditions, population pressure in combination with deforestation and an intensive use of land resources have had a significant and important impact on soil erosion in the past decades. On the other hand, the significance of poverty for soil erosion can not be confirmed by the data. The results suggest that research and policy efforts to reduce soil erosionshould focus more specifically on the increase in population carrying capacities of agricultural land through sustainable intensification, on forest policies and on the alleviation of the effects, that soil degradation has for the poor.
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