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Soil Erosion Threatens Food And Environment

A recent Cornell University study reports that around the world, soil is being washed away 10 to 40 times faster than it is being replenished, and it is destroying cropland the size of Indiana every year.

 

David Pimentel, professor of ecology at Cornell, reports in a recently published issue of the Journal of the Environment, Development and Sustainability (Vol. 8, No. 1, Feb. 2006), soil erosion is one of the most serious environmental and public health problems facing human society, second only to population growth. Pimentel includes that although soil erosion is slow, it is an insidious process, which can be easily controlled by protecting soil with cover crops when the land is not being used to grow other crops.

 

According to reports, the bulk of human food comes from cropland (99.7 percent) versus less than 0.3 percent, which comes from the oceans and other aquatic ecosystems. Compare those figures to cropland that is shrinking by more than 10 million hectares (almost 37,000 square miles) a year due to soil erosion, with more than 3.7 billion people suffering from malnourishment.

 

Pimentel stated, "Erosion is one of those problems that nickels and dimes you to death: One rainstorm can wash away 1mm (.04 inches) of dirt. It doesn't sound like much, but when you consider a hectare (2.5 acres), it would take 13 tons of topsoil - or 20 years if left to natural processes - to replace that loss. And that kind of loss occurs year after year by wind and rain around the world."

 

Within the study were the following statistics on soil erosion:

  • As a result of erosion over the past 40 years, 30 percent of the world's arable land has become unproductive.

  • About 60 percent of soil that is washed away ends up in rivers, streams and lakes, making waterways more prone to flooding and to contamination from soil's fertilizers and pesticides.

  • Soil erosion also reduces the ability of soil to store water and support plant growth, thereby reducing its ability to support biodiversity.

  • Erosion promotes critical losses of water, nutrients, soil organic matter and soil biota, harming forests, rangeland and natural ecosystems.

  • Erosion increases the amount of dust carried by wind, which not only acts as an abrasive and air pollutant but also carries about 20 human infectious disease organisms, including anthrax and tuberculosis.

 

In 2003, Georgia (GA) House Bill 285 amended the GA Erosion and Sediment Control Act of 1975. These amendments included a groundbreaking mandatory certification program for all individuals within GA involved in land development, design, review, permitting, construction, monitoring, inspection or any land-disturbing activity. These individuals must receive certification by the end of the year - December 31, 2006.

 

Sierra Piedmont can help you stay on track to ensure you meet the new training requirements in soil and erosion, which enables you to help protect our food and environment from soil erosion. The following training course are being offered monthly: Level IA, which includes installation, maintenance, and inspection or Best Management Practices (BMP) on construction sites; Level IB, which includes the inspection of Erosion, Sedimentation and Pollution Control Plans (ES&PC), planning/review, and local program overview criteria; and Introduction to Design Level 2, which includes the design and review of ES&PC.

 

For more information or to download the training schedule, please access our website, http://www.sierrapiedmont.com. Or contact Stacey Dorrell by phone (770) 792-6200, x104 or email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).