Over 45 billion tons of soil are lost to erosion every year. Farmers and agricultural authorities in several countries have succeeded in slowing down erosion with the help of nuclear techniques. Here are their stories from Zimbabwe, Argentina and Sri Lanka.
All over the world, the Earth’s fine soil particles are losing ground to erosion. As 95 percent of food is cultivated in soil, the health and availability of Earth’s living surface impacts the quality and quantity of the food we produce. “Agricultural landscapes lose valuable soil mainly through soil redistribution processes,” said Emmanuel Chikwari, Head of the Chemistry and Soil Research Institute in Zimbabwe. “Once the soil resource is lost, it cannot be replaced for generations.”
While wind and rain will always cause some erosion, this is amplified by improper agricultural practices, overgrazing, deforestation and climate change. Each year, approximately 45 billion tons of soil are displaced from agricultural use, and land is abandoned due to deteriorating productivity caused by erosion. The topic of this year’s World Soil Day is soil erosion — a process that nuclear techniques can help track and mitigate.
Healthy soils play an important role in achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals — on hunger, clean water and the protection of the terrestrial environment. By applying nuclear techniques to measure and monitor the impact of land use and subsequently identify strategies to mitigate erosion, the IAEA, in cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), is working to help conserve this vital resource.