Soil erosion caused by water, wind and tillage, is a major problem affecting both agriculture and the natural environment. This book provides an up-to-date overview of soil erosion and environmental management from a global perspective, which will serve as an introductory textbook for students across a wide range of subjects, as well as professionals involved in continuing education. It draws on several disciplines, including soil science, geomorphology, hydrology, engineering, agriculture and broader aspects of land use from social and environmental contexts. It shows how soil erosion and soil loss are caused, monitored and predicted, and the effect on agricultural productivity and ecosystem services which these can cause. It includes material on issues that have been neglected in other books, such as erosion's off-site impacts, historical erosion, the measurement of erosion (and of its impacts), the need for long-term monitoring, and the economic and societal costs of erosion, including for biodiversity and climate change. The authors demonstrate how different agricultural and land use practices can limit or control erosion, and highlight the challenges of enabling change among farmers. Numerous case studies from around the world, including Europe, USA, Africa, China and Australia, are included as Boxes, to aid student learning. Additional resources are also provided on the authors' well-known website soilerosion.net.

Author Biography

John Boardman is an Emeritus Fellow at the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford, UK, and Honorary Professor at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. He has edited or co-edited several books including Soil Erosion in Europe (2006), Soils and Quaternary Landscape Evolution (1985), Periglacial Processes and Landforms in Britain and Ireland (1987), Soil Erosion on Agricultural Land (1990), Soil Erosion Past and Present (1992) and Modelling Soil Erosion by Water (1998). Bob Evans is a Visiting Fellow at the Global Sustainability Institute, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK. He was an advisor to the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution when it produced its report in 1996 on The Sustainable Use of Soil. He is author of the book Soil Erosion and its Impacts in England and Wales (1996), and co-author of Air Photo-interpretation for Soil Mapping (1977). He previously worked for the Soil Survey of England and Wales and has undertaken numerous consultancy projects on soil erosion. David Favis-Mortlock is a Visiting Researcher at the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford, UK. He was previously a lecturer at Queen's University, Belfast. He is co-editor of the book, Modelling Soil Erosion by Water, and runs the website soilerosion.net.