Alternatives for erosion control by using conventional coverage, non-conventional coverage and revegetation

Abstract

Humankind's unsustainable behaviour regarding land-use has negative effects on the environment, leading to loss of fertility and degradation and desertification; this has a direct impact on the decline and deterioration of water resources, soil erosion and thus changes in the weather leading to drier conditions. The foregoing are caused by the misuse of soil. The way soil resources have suffered gradual deterioration has become evident in Colombia during recent years; this has been produced by erosion and the removal of mass caused by various factors including physical and chemical erosion. All the above, together with negative events such as global climate change and the sedimentation of rivers, means a negative environmental impact. Soil erosion and desertification are major environmental issues regarding disturbances and threats affecting the arid, semiarid and dry sub-humid Mediterranean region's geo-ecosystems in the third millennium; additionally, economic global change may exacerbate such problems (Ingram et al., 1996; Williams et al., 1996). Regarding soil deterioration, soil vegetation cover and erosion control and mitigation measures should be introduced by using mechanisms which should be as natural as possible and do not induce fresh impacts on the environment. This literature review has thus documented the state of the art regarding several alternatives for erosion control currently involving bioengineering.