Water Conservation Research Research Articles

Overview of the III International Conference on Environmental Technologies and Engineering for Sustainable Development –ETESD-III 2024

Abstract This overview presents the key themes and outcomes of the III International Conference “ETESD - 2024,” held in Tashkent from October 17 to 19, 2024. It details the participants and proceedings, highlighting significant trends in environmental protection, biodiversity preservation, and the innovative technologies applied in agriculture. The conference addressed urgent challenges related to preventing environmental damage and discussed future prospects for advanced technologies in food production, soil protection, tillage, water conservation, and environmental research. Additionally, the event fostered dialogue on the integration of earth space systems into these critical areas, aiming to promote sustainable practices and collaborative solutions for pressing environmental issues. List of Programme Committee and Organizing Committee are available in this Pdf.

Response of Soil Moisture to Four Rainfall Regimes and Tillage Measures under Natural Rainfall in Red Soil Region, Southern China

Investigating the effects of natural rainfall on the soil moisture for sloping farmland is extremely important for comprehending a variety of hydrological processes. Rainfall regimes can elicit different responses to soil moisture at the depth of soil layers, and the responses may differ depending on the landscape position of the sloping farmland. This paper utilized the surface runoff natural rainfall and soil moisture measured on sloping farmland with conventional tillage and contour tillage in the red soil area of China to investigate the influence of natural rainfall events on soil moisture content and to evaluate if the response results were consistent across the four rainfall regimes. Natural rainfall events were classified into different four regimes in line with rainfall duration, rainfall amount, and the maximum 30 min rainfall intensity (I30) by the k-means clustering method, including advanced, intermediate, uniform and delayed regimes. The result showed that the advanced regime was the predominant one in the study area, which represented 45.9% of the total rainfall events. The rainfall regimes influenced the surface runoff coefficient and runoff depth on sloping farmland for conventional and contour tillage, with the uniform regime generating the highest runoff coefficient (5.20% and 5.82%) and runoff depth (2.00% and 2.05%), respectively. For the conventional tillage, soil moisture at a depth of 0–20 cm increased appreciably when the rainfall amount was larger than 20 mm and larger than 30 mm for the advanced regime. For the contour tillage, soil moisture in 20–40 cm layer increased for the advanced regime when the rainfall amount was larger than 15 mm and 30 mm, while the values were modified with rainfall duration and the antecedent dry day (ADD). A longer rainfall duration had a more obvious effect on soil moisture increasing in deep soil. At a depth of 20 cm, the ADD showed an appreciably positive correlation with the increment in soil moisture, which means that a brief ADD produces a compounding effect for a natural rainfall event. The present results underline the complexity of the effect of the rainfall events on soil moisture under two tillage measures for different rainfall regimes and suggest that the advanced regime significantly affects the distinction of soil moisture and the contour tillage can effectively reduce soil water loss and enhance water storage on the sloping farmland with red soil, presenting a theoretical basis for local soil and water conservation research and sloping farmland conservation tillage management.

USE OF PLANT GROWTH PROMOTING RHIZOBACTERIA CONTAINING ACC- DEAMINASE ACTIVITY FOR IMPROVING GROUNDNUT YIELD IN RAINFED AREA

Groundnut (Arachis hypogea) is amongst the most valuable leguminous cash crops grown in rainfed areas. The role of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) containing ACC-deaminase is considered vital promoting plant roots under moisture deficit conditions. Under these circumstances a research experiment was conducted at the farm area of Soil and Water Conservation Research Institute, Chakwal in association with PMAS Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi for 3 years consecutively during 2015-2017. The main objective of the experiment was to exploit and evaluate the impact of PGPR deaminase activity on yield of groundnut crop. The four treatments included farmer practice (no compost & inoculums), with inoculums, with compost and compost + inoculums in 4 replications under RCBD. The improvement recorded in the pod yield of groundnut was 12 %, in the number of pods plant-1 by 20 % and the shelling percentage by 2 % by application of the treatment inoculum + compost. Conclusively, it was ascertained that PGPR containing ACC-deaminase application is an effective approach to enhance groundnut crop production and soil characteristics of degraded soils under rainfed scenario.

Effects of rainfall and the slope gradient on the soil and water loss in a purple soil area

Soil and water losses in purple soil area is becoming an increasingly severe problem, bringing enormous challenges to environmental protection in rural areas. In this study, simulated rainfall experiments were conducted to analyse the effects of rainfall and the slope conditions on the soil and water loss. Purple soil from a typical slope in the Beibei District of Chongqing was selected as the experimental soil. Twenty rainfall scenarios with varying rainfall intensities and slope conditions were created in the simulation. The results indicate that the runoff initiation time shortened with an increased rainfall intensity and slope gradient. There was a logarithmic relationship between the effect of the rainfall amount on both the runoff intensity and sediment yield intensity. Generally, both the runoff and sediment yield showed a positive linear relationship with the rainfall intensity under different slope gradient conditions. In terms of the same rainfall intensity, both the runoff intensity and sediment yield intensity increased with the slope. Furthermore, a critical slope gradient for the soil and water loss was found between 20° and 25°. This study aimed to provide a reference for soil and water conservation research in a purple soil area.

Citizen Science as an Innovative Approach to Analyze Spatial and Temporal Influences on Nitrate Pollution of Water Bodies: Results of a Participatory Research Project in Germany

Anthropogenic influences and the excessive input of reactive nitrogen compounds into the environment have already severely destabilized the natural nitrogen cycle. Especially in northwestern Germany, many water bodies are polluted by nitrate, inducing negative effects on the ecosystem and drinking water as well as possible risks to human health. In cooperation with almost 600 citizens and 200 students, this issue was addressed in a citizen science project carried out by the Universities of Osnabrück and Oldenburg, gathering 8754 nitrate measurements at 545 monitoring sites from September 2019 to March 2021. The data were used to evaluate the potential of citizen science for research on nitrogen pollution of water bodies. In a pre-investigation, we proved that nitrate test strips are suitable as a measurement method for the citizen science approach to provide an overview of nitrate pollution. We then analyzed whether the citizen science approach can be used to establish an area-wide representative measurement network, to what extent the data can be used for spatial and temporal analyses, and whether the data are consistent with the results of other monitoring initiatives. For this purpose, geoprocessing tools, such as spatial joins and heatmaps, were combined with descriptive statistics and nonparametric statistical tests. Although it was not possible to establish a representative monitoring network due to the uneven spatial distribution of monitoring sites, a large part of the intended area was covered by monitoring sites. Thus, the data provide a good overview of the nitrate pollution in the region and shed light on influencing factors. Spatial impacts, such as land cover and use and hydrogeological conditions, as well as seasonal impacts were statistically evidenced with the citizen science data. Furthermore, the consistency of the data with the measurement results of established measurement initiatives confirm the quality of the citizen science dataset. Accordingly, citizen science can be used to investigate spatial and temporal factors influencing nitrogen pollution, and thus contributes to water conservation research as an innovative approach.

Forty Years of Soil and Water Conservation Policy, Implementation, Research and Development in Indonesia: A Review

Dominated by mountainous topography, high rainfall, and erosion-sensitive soil types, and with the majority of its population living in rural areas as farmers, most of Indonesia’s watersheds are highly vulnerable to erosion. In 1984, the Government of Indonesia established 22 priority watersheds to be handled, which marked the start of formal soil and water conservation activities. Although it has not fully succeeded in improving watershed conditions from all aspects, something which is indicated by fluctuations in the area of degraded land, over the past 40 years the Indonesian government has systematically implemented various soil and water conservation techniques in various areas with the support of policies, laws and regulations, and research and development. These systematic efforts have shown positive results, with a 40% reduction in the area of degraded land over the last 15 years from 2004–2018. This paper reviews policy, implementation, and research and development of soil and water conservation activities in Indonesia over the last 40 years from the 1980s to 2020 and explores the dynamics of the activities.

Characteristics of Dissolved Organic Carbon Loss in Purple Soil Sloping Fields with Different Fertilization Treatments

The characteristics of dissolved organic carbon loss with different fertilization treatments were examined to derive the best nutrient management method for sloping farmland in the Three Gorges Reservoir area where maintaining the soil carbon balance and reducing environmental pollution caused by carbon loss is crucial. Experimental runoff plots were set up at the Experimental Station for Soil and Water Conservation and Environmental Research in the Three Gorges Reservoir Region, Chinese Academy of Sciences, involving the following five treatments:No fertilization (CK), conventional fertilization (conventional), optimum fertilization (optimum), biochar combined with 85% optimum fertilizer (biochar), and straw combined with 85% optimum fertilizer (straw). The effects of the five treatments on runoff flux, sediment yield, and soil organic carbon flux were monitored and evaluated. Results show that:①Subsurface flow accounted for 52.84%-92.23% of the runoff (both surface and subsurface flow) and the loss flux of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in the subsurface accounted for 43.64%-87.35% of the total loss flux. Thus, in this sloping farmland, subsurface flow was the main pathway of runoff and dominated dissolved organic carbon transport. ②Compared with the optimum treatment, straw treatment reduced the surface runoff flux, sediment yield, surface loss flux of DOC, and loss flux of organic carbon in the sediment by 30.39%, 39.41%, 28.71%, and 23.97%, respectively, but increased the subsurface runoff flux and loss flux of DOC. Compared with the optimum treatment, the biochar treatment significantly increased the surface and subsurface runoff flux, sediment yield, loss flux of DOC in the surface and subsurface, and the loss flux of organic carbon in the sediment. ③The loss flux of DOC accounted for 99.31%-99.94% of the loss flux of soil organic carbon, and DOC was the major species of organic carbon in the organic carbon loss in this type of sloping farmland. The loss flux of DOC under the different fertilization treatments was ranked biochar > optimum > straw > conventional > CK. ④Compared to the optimum treatment, the straw treatment and biochar treatment increased the soil organic carbon (SOC) content by 95.79% and 32.16%, respectively. Based on these results, straw combined with 85% of optimum fertilizer is the best nutrient management method for this sloping farmland as it can reduce surface runoff flux, sediment yield, and the loss flux of soil organic carbon while increasing the soil organic carbon content.

A spatial analysis of high and low farmer participation in the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Conservation Technical Assistance program in West Virginia

The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is a federal agency that provides financial and technical assistance to farmers to aid them with soil and water conservation. NRCS offers no-fee technical assistance and conservation planning through the Conservation Technical Assistance (CTA) program, which encourages farmers to engage in voluntary conservation practices without financial incentives. As part of a wider study evaluating farmer participation in the CTA program in West Virginia, and NRCS’s organizational capacity to deliver it, a spatial modeling process was adapted to identify the sample population. This CTA program participation spatial modeling process utilized applied CTA practice points to conduct hot spot analyses, exploratory regression, ordinary least squares regression, geographic weighted regression, and land use analysis in a progressive manner to identify high and low farmer participation in the CTA program at the county level. The purpose of this paper is to explain and discuss that process and how the results were used to acquire a more comprehensive empirical data set, consisting of local interviews and mail survey data, for investigating the many factors that influence participation. Results had the added benefit of finding possible areas for NRCS outreach to underserved farmers. We contend this spatial modeling process uses readily available data sets and easily replicable techniques that contribute a relevant and robust method for soil and water conservation research in general and is highly applicable to other government and nongovernmental conservation programs that seek to identify communities for outreach.

Effect of straw-incorporation into farming soil layer on surface runoff under simulated rainfall

Returning crop straw into farmland is an important application and effective soil amendment method as it can increase soil organic matter to improve soil fertility and crop yield. In addition, this practice can help retain soil moisture and slow down the rainfall runoff rate, particularly on sloping farmland. This study uses laboratory experiments with a silt loam soil to examine the effects of wheat straw incorporation into cultivated farmland soil on rainfall-runoff. The experiments involved four straw incorporation rates (0 (control), 2, 4, and 8 t/ha), three rainfall intensities (80, 120 and 160 mm/h) and three slope gradients (10, 15 and 20°), carried out by a completely randomized combination design, with three repetitions. In all the experimental runs, the total rainfall amount was 100 mm per event. Our experimental results showed that the duration of runoff initiation time at straw incorporation rates of 2, 4 and 8 t/ha were increased by 1.63% to 104.93%, 6.16% to 111.67% and 15% to 141.25%, while the total runoff amounts decreased by 11.74% to 28.81%, 24.21% to 49.67% and 38.90% to 65.93%, compared with those of our control group (0 t/ha). The effects of straw incorporation on the runoff initiation delay time and runoff reduction were significant, particularly when the rainfall intensity was 120 mm/h and the slope was 10°. With increases in rainfall intensity and slope gradient, the runoff initiation time durations were decreased and the runoff rate increased. In conclusion, incorporating wheat straw into the farmland soil can delay the runoff initiation time and reduce runoff volume, to significantly increase rainwater storage into soil, thereby increasing the rainwater utilization rate and to benefit soil erosion control. This study can provide a data basis for farmland soil and water conservation research and practice.

Dynamic changes in soil erosion risk and its driving mechanism: A case study in the Loess Plateau of China

AbstractThe Loess Plateau has long been considered as a very fragile area that suffers from serious water erosion. With the onset of global climate fluctuations and regional implementation of soil and water conservation measures, it is of great significance to effectively reveal the variations in soil erosion risk and its driving mechanism on the Loess Plateau. Taking the Yanwachuan watershed as a case study and using rainfall, soil, digital elevation model (DEM) and land‐use data, this study applied the Revised Universal Soil loss Equation (RUSLE) model with geographic information system (GIS) technology to analyse the temporal and spatial variations of soil erosion risk and to evaluate the effects of land‐use change and climate change on soil erosion from 1981 to 2016. Future soil erosion risk was also assessed under different land‐use and climate‐change scenarios. Results showed that annual soil loss in the Yanwachuan watershed presented a significant decreasing trend with a rate of 47.928 t km−2 a−1 and that average annual soil loss was 3,543.7 t km−2 from 1981 to 2016. However, some areas, even with good vegetation cover, still had a rather high soil erosion risk (exceeding the severe erosion rate of 5,000 t km−2 in 2000–2016) if located in hilly and gully slope regions. Land‐use change and climate variation contributed 37.2% and 62.8%, respectively, to reducing soil erosion, showing that climate variation played a leading role in current soil‐erosion reduction. In addition, the average soil losses in the 2020s, 2030s and 2040s under different scenarios are predicted to increase by 8.6–42.6% compared with the average soil loss (2,993.8 t km−2) in 2001–2016. Future climate change may be the main driving factor in enhancing the risk of soil erosion. Hence, there is an urgent need to strengthen soil and water conservation research and management in future years.Highlights This study assessed current and future water erosion risk on the Loess Plateau using the RUSLE model. Areas with steep slopes were still experiencing serious soil erosion risk in 2000–2016. Climate change was the main driving factor for soil erosion variation. Future erosion risk is expected to increase under different climate and land‐use scenarios.

Discussion on Plants of Soil and Water Conservation Research in Jiangxi Province

The configuration of plants of soil and water conservation resources is an important “source” and “sink” of ecological construction. Plants of soil and water conservation are of great significance for the control of soil erosion. However, in the practice of comprehensive management of soil and water conservation in Jiangxi Province, the selection range of plant resources for soil and water conservation is limited, and the plant varieties are not abundant. Therefore, it is one of the important ways to enrich the resource base of plants of soil and water conservation and improve the ecological environment of red erosion area in Jiangxi Province to screen out plants of soil and water conservation and corresponding configuration models with development value for Jiangxi Province and evaluate the benefits of plants of soil and water conservation configuration model in typical project areas.

Energy-efficient and ecologically friendly technology for growing potatoes under straw mulch

Energy-efficient and ecologically friendly technology for growing potatoes under straw mulch

Terrace extraction based on remote sensing images and digital elevation model in the loess plateau, China

Terraces are important objects of soil and water conservation and land use surveys in the Loess Plateau and considerably impact soil erosion and agricultural production. Obtaining the spatial distribution of terraces has great significance for soil and water conservation research and government policy-making. A new method of terrace extraction was proposed in this study based on remote sensing images and digital elevation model (DEM) used as experimental data. The extraction method combines Fourier transform and digital terrain analysis. First, by analyzing the spatial and frequency domain characteristics of the terraced image, we determined the analysis window to be 50 × 50, whereas the area having a direction maximum energy value greater than 0.25 and image standard deviation greater than 2000 was considered as the terraced candidate. Then, the positive terrain was automatically extracted from the DEM based on the regional growth method, and the terraces on the positive terrain were obtained. After a series of morphological image processing methods were conducted, the final terraces were extracted. The results showed that the accuracy of drawing and user accuracy of terrace extraction were 79.0% and 73.5%, respectively. Compared with the object-oriented method, it was found that the proposed method was more reliable and accurate. This method developed in this study has the characteristics of simple operation, strong universality, and high precision and can be applied to soil and water conservation monitoring and land use surveys in the Loess Plateau.

Soil Water Conservation: Dynamics and Impact

Human needs like food and clean water are directly related to good maintenance of healthy and productive soils. A good understanding of human impact on the natural environment is therefore necessary to preserve and manage soil and water resources. This knowledge is particularly important in semi-arid and arid regions, where the increasing demands on limited water supplies require urgent efforts to improve water quality and water use efficiency. It is important to keep in mind that both soil and water are limited resources. Thus, wise use of these natural resources is a fundamental prerequisite for the sustainability of human societies. This Special Issue collects 15 original contributions addressing the state of the art of soil and water conservation research. Contributions cover a wide range of topics, including (1) recovery of soil hydraulic properties; (2) erosion risk; (3) novel modeling, monitoring and experimental approaches for soil hydraulic characterization; (4) improvement of crop yields; (5) water availability; and (6) soil salinity. The collection of manuscripts presented in this Special Issue provides more insights into conservation strategies for effective and sustainable soil and water management.

祁连山区典型草地生态系统土壤抗冲性影响因子

PDF HTML阅读 XML下载 导出引用 引用提醒 祁连山区典型草地生态系统土壤抗冲性影响因子 DOI: 10.5846/stxb201612282691 作者: 作者单位: 作者简介: 通讯作者: 中图分类号: 基金项目: 中国工程院咨询研究项目（2014-XZ-31-3） Analysis of factors impacting soil anti-scourability of typical grassland ecosystems on the Qilian Mountains Author: Affiliation: Fund Project: 摘要 | 图/表 | 访问统计 | 参考文献 | 相似文献 | 引证文献 | 资源附件 | 文章评论 摘要:为探索祁连山区典型草地生态系统土壤抗冲性的影响因子及其效应，采用野外实地放水冲刷法，以一定体积的冲刷水流含沙量为指标，对土壤抗冲性进行了研究，并调查了海拔、坡度、植被高度、植被覆盖度、地上生物量、根系密度、生物多样性、土壤质地等因子，利用通径分析研究了各因子与土壤抗冲性的关系。结果表明：①土壤抗冲性与海拔、植被覆盖度、根系密度和土壤砂粒体积分数呈极显著正相关（P < 0.01），而与坡度和土壤粉粒体积分数呈极显著负相关（P < 0.01），与地上生物量和物种丰富度呈显著正相关（P < 0.05），与植被高度不具备显著相关性；②通径分析结果显示，植被覆盖度和根系密度是影响祁连山区典型草地生态系统土壤抗冲性的主导因素，植被覆盖度对土壤抗冲性的影响主要表现为强烈的直接作用（0.660），而根系密度对土壤抗冲性的直接作用相对较小（0.286），有较大一部分影响表现为间接作用（0.174）；③径流含沙量随植被覆盖度和根系密度的增加明显减少，植被覆盖度与径流含沙量间的关系可用指数或对数形式表达，根系密度与径流含沙量间的关系可用指数形式表达。研究显示，在祁连山区典型草地生态系统，与海拔、坡度、地上生物量、植物多样性、土壤质地等因素相比，植被覆盖度和根系密度对土壤抗冲性的影响作用更突出，提高植被覆盖度与根系密度能够有效增强土壤抗冲性。该研究可为祁连山区的土壤侵蚀规律研究及效益评价提供依据。 Abstract:As a typical ecological functional zone in northwest China, the Qilian Mountains play an important role in soil and water conservation research for alpine and semi-arid areas. Soil anti-scourability (AS) is an important indicator of the ability of soil to resist flow erosion. To investigate the AS and the factors that impact in typical grassland ecosystems on the Qilian Mountains, the sediment yield of surface runoff was set as an index, artificial field flume experiments were carried out, and correlation, regression analysis, and path analysis were used to analyze the effects of topography, vegetation, and soil properties on AS. Correlation analysis showed that the AS was positively correlated with altitude, vegetation coverage, root density, and sand content at P < 0.01, negatively correlated with slope and silt content at P < 0.01, and positively correlated with vegetation diversity and above-ground biomass at P < 0.05. However, it had no significant correlation with average height of grass. Correlation analysis also showed that there were correlations between some factors (e.g., vegetation coverage and above-ground biomass, altitude, and vegetation coverage), which suggested that there was multicollinearity among factors. To eliminate the multicollinearity and identify the crucial factors, path analysis was used. Path analysis showed that vegetation coverage and root density were crucial factors for the AS of grass ecosystems on the Qilian Mountains. The direct and indirect path coefficients of vegetation coverage were -0.660 and -0.075 respectively, and the direct and indirect path coefficients of root density were -0.286 and -0.174 respectively. This indicates that the influence of vegetation coverage on AS was mainly an intense direct effect, whereas the influence of root density had a weaker direct effect, and there were quite a few non-negligible influences with indirect effects on the AS of root density. The overall contributions of vegetation coverage and root density to the regression equation's R2 were 0.485 and 0.132, respectively. This suggests that vegetation coverage was a more crucial influence factor than root density. Regression analysis was used to determine the relationships between AS and vegetation coverage, and AS and root density. The AS increased obviously with vegetation coverage and root density, the exponential function y=19.73e-0.02x-3.12(R2=0.57,P < 0.001)could be used to express the relationship between the sediment yield of surface runoff and vegetation coverage, and the exponential function y=11.15e-191.57x+0.8(R2=0.69,P < 0.001)could be used to express the relationship between the sediment yield of surface runoff and root density. This research indicated that vegetation coverage and root density should be considered key factors in the search for soil erosion rules and benefit evaluations on the Qilian Mountains. Thus, it could be used to increase vegetation coverage and root density of grassland ecosystems by protecting existing vegetation and spreading seeds of plants with well-developed root systems to control soil erosion on the Qilian Mountains. It also provided valuable information for general ecological research. 参考文献 相似文献 引证文献

Ecosystem Services Valuation of Lakeside Wetland Park beside Chaohu Lake in China

Wetland ecosystems are one of the three great ecosystems on Earth. With a deepening of research on wetland ecosystems, researchers have paid more and more attention to wetland ecosystem services such as flood mitigation, climate control, pollution prevention, soil-erosion prevention, biodiversity maintenance, and bio-productivity protection. This study focuses on a lakeside wetland ecosystem in Hefei, a city in central China, and estimates the value of ecosystem services such as material production, air purification, water conservation, biodiversity, recreation, species conservation, education and scientific research. We adopted the market value method, carbon tax method, afforestation cost method, shadow engineering method and contingent value method (CVM) using questionnaire survey data during the study period. The results show that the total value of the ecosystem services of Lakeside Wetland Park was 144 million CNY in 2015. Among these services, the value of society service is the maximum at 91.73 million CNY, followed by ecological service and material production service (42.23 million CNY and 10.43 billion CNY in 2015 respectively). When considering wetland ecosystems for economic development, other services must be considered in addition to material production to obtain a longer-term economic value. This research reveals that there is scope for more comprehensive and integrated model development, including multiple wetland ecosystem services and appropriate handling of wetland ecosystem management impacts.

Technology for Rehabilitation of Yamuna Ravines - Cost-Effective Practices to Conserve Natural Resources through Bamboo Plantation

The present study evaluated bamboo ( Dendrocalamus strictus ) based resource conservation in the Yamuna ravines at Central Soil and Water Conservation Research and Training Institute, Research Centre, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. Ravine lands are highly degraded dry lands and 3.97 m ha area is affected by ravines in India. One ravine micro watershed of 2.8 ha area was planted with two rows of bamboo in staggered manner as vegetative barrier for the analysis of hydrological and economic aspect of bamboo plantation. Hydrological results showed that runoff has been reduced from 9.6% to 1.8% and soil loss from 4.2 to 0.6 t/ha/year in the last 4 years. Based on bamboo growth performance, average value of culm height and culm collar diameter have been recorded as 3.80 m and 22.50 mm, the value of average crown size and number of culms per clump being 3.93 m and 18 numbers respectively. Further, the soils under bamboo plants improved in terms of decreased pH and enhanced soil organic carbon. The economic analysis suggested a cash outflow of Rs 48,000 ha -1 from 7th year onwards to the stakeholders in the region, in addition to the benefits accrued to society at large in terms of value of nutrient (Rs 2125-5555 ha -1 ) saved through soil conservation. This study recommends bamboo plantation for productive and protective utilization of such degraded lands. It also suggests that the high cost of establishment for individual stakeholders can be met through subsidies and banks' financial inclusion programme in developing countries such as India. Further, public funding can also be routed through appropriate budgetary provisions in development plans of corporate entities involved in the rural development in the country.

Climate change impact on design and costing of soil and water conservation structures in watersheds

A study was carried out to determine the effect of cli-mate change on design rainfall and its effect on design and costing of soil and water conservation structures in watersheds. For this study, the micro watershed located at Central Soil and Water Conservation Research and Training Institute, Research Centre, Research farm, Vasad was selected and rainfall data from 1957 to 2012 was used. The analysis showed that as a result of climate change, there is significant in-crease in number of extremely heavy rainfall days as well as rainfall amount. The design rainfall of various soil and water conservation structures has increased by 11%, 30% and 38% for design of staggered con-tour trenches, contour bunds and check dams respec-tively. The cost of construction of staggered contour trenches, contour bunds and check dams in water-sheds has increased by 26%, 28% and 12% respec-tively. This study reveals that, there is a need to account for design and costing of soil and water con-servation structures in the light of the climate change and a relook into the watershed programmes of the central Gujarat region of India.

Comprehensive analysis of relationship between vegetation attributes and soil erosion on hillslopes in the Loess Plateau of China

In soil and water conservation research, vegetation is considered to be a primary factor affecting soil erosion. Many studies focus on the relationship between soil erosion and a given attribute of vegetation. Few studies have attempted a comprehensive analysis of vegetation attributes. Thus, the aim of this study is to explain the relationship between vegetation and soil erosion in detail. We studied 104 vegetation plots and 104 soil samples in the Yangjuangou catchment, Loess Plateau, Shaanxi Province, China. According to a correlation analysis of the vegetation attributes and soil 137Cs inventories, vegetation cover exerts a positive effect on soil erosion. In addition, vegetation aggregation increases with increasing soil loss. During this period of study, plant diversity can have different relationships with soil erosion according to the vegetation pattern. When vegetation distribution is relatively homogeneous, plant cover decreases with increasing diversity, and the soil loss increases. When vegetation pattern distributes between homogeneous and heterogeneous, the relationship between vegetation diversity and soil erosion is not obvious. When vegetation distribution is in a heterogeneous pattern, cover increases with increasing diversity, and soil loss decreases.

A study on scheme of soil and water conservation regionalization in China

Regionalization of soil and water conservation is a base for the planning of soil and water conservation in China. It can provide scientific basis for constructing healthy eco-environment and regional management and development. It makes a brief review of related regionalization of study and makes clear the concept of regionalization of soil and water conservation. In this paper, based on synthetical analysis of the characteristics of eco-environments of China, the principles, indices and nomenclature of the regionalization of soil and water conservation are proposed. Through the construction of the regionalization of soil and water conservation collaboration platform and data reporting system, combined with existing soil and water conservation research, this paper uses the top-down and bottom-up and the combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to build soil and water conservation regionalization preliminary scheme, with 8 regions, 41 sub-regions and 117 sections divided in China.