National responses have been directed towards legislation,
information, credits and subsidies, or specific conservation
programmes. Local responses to the problem have been gen-
erated by land users themselves, or introduced by projects.
Soil and water management
measures against erosion and
water scarcity.
Left: Micro-basins;
Soil and water management
measures
Centre:
against erosion
Mulch;
and
water scarcitRight: y. Conservation tillage.
Left: Micro-basins;
Credit: WOCAT
Centre: Mulch;
Right: Conservation tillage.
Credit: WOCAT
Soil and water management measures against erosion and water scarcity.
Left: Micro-basins; Centre: Mulch; Right: Conservation tillage. Credit: WOCAT
Soil erosion in Pampas
Soil erosion by water is the main form of land
degradation in Latin America. The more extensive
the area under cultivation, the more serious the
erosion, even in the fertile Pampas. It has been an
intractable problem, leading to the abandonment of
farmland, for example, in northwest Argentina.
The most promising development has been the
large-scale adoption of conservation tillage, which
increases infiltration of rain into the soil compared
to conventional ploughing. The area under conser-
vation tillage in Latin America increased from
almost zero in the 1980s to 250 000 km
2
in 2000,
with an adoption rate of 70–80 per cent among
large, mechanized farms in Argentina and Brazil,
although the adoption rate by small farms is lower.
In the Pampas, rills form during rainstorms when ground cover is sparse, and
Sources: FAO 2001, KASSA 2006, Navone and
gradually turn into large gullies.
Maggi 2005 Credit: J.L. Panigatti
30 VITAL GEO GRAPHICS