The new assessment of soil loss by water erosion in Europe. Panagos P. et al., 2015 Environmental Science & Policy 54, 438–447—A response |
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| Institution: | 1. European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Institute for Environment and Sustainability, Via E. Fermi 2749, I-21027 Ispra, VA, Italy;2. Environmental Geosciences, University of Basel, Switzerland;3. Estación Experimental de Aula Dei-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (EEAD-CSIC), Zaragoza, Spain;4. Institute of Hydraulics and Rural Water Management, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria;5. UCD Dooge Centre for Water Resources Research, University College Dublin, Ireland;6. Department of Meteorology, Nicosia, Cyprus;7. Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University, Denmark;8. Meteorological and Hydrological Service, Zagreb, Croatia;9. Finnish Meteorological Institute, Finland;10. Hungarian Meteorological Service, Budapest, Hungary;11. National Meteorological Administration, Bucharest, Romania;12. Institute of Soil Science, Agrotechnology and Plant Protection, Sofia, Bulgaria;1. Centre for Development and Environment (CDE), University of Bern, Mittelstrasse 43, 3012 Bern, Switzerland;2. Institute of Geography, University of Bern, Hallerstrasse 12, 3012 Bern, Switzerland;3. Agroscope, Division of Agroecology and Environment, Reckenholzstrasse 191, 8046 Zurich, Switzerland;1. Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry, University of Padova, Viale dell’ Università, 16, 35020 Legnaro, Padova, Italy;2. Soil Erosion and Degradation Research Group, Department of Geography, University of Valencia, Blasco Ibáñez, 28, 46010 Valencia, Spain |
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| Abstract: | We respond to an article by Panagos et al.—‘The new assessment of soil loss by water erosion in Europe’ in Environ. Sci. Policy, 2015, 54, 438–447. It is aimed at helping policy makers make better decisions. The assessment uses a Geographical Information Systems approach based on the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation. RUSLE is based on data gained from plot experiments. The authors assume RUSLE is the only way to assess erosion and ignore critiques of erosion models and other ways of assessing erosion. A different way of assessing water erosion, based on collecting information on extent, frequency and rates, mainly from farmers’ fields but also grazed uplands, has been carried out over recent decades in Britain. The two ways of assessing erosion, one largely theoretical, the other based on reality, evolved in response to particular situations. However, they should relate well to each other. We show that the model is inappropriate to assess soil loss by water erosion in Britain, not only for agricultural land but also for uncultivated land. Predicted high rates of erosion do not relate well to where erosion actually occurs and are too high, and the model takes no account of the spatial extent of erosion on the ground. In other words, the model does not reflect reality. Policy decisions should not be taken based on such a model. Erosion must be assessed in a better way with a large field-based element. |
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| Keywords: | Soil loss Water erosion RUSLE Field-based assessment Policy |
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