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Mitigating land degradation due to water erosion

Soil erosion is integrally linked to land degradation. The excessive soil loss resulting from poor land management has serious implications for crop productivity and food security, which calls for sustainable use of our soil resource. The processes of soil erosion, sediment delivery and sediment transport are key components and measures of the land degradation.Erosion and sediment redistribution processes are the primary drivers of landscape development and play an important role in soil development. Equally, the magnitudes of the sediment loads transported by rivers have important implications on the functioning of the system. Since erosion and sediment dynamics also have important implications on food production thus have a significant socio-economic dimension as well. This policy paper attempts to give a brief review of existing knowledge regarding the sediment dynamics, erosion risk and impact of erosion on crop productivity and to identify key uncertainties and future research needs.

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