Sustainable Watershed Management in Cultivated Sloping Lands
Résumé
This poster studies the impact of land-use change on soil loss from sloping lands, presenting research on biophysical processes and their environmental and economic consequences. Farming systems are also analysed to infer the driving forces behind farmer strategies and practices. The Vietnam MSEC research program works in a small agricultural experimental watershed of around 50 ha, northeast of Hanoi. The cultivated steep slopes have been equipped to assess water discharge and sediment loads. Soil erosion here has negative impacts on upstream and downstream communi-ties. Increased sediment from these catchments reflects a loss of the fertile topsoil that farmers depend upon. In addition, increased sediment loads in streams and rivers have a negative impact on water quality and the longevity of water storage structures, both of which have significant economic and environmental implications.