Valuation and assessment of soil erosion costs

Abstract

Soil is an essential natural resource for humans and an important part of the environment. However, soil is often used and managed inappropriately, causing its erosion and degradation, with concomitantly negative social, political and economic impacts. This study aimed to discuss sustainable development; and losses and problems caused by soil erosion, and to suggest a model for assessing erosion costs. The relevance of economic models for costing soil erosion is stressed. Based on an economic theory, it presents a procedure for assessing economic costs of soil erosion, centered on the on-site and off-site costs that are generated. The physical processes of soil erosion are described and their economic effects reviewed, drawing on theoretical and empirical sources. Limited data and information is available on the economic losses resulting from erosion, which hampers assessment and valuation.

Estimation of soil erosion risk, its valuation and economic implications for agricultural production in western part of Rwanda

“…However even when a smallest particle of soil is washed away it carries the value in it. As it has been discussed by Telles et al (2013) the impacts of soil erosion can be evaluated either in crop production reduction cost or the soil change in its physical, chemical and biological characteristics which will further results in gradual drop in its potential productivity. From this respect there will be a cost for replenishing soil fertility by application of mineral synthetic fertilizers however the biological point of view will not be taken care off.…”

Soil “Ecosystem” Services and Natural Capital: Critical Appraisal of Research on Uncertain Ground

“…A sizeable body of literature concerns costs associated with the loss of topsoil (e.g., Cohen et al, 2006;Adhikari and Nadella, 2011;Telles et al, 2013). The physical processes involved are complex, scale-dependent, and modeled only imperfectly (Bilotta et al, 2012).…”

“…In principle, as noted by Pimentel et al (1995), the total productivity loss should include off-site costs, such as those resulting from the progressive accumulation of sediments in streams, artificial lakes, and eventually in river effluents, all of which can cause significant problems for navigation, infrastructures, and the ecology of the associated ecosystems. However, rare are the articles that include these off-site costs (Adhikari and Nadella, 2011;Telles et al, 2013;Graves et al, 2015). Regardless, as with the replacement method, application of the production method to soil erosion costs reveals very little about the contribution of the different soil services to the total monetary value that is obtained.…”

Perdas e custos associados à erosão hídrica em função de taxas de cobertura do solo

“…In Brazil, the association of physical losses caused by erosion with their economic aspects is not new (Telles et al, 2013b), but this approach was considered in a few studies (Marques et al, 1961;Sorrenson & Montoya, 1989;Martin et al, 1991;Marques, 1998;Rodrigues, 2005;Bertol et al, 2007;Sarcinelli et al, 2009;Dantas & Monteiro, 2010;Pugliesi et al, 2011;Andrade et al, 2011). Although these have addressed only the losses of nutrients in the production unit (on-site), representing a small portion of the total costs of soil erosion (Crosson, 1995), this information is important for farmers, researchers and policy makers to form their opinions on the conservation management practices.…”