Human-altered soil loss dominates nearly half of water erosion in China but surges in agriculture-intensive areas

Authors: Keke Li, Jingy Yang, Jingyu Wang, Zhen Wang, Yi Zeng, Pasquale Borrelli, Klaus Hubacek, Yuanchao Hu, Baodong Xu, Nufang Fang, Chen Zeng, Zhanhang Zhou, and Zhihua Shi.

Journal: One Earth.

Abstract

Soil erosion is a major land degradation process, threatening global agricultural sustainability and carbon cycling. Although geomorphic evidence confirms that human activities have significantly accelerated soil erosion, to what extent humans have altered soil erosion and how to attribute it to different land use changes and economic activities remains uncertain at the national scale. Here, by developing an integrated modeling framework to assess human-altered soil erosion (HASE) by water and its drivers, we estimate that nearly half of the total water erosion in China is dominated by HASE, rising to over 90% in agriculture-intensive areas. Household consumption emerges as a major hidden factor driving HASE. Conversely, human efforts, such as soil conservation practices like terraces, have effectively mitigated soil erosion. Our findings provide a starting point to evaluate the magnitude of human intervention in soil erosion at the regional or global scale, highlighting the importance of controlling accelerated soil erosion from a coupled social-ecological perspective.

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