Dryland degradation by wind erosion and its control

Global population growth is expected to impose an increasing pressure on agricultural production in the world's drylands, which cover approximately 41% of the continental area. The land resources in drylands are severely threatened by soil degradation, with wind erosion being. one of the major degradation processes. It causes sedimentation at undesired places, crop damage by sand blasting and burial, deterioration of soil structure, a loss of soil fertility, and it affects the water economy in the topsoil. On drylands in developing countries, adequate wind erosion control is currently not achieved due to poor socio-economic conditions, low crop biomass production, crop competition and management constraints. A potential solution is to make use of the natural dryland vegetation of scattered trees and shrubs. But, more research is needed to better understand the effects of scattered vegetation on wind speed and erosion, as well as on particle deposition and accumulation. This ultimately should lead to models that can help develop location-specific wind erosion control strategies.