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Education and Outreach Integrety

Identifying Erosion Risks to Soil Due to Climate Change

Bridging the Gap between Academia and the Public.

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Authenticity

Genesis of Erosion Control Action Forum

The research team proposes the following approach: Since concepts like the "water footprint" have effectively resonated with society, introducing the concept of a "soil footprint" could enhance awareness of the origins of our food and the associated costs. This heightened awareness may encourage changes in consumption habits and support a transition toward more sustainable production models that responsibly manage soil resources

Another concept can be added to these, focusing on a limited resource that is often overlooked but is just as essential for life as water and energy: **soil**. The erosion of soil leads to a loss of nutrients, biodiversity, and the capacity to retain water.

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Application (s)

Recognizing Environmental Hazards and Strategies for Mitigation.

Biodiversity

Biodiversity refers to the vast variety of life on Earth, encompassing all living things including plants, bacteria, animals, and humans. (1).

Desertification

A new study (curated by University of Southern California) has found that the increase in soil erosion in coastal areas due to desertification is worsening flood impacts on Middle Eastern and North African port cities. The researchers focused their observations on the devastating 2023 floods in the city of Derna, Libya, which took the lives of more than 11,300 people and showed how the increase in soil erosion significantly contributed to the catastrophic toll of these unusual desert floods. The research was published almost a year after the deadly flood happened on the September 10, 2023.

The co-authors believe that their work sheds light on the alarming vulnerability that arid areas face given the rising frequency of extreme weather events due to climate change and the urgent need for advanced earth observations programs to monitor and characterize these areas.

Soil Erosion (SE)

Soil erosion (SE) is one of the most serious disasters in the world, which directly damages the productivity of the land and affects human well-being.

Soil erosion affects soil health and productivity by removing the highly fertile topsoil and exposing the remaining soil.

The denudation or wearing away of the upper layer of soil, decreases agricultural productivity, degrades ecosystem functions and amplifies hydrogeological risk, such as landslides or floods.

Background (s)

The Water Framework Directive (WFD)

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) is a European Union directive that commits member states to achieve good qualitative and quantitative status of all water bodies by 2015 (1).

Since 2000, the WFD has been the main legal instrument for water protection in Europe(2). Together with the Environmental Quality Standards Directive and the Groundwater Directive, WFD applies to inland, transitional and coastal surface waters, as well as groundwaters (3). WFD applies to inland, transitional and coastal surface waters, as well as groundwaters (4).

WFD focuses on ensuring good qualitative and quantitative health, i.e. on reducing and removing pollution and on ensuring that there is enough water to support wildlife at the same time as human needs (5). The WFD is also part of UK law post-Brexit45 (disambiguation).

Trend (s)

Green Remediation

Best Management Practices for Excavation and Surface Restoration: This fact sheet is one of a series describing best management practices (BMPs) for green remediation, which holistically addresses a cleanup project’s energy requirements, air emissions, impacts on water, impacts on land and ecosystems, material consumption and waste generation, and long-term stewardship actions. BMPs can be used for sustainable removal or cleanup activities at contaminated sites under Superfund, corrective action, underground storage tank, and brownfield cleanup programs.

Soil Remediation

Soil remediation refers to managing the soil contaminant at a site to prevent, minimize, or mitigate hazards to human health, property, or the environment.

Traditional remediation approaches consist of soil excavation and disposal to landfill and groundwater "pump and treat".

Pump and treat is a common method for cleaning up groundwater contaminated with dissolved chemicals, including industrial solvents, metals, and fuel oil. Groundwater is pumped from wells to an above-ground treatment system that removes the contaminants.

In-situ technologies include but are not limited to:

• Soil Vapor Extraction
  Soil vapor extraction (SVE) is a physical treatment process for in situ remediation of volatile contaminants in vadose zone (unsaturated) soils (EPA, 2012).
  • SVE (also referred to as in situ soil venting or vacuum extraction) is based on mass transfer of contaminant from the solid (sorbed) and liquid (aqueous or non-aqueous) phases into the gas phase, with subsequent collection of the gas phase contamination at extraction wells.

• Solidification and Stabilization:
  These methods usually do not destroy the contaminants. Instead, they keep them from “leaching” above safe levels into the surrounding environment.
  • Leaching occurs when water from rain or other sources dissolves contaminants and carries them downward into groundwater or over land into lakes and streams.

• Permeable Reactive Barriers (PRBs):
  Permeable Reactive Barriers (PRBs) are barriers created below ground to clean up contaminated groundwater 1 2 3 4.
  • Monitored Natural Attenuation:
    What Is Monitored Natural Attenuation?
    • Natural attenuation relies on natural processes to decrease or “attenuate” concentrations of contaminants in soil and groundwater. Scientists monitor these conditions to make sure natural attenuation is working.

  • In situ vs. Ex situ:
    While there is less cost there is also less of an ability to determine the scale and spread of the pollutant. The pollutant ultimately determines which bioremediation method to use. The depth and spread of the pollutantare other important factors.[32]
    • Ex situ techniques are often more expensive because of excavation and transportation costs to the treatment facility, while in situ techniques are performed at the site of contamination so they only have installation costs. While there is less cost there is also less of an ability to determine the scale and spread of the pollutant.

  • Bioremediation-Phytoremediation:
    Bioremediation broadly refers to any process wherein a biological system (typically bacteria, microalgae, fungi in mycoremediation, and plants in phytoremediation), living or dead, is employed for removing environmental pollutants from air, water, soil, flue gasses, industrial effluents etc., in natural or artificial settings.[1]
    • The natural ability of organisms to adsorb, accumulate, and degrade common and emerging pollutants has attracted the use of biological resources in treatment of contaminated environment.[1]

  • Steam enhanced extraction method:
    Kent Udell, Ph.D., is currently a Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Director of the Sustainability Research Center at the University of Utah. He is also Professor Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley. During his time at Berkeley, Udell received UC Berkeley Suoerfund Research Program funding to develop strategies for cleanup of solvents through the use of SEE from 1995 to 2000 (NIEHS 2000).
    • Udell originally developed a technology that enhances remediation by injecting steam into the subsurface and extracting volatile organic compounds. Steam injection, also known as steam-enhanced extraction (SEE) enhances recovery of contaminants by volatilization, evaporation, and steam distillation of semivolatile and volatile agents (Stewart and Udell 1988). During this time, he refined and tested the steam injection method to speed up remediation of TCE, coal tars, creosote, and other contaminants in groundwater.

  • In situ thermal desorption (ISTD):
    In situ thermal desorption (ISTD) is an intensive thermally enhanced environmental remediation technology that uses thermal conductive heating (TCH) elements to directly transfer heat to environmental media.
    • The ISTD/TCH process can be applied at low (<100 °C), moderate (~100 °C) and higher (>100 °C) temperature levels to accomplish the remediation of a wide variety of contaminants, both above and below the water table.

  These strategies may be conducted in situ or ex situ, and have been used extensively in the USA.[11]

  Soil pollution is hereby defined as the human activity that causes soil contamination (JRC 2016 ).

  Fresh Surface Waters

  Healthy surface water ecosystems are important for many reasons, not only for nature but also to ensure that citizens, agriculture and industry can access clean water. The health of surface waters is influenced by several factors including hydromorphology and pollution. The main legislation on inland, transitional and coastal surface waters focuses on achieving good ecological status and good chemical status.

  Solar vs Farmland = Agrivoltaics

  Agricultural activity among existing conventional solar arrays.

  

  Agrivoltaics (agrophotovoltaics, agrisolar, or dual-use solar) is the dual use of land for solar energy production and agriculture.[2][3][4]

  Our Ocean & Wildlife Need You

  In protecting marine life and habitats.

  

  Environmental Stewardship

  Environmental defenders, also known as environmental human rights defenders, are individuals or groups who strive to protect and promote human rights related to the environment 1 2.

  Environmental defenders work to safeguard natural resources, prevent harm from resource extraction, hazardous waste disposal, infrastructure projects, and land appropriation.

  Land degradation is a global threat that is negatively affecting ecosystem functioning and their capacity to provide ecosystem services (Lal, 2010), such as nutrient cycling, water retention and provision of habitat (Blum, 1995). Soil erosion is one of the main processes leading to land degradation (Koch et al., 2013) and mostly affects the fertile top soil layer, which plays an essential role in productivity of (agro)ecosystems and is fundamental for the provision of food security (Amundson et al., 2015). Soil erosion also affects biogeochemical cycles and, therefore, interacts with climate change itself (e.g., Regnier et al., 2013; Tan et al., 2020; Zhang et al., 2020).
  We provide a global assessment of the impact of climate change on soil erosion and the adaptation potential through land use change and soil conservation.

  But human activities are having a negative impact on many of the world’s oceans, jeopardizing marine life, habitats, and ecosystems. These threats include overfishing or destructive fishing, coastal development, pollution and runoff, and the introduction of non-native species. Climate change is also having a big effect by causing warming seas and ocean acidification.

  

  An article about flooding states, "Historically, wealthier populations have owned highly desirable waterfront properties and lower income populations have lived on the 'less desirable' land inland and at higher elevation from the coast". Waterfront properties are now experiencing an increased risk of flooding due to sea level rise, storm surge, heavier precipitation and stronger hurricane-force winds during landfall."

  A monsoon is a seasonal rain and wind pattern. "Monsoon" is from the Arabic word, "mawsim" which means season.

  In the Philippines, Amihan and Habagat refer to the two kinds of winds and seasons that occur in the country every year. Amihan is known as the Northeast monsoon while Habagat is known as the Southwest monsoon.

  Gentrification

  Gentrification is a process of economic displacement whereby areas of lower socioeconomic status get upscaled and changed by wealthier people moving in, increasing the cost of living, and ultimately displacing lower class residents.[1]

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  As the climate crisis continues to displace communities globally, a new form of gentrification has been established known as climate gentrification. One example of a community affected by climate gentrification took place in coastal communities in Florida.

  Climate gentrification is a subset of climate migration, in which certain lower-socioeconomic communities are displaced in place of housing for more wealthy communities. Areas affected by this phenomenon are typically coastal cities, islands, and other vulnerable areas that are susceptible to rising sea levels, extreme weather events, and other climate-related disasters.

  Ecocide

  Ecocide (from Greek oikos "home" and Latin cadere "to kill") is the destruction of the environment by humans.[1]

  Ecocide threatens all human populations who are dependent on natural resources for maintaining ecosystems and ensuring their ability to support future generations.[2][3][4][5]

  That means, on average, at least three people were killed every week in 2023 for speaking out against land grabbers, pollution and extractive industries.

  Three environmental defenders killed per week on average in 2023.

  At least 196 environmental defenders were murdered in 2023, with Indigenous people disproportionately targeted due to their opposition to mining, land grabs and extractive industries.

  Environmental legislation is the collection of laws and regulations pertaining to air quality, water quality, the wilderness, endangered wildlife and other environmental factors. The act ensures that matters important to the environment are thoroughly considered in any decisions made by federal agencies.