Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T10:18:41.382Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

4 - Assessment of Global Water Erosion Vulnerability under Climate Change

from Part I - Water-Related Risks under Climate Change

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 March 2022

By
Muqi Xiong  and
Guoyong Leng
Edited by
Qiuhong Tang  and
Guoyong Leng
Qiuhong Tang
Affiliation:
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing
Guoyong Leng
Affiliation:
Oxford University Centre for the Environment
Get access

Summary

Water erosion has become an important problem and is expected to be affected by climate change. This study assessed the vulnerability of global water erosion during 1992–2015 based on RUSLE method. The research objective was to explore the spatial pattern of global water erosion vulnerability change in recent decades and identify the impacts of rainfall change on water erosion. The results show that global water erosion vulnerability increased over 54.23 per cent of the surface during 1992–2015, and the surface with significant increasing trends accounted for 11.96 per cent. There is great heterogeneity in the trends across the world. The change rate of water erosion vulnerability on croplands and bare lands was significantly higher than that of natural vegetation. Most areas exhibiting statistically significant trends were in cold and arid climate zones (CZs), which indicates that bare lands and croplands in cold and arid CZs were more sensitive to climate change with regard to water erosion. The results offer a global view of impacts of rainfall change on water erosion and suggest that enhancing the vegetation growth and taking soil conservation measures on croplands and bare lands in the cold and arid CZs could reduce the erosion threat.

Keywords

Water erosionRUSLEClimate changePrecipitationWater erosion vulnerability
Type
Chapter
Information
Climate Risk and Sustainable Water Management , pp. 65 - 81
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Achite, M., & Ouillon, S. (2016). Recent changes in climate, hydrology and sediment load in the Wadi Abd, Algeria (1970–2010). Hydrology and Earth System Sciences 20(4): 1355–1372.Google Scholar
Bangash, R. F., Passuello, A., Sanchez-Canales, M., et al. (2013). Ecosystem services in Mediterranean river basin: Climate change impact on water provisioning and erosion control. Science of the Total Environment 458–460: 246–255.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Borrelli, P., Robinson, D. A., Fleischer, L. R., et al. (2017). An assessment of the global impact of 21st century land use change on soil erosion. Nature Communications 8: 2013.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Challinor, A. J., Watson, J., Lobell, D. B., et al. (2014). A meta-analysis of crop yield under climate change and adaptation. Nature Climate Change 4: 287–291.Google Scholar
Dai, S. B., Lu, X. X., Yang, S. L., & Cai, A. M. (2008). A preliminary estimate of human and natural contributions to the decline in sediment flux from the Yangtze River to the East China Sea. Quaternary International 186(1): 43–54.Google Scholar
Danielson, J. J., & Gesch, D. B. (2011). Global multi-resolution terrain elevation data 2010 (GMTED2010). US Geological Survey Open-File Report 2011–1073, 26 p.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doetterl, S., Van Oost, K., & Six, J. (2012). Towards constraining the magnitude of global agricultural sediment and soil organic carbon fluxes. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 37(6): 642–655.Google Scholar
García-Ruiz, J. M., Begueria, S., Lana-Renault, N., Nadal-Romero, E., & Cerda, A. (2017). Ongoing and emerging questions in water erosion studies. Land Degradation & Development 28(1): 5–21.Google Scholar
García-Ruiz, J. M., Beguería, S., Nadal-Romero, E., et al. (2015). A meta-analysis of soil erosion rates across the world. Geomorphology 239: 160–173.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
García-Ruiz, J. M., Nadal-Romero, E., Lana-Renault, N., & Beguería, S. (2013). Erosion in Mediterranean landscapes: Changes and future challenges. Geomorphology 198: 20–36.Google Scholar
González-Hidalgo, J. C., Batalla, R. J., Cerdà, A., & de Luis, M. (2010). Contribution of the largest events to suspended sediment transport across the USA. Land Degradation & Development 21(2): 83–91.Google Scholar
Guo, Y., Peng, C., Zhu, Q., et al. (2019). Modelling the impacts of climate and land use changes on soil water erosion: Model applications, limitations and future challenges. Journal of Environmental Management 250: 109403.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hengl, T., Mendes de Jesus, J., Heuvelink, G. B. M., et al. (2017). SoilGrids250m: Global gridded soil information based on machine learning. PLoS One 12(2): e0169748.Google Scholar
IPCC (2007). Climate change: Impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of IPCC, Cambridge, UK.Google Scholar
Ito, A. (2007). Simulated impacts of climate and land-cover change on soil erosion and implication for the carbon cycle, 1901 to 2100. Geophysical Research Letters 34(9): 1–5.Google Scholar
Kieta, K. A., Owens, P. N., Lobb, D. A., Vanrobaeys, J. A., & Flaten, D. N. (2018). Phosphorus dynamics in vegetated buffer strips in cold climates: A review. Environmental Reviews 26(3): 255–272.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Komissarov, M. A., & Gabbasova, I. M. (2014). Snowmelt-induced soil erosion on gentle slopes in the southern Cis-Ural region. Eurasian Soil Science 47(6): 598–607.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, Y., Chen, B. M., Wang, Z. G., & Peng, S. L. (2011). Effects of temperature change on water discharge, and sediment and nutrient loading in the lower Pearl River basin based on SWAT modelling. Hydrological Sciences Journal 56(1): 68–83.Google Scholar
Li, Z., & Fang, H. (2016). Impacts of climate change on water erosion: A review. Earth-Science Reviews 163: 94–117.Google Scholar
Li, Z., Liu, W., Zhang, X., & Zheng, F. (2010). Assessing the site-specific impacts of climate change on hydrology, soil erosion and crop yields in the Loess Plateau of China. Climatic Change 105(1–2): 223–242.Google Scholar
Li, Z., Sun, R., Zhang, J., & Zhang, C. (2017). Temporal-spatial analysis of vegetation coverage dynamics in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei metropolitan regions. Acta Ecologica Sinica 37(22): 7418–7426.Google Scholar
Litschert, S. E., Theobald, D. M., & Brown, T. C. (2014). Effects of climate change and wildfire on soil loss in the Southern Rockies Ecoregion. Catena 118: 206–219.Google Scholar
Liu, X., Yu, L., Si, Y., et al. (2018). Identifying patterns and hotspots of global land cover transitions using the ESA CCI Land Cover dataset. Remote Sensing Letters 9(10): 972–981.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, Y., Fu, B., Liu, Y., Zhao, W., & Wang, S. (2019 ). Vulnerability assessment of the global water erosion tendency: Vegetation greening can partly offset increasing rainfall stress. Land Degradation & Development 30(9): 1061–1069.Google Scholar
Lobell, D. B., & Gourdji, S. M. (2012). The influence of climate change on global crop productivity. Plant Physiology 160(4): 1686–1697.Google Scholar
Longfield, S. A., & Macklin, M. G. (1999). The influence of recent environmental change on flooding and sediment fluxes in the Yorkshire Ouse basin. Hydrological Processes 13(7): 1051–1066.Google Scholar
Lu, S., Bai, X., Li, W., & Wang, N. (2019). Impacts of climate change on water resources and grain production. Technological Forecasting and Social Change 143: 76–84.Google Scholar
Lu, X. X., Ran, L. S., Liu, S., et al. (2013). Sediment loads response to climate change: A preliminary study of eight large Chinese rivers. International Journal of Sediment Research 28(1): 1–14.Google Scholar
Maas, G. S., & Macklin, M. G. (2002). The impact of recent climate change on flooding and sediment supply within a Mediterranean mountain catchment, southwestern Crete, Greece. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 27(10): 1087–1105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maeda, E. E., Pellikka, P. K. E., Siljander, M., & Clark, B. J. F. (2010). Potential impacts of agricultural expansion and climate change on soil erosion in the Eastern Arc Mountains of Kenya. Geomorphology 123(3–4): 279–289.Google Scholar
Maetens, W., Poesen, J., & Vanmaercke, M. (2012). How effective are soil conservation techniques in reducing plot runoff and soil loss in Europe and the Mediterranean? Earth-Science Reviews 115(1–2): 21–36.Google Scholar
Maetens, W., Vanmaercke, M., Poesen, J., et al. (2012). Effects of land use on annual runoff and soil loss in Europe and the Mediterranean. Progress in Physical Geography 36(5): 599–653.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mohamadi, M. A., & Kavian, A. (2015). Effects of rainfall patterns on runoff and soil erosion in field plots. International Soil and Water Conservation Research 3(4): 273–281.Google Scholar
Mukundan, R., Pradhanang, S. M., Schneiderman, E. M., et al. (2013). Suspended sediment source areas and future climate impact on soil erosion and sediment yield in a New York City water supply watershed, USA. Geomorphology 183: 110–119.Google Scholar
Mullan, D., Favis-Mortlock, D., & Fealy, R. (2012). Addressing key limitations associated with modelling soil erosion under the impacts of future climate change. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 156: 18–30.Google Scholar
Naipal, V., Reick, C., Pongratz, J., & Van Oost, K. (2015). Improving the global applicability of the RUSLE model – Adjustment of the topographical and rainfall erosivity factors. Geoscientific Model Development 8(9): 2893–2913.Google Scholar
Nearing, M. A., Pruski, F. F., & O’Neal, M. R. (2004). Expected climate change impacts on soil erosion rates: A review. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 59(4): 43–50.Google Scholar
Nunes, J. P., Seixas, J., & Keizer, J. J. (2013). Modeling the response of within-storm runoff and erosion dynamics to climate change in two Mediterranean watersheds: A multi-model, multi-scale approach to scenario design and analysis. Catena 102: 27–39.Google Scholar
Pan, N., Feng, X., Fu, B., et al. (2018). Increasing global vegetation browning hidden in overall vegetation greening: Insights from time-varying trends. Remote Sensing of Environment 214: 59–72.Google Scholar
Panagos, P., Borrelli, P., Meusburger, K., et al. (2015). Estimating the soil erosion cover-management factor at the European scale. Land Use Policy 48: 38–50.Google Scholar
Panagos, P., Borrelli, P., Meusburger, K., et al. (2017). Global rainfall erosivity assessment based on high-temporal resolution rainfall records. Scientific Reports 7: 4175.Google Scholar
Parajuli, P. B., Jayakody, P., Sassenrath, G. F., & Ouyang, Y. (2016). Assessing the impacts of climate change and tillage practices on stream flow, crop and sediment yields from the Mississippi River Basin. Agricultural Water Management 168: 112–124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paroissien, J. B., Darboux, F., Couturier, A., et al. (2015). A method for modeling the effects of climate and land use changes on erosion and sustainability of soil in a Mediterranean watershed (Languedoc, France). Journal of Environmental Management 150: 57–68.Google Scholar
Peel, M. C., Finlayson, B. L., & McMahon, T. A. (2007). Updated world map of the Köppen-Geiger climate classification. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences 11: 1633–1644.Google Scholar
Pham, T. N., Yang, D., Kanae, S., Oki, T., & Musiake, K. (2001). Application of RUSLE model on global soil erosion estimate. Annual Journal of Hydraulic Engineering 45: 811–816.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poesen, J., Nachtergaele, J., Verstraeten, G., & Valentin, C. (2003). Gully erosion and environmental change: Importance and research needs. Catena 50(2–4): 91–133.Google Scholar
Rao, E., Ouyang, Z., Yu, X., & Xiao, Y. (2014). Spatial patterns and impacts of soil conservation service in China. Geomorphology 207: 64–70.Google Scholar
Renard, K. G., Foster, G. R., McCool, W. D. K., & Yoder, D. C. (1997). Predicting soil erosion by water: A guide to conservation planning with the Revised Universal Soil Loss equation. In Agricultural Handbook (p. 703). Washington, DC: US Department of Agriculture.Google Scholar
Renard, K. G., & Freimund, J. R. (1994). Using monthly precipitation data to estimate the R-factor in the revised USLE. Journal of Hydrology 157(1–4): 287–306.Google Scholar
Routschek, A., Schmidt, J., & Kreienkamp, F. (2014). Impact of climate change on soil erosion – A high-resolution projection on catchment scale until 2100 in Saxony/Germany. Catena 121: 99–109.Google Scholar
Ruiz-Sinoga, J. D., & Daiz, A. R. (2010). Soil degradation factors along a Mediterranean pluviometric gradient in Southern Spain. Geomorphology 118(3–4): 359–368.Google Scholar
Scherer, L., & Pfister, S. (2015). Modelling spatially explicit impacts from phosphorus emissions in agriculture. International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 20(6): 785–795.Google Scholar
Serpa, D., Nunes, J. P., Santos, J., et al. (2015). Impacts of climate and land use changes on the hydrological and erosion processes of two contrasting Mediterranean catchments. Science of the Total Environment 538: 64–77.Google Scholar
Shabani, F., Kumar, L., & Esmaeili, A. (2014). Improvement to the prediction of the USLE K factor. Geomorphology 204: 229–234.Google Scholar
Sharpley, A. N., & Williams, C. F. (1990). EPIC: Erosion/Productivity Impact Calculator. U.S. Department of Agriculture Technical Bulletin No. 1768. 235 pp.Google Scholar
Shi, H., & Wang, G. (2015). Impacts of climate change and hydraulic structures on runoff and sediment discharge in the middle Yellow River. Hydrological Processes 29(14): 3236–3246.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simonneaux, V., Cheggour, A., Deschamps, C., et al. (2015). Land use and climate change effects on soil erosion in a semi-arid mountainous watershed (High Atlas, Morocco). Journal of Arid Environments 122: 64–75.Google Scholar
Tang, J. L., Cheng, X. Q., Zhu, B., et al. (2015). Rainfall and tillage impacts on soil erosion of sloping cropland with subtropical monsoon climate: A case study in hilly purple soil area. Journal of Mountain Science 12(1): 134–144.Google Scholar
Van Oost, K., Quine, T. A., Govers, G., et al. (2007). The impact of agricultural soil erosion on the global carbon cycle. Science 318: 626–629.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wang, J., Wang, K., Zhang, M., & Zhang, C. (2015). Impacts of climate change and human activities on vegetation cover in hilly southern China. Ecological Engineering 81: 451–461.Google Scholar
Wischmeier, W. H., & Smith, D. D. (1978). Predicting rainfall erosion losses. A guide to conservation planning. In Agricultural Handbook (p. 537). Washington, DC: US Department of Agriculture.Google Scholar
Wu, Y., Ouyang, W., Hao, Z., et al. (2018). Assessment of soil erosion characteristics in response to temperature and precipitation in a freeze-thaw watershed. Geoderma 328: 56–65.Google Scholar
Wuepper, D., Borrelli, P., & Finger, R. (2019). Countries and the global rate of soil erosion. Nature Sustainability 3(1): 51–55.Google Scholar
Xiong, M. Q., Sun, R. H., & Chen, L. D. (2019). A global comparison of soil erosion associated with land use and climate type. Geoderma 343: 31–39.Google Scholar
Xu, J. X. (2003). Sediment flux to the sea as influenced by changing human activities and precipitation: Example of the Yellow River, China. Environmental Management 31(3): 328–341.Google Scholar
Yang, D. W., Kanae, S., Oki, T., Koike, T., & Musiake, K. (2003). Global potential soil erosion with reference to land use and climate changes. Hydrological Processes 17(14): 2913–2928.Google Scholar
Yao, H., Shi, C., Shao, W., Bai, J., & Yang, H. (2015). Impacts of climate change and human activities on runoff and sediment load of the Xiliugou Basin in the Upper Yellow River. Advances in Meteorology 2015: 1–12.Google Scholar
Zhang, K. L., Shu, A. P., Xu, X. L., Yang, Q. K., & Yu, B. (2008). Soil erodibility and its estimation for agricultural soils in China. Journal of Arid Environments 72(6): 1002–1011.Google Scholar
Zhang, X. C., & Nearing, M. A. (2005). Impact of climate change on soil erosion, runoff, and wheat productivity in central Oklahoma. Catena 61(2–3): 185–195.Google Scholar
Zhang, X. C. J. (2012). Cropping and tillage systems effects on soil erosion under climate change in Oklahoma. Soil Science Society of America Journal 76(5): 1789–1797.Google Scholar
Zhang, Y., Hernandez, M., Anson, E., et al. (2012). Modeling climate change effects on runoff and soil erosion in southeastern Arizona rangelands and implications for mitigation with conservation practices. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 67(5): 390–405.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×