Upland agro-ecosystems - defined as the less favoured higher altitude environments including areas with low soil quality and/or limited access to water - will face three major challenges related to food security and climate change in the coming decades: increasing food production while protecting against soil erosion, adapting to climate change impact on soil resource, and contributing to climate change mitigation. This CRP aims to (i) develop combinations of nuclear techniques to assess impacts of changes on soil erosion, and (ii) distinguish and apportion impacts of climate variability and agricultural management on soil erosion in upland agro-ecosystems.Nuclear techniques including Fallout Radionuclides (FRNs) such as caesium-137 (137Cs), lead-210 (210Pb), beryllium-7 (7Be) and plutonium-239 and 240 (239+240Pu), Compound-Specific Stable Isotope (CSSI) techniques based on the measurement of carbon-13 (13C) natural abundance signatures of specific organic compounds (i.e. fatty acid) and Cosmic Ray Soil Moisture Neutron Probe (CRNP) will be used to fulfil these specific objectives.
Improving existing nuclear techniques to contribute to a better understanding of the impact of climate change on soil degradation in upland agro-ecosystems
Distinguish and apportion the impact of climate variability and agricultural management on soil resources in upland agro-ecosystems
Further development of nuclear techniques to assess the impacts of changes on soil erosion occurring in upland agro-ecosystems
The CRP has great impact on scientific community working on soil erosion and sustainable land management. During the lifetime of CRP there increased significantly interest in soil erosion research in many Member States. It can be demonstrated by increasing number of TC projects, during this period (mainly three great regional TC projects and several new national projects. Recently the number of TC projects is much greater than before this CRP.
The CRP was relevant for developing methodological tools which are useful for providing background information needed for soil conservation policies and programmes for promoting sustainable agriculture of IAEA/FAO Member States.