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PURPOSE
The purpose of this research proposal is to request United Nations a chance of implementing an engineering solution to soil erosion. This will not only improve the economic life of most of the developing countries, but it will also improve the balance of the ecosystem. It is a proposal that intends to request for support of the United Nations support at the time of implementing this proposal in form of a report.
SUMMARY
Soil erosion is considered to have huge side effects to agricultural activities. Many researches have been carried out to find out solutions that can be able to reduce the impact to a manageable level. This paper presents a solution that is sought to be included among other solutions of soil erosion. Engineering solution looks forward to giving technical approach that will not only monitor and control the effects of soil erosion but the environmental impacts, as well. It proposes approaches that can readily be adopted by United Nations and other large non-profit organizations as a way of introducing the solution to the whole world. As such, this research presents an approach that will not only control and limit the impact that is created, but it will also manage the menace in such a way to prevent and reverse the situation.
BACKGROUND
Soil erosion can be defined as the natural process that entails carrying away of soil either by wind or rain water especially on sloping terrain. The process is also associated with a loss of tree cover as a result of human activity or improper tilling practices. This process has been blamed for huge economic losses that have occurred globally especially in those countries whose percentage of steep terrains is high. The side effects of soil erosion become even much worse if the country involved has a high percentage of reliance on agriculture as the main economic activity.
United Nations Food and Agricultural organization (UN FAO) has ever since done extensive research on the causes of soil erosion as well as control strategies. Among the potential causes that are associated with soil erosion include population density where the growing population competes for limited resources and thereby affecting the natural balance that exists in the ecosystem. Among the solutions that this organization has considered worth to use include, construction of terraces, full protection of national parks and research on balanced cropping and production systems in order to maintain the ecosystem balance. Among the methods that have been put forward include agroforestry, husbandry, forestry and other control and preventive measures. There are a number of countries that have suffered adversely due to the impact of this process among them, Lebanon Ghana and South Africa. The rampant side effects of this process has put it on the global scale where it has become a major concern to not only those countries that are experiencing it but also large non-profit organizations which have the interest of humanity at heart. There is need of an innovative solution that can help developing countries to reduce the fiscal and environmental pressure that come as a result of soil erosion. Despite numerous solutions that have been introduced by the United Nations to combat soil erosion, there is much that is still left to be done.
The main cause of soil erosion is known to be poor agricultural methods and practices which lead to direct exposure of the soil to the environment. Direct exposure renders it easy for water run-off especially during the rainy season to carry the soil alongside when flowing.
This problem is known to increase greatly if there is a lower percentage of plant cover on the ground. Depending on the nature of the slope of the area, the result of this run-off can be devastating. One of the major side effects of soil erosion that has been noted includes damage to vegetation, homes, and soil fertility. These effects not only lead to loss of money but can also cause death if the erosion occurs unexpectedly.
According to United Nations, there are four main physical factors that influence the rate of soil erosion. These factors are; aggressively of climate and rainfall, fragility, topography and the amount of density of vegetation cover. Successful implementation of soil erosion control programs depends on the participatory training of local target groups. The United Nations usually invests in the training of the target group in order to ensure sustainability, as well as maintenance of their programs in the future. The current working solutions that are undertaken by United Nations can be grouped into curative measures, preventive measures, physical measures and social-economic measures.
Curative measures entail reforestation and watershed projects that are aimed at controlling soil erosion. Reforestation is based on mechanical soil preparation techniques which include bench terracing, sub-soiling and also introduction of drought resistance animals to the site. Other curative measures include grazing land management, installation of anti-erosive structures for instance check dams and forest management.
Preventive measures include crop rotation that entails incorporation of green manure, returning of crop residues into the soil and application of improved fallow periods. Other measures in this category include advanced land planning schemes as part of biological and ecological measures.
Protective measures are usually employed on sloping areas where soil erosion is most severe. Some of the measures that are done include minimal disturbance of local physiographic features, application of adequate drainage control and introduction of adequate natural vegetation cover.
Physical and social economic measures entail the construction of protection structures. These structures are meant to intercept surface runoff and also convey it out of the field. On the other hand, social economic measures also include setting of adequate soil erosion conservation technologies which serve to improve confidence and working relationship between the rural community and the government authorities.
A number of limitations can be found in these approaches that are presented by the United Nations. Among the limitations that are common is the response time of the approach. A good number of solutions that are presented here require much time to implement and therefore create a chance of damage even when the problem has been noticed. In other instances, the problem may take time before reaching noticeable level. There is need of a program that will move swiftly unto the occurrence of the problem and at the same time inform the farmer adequately what is happening in the field.
This proposal is basically centered at the control strategies that are aimed at improving the general efficiency of already existing methodologies while at the same time working alongside these methodologies. One of the appropriate ways of improving the workability of the existing methodologies is to reduce the response time factor. There is a need to have in place a system that informs the farmer the level of the damage that has taken place in the field. This may include parameters such as reduced levels of some nutrients in the soil and also soil water holding capability. These two measures can easily be measured using simple chemical procedures and agricultural methodologies that are available in the laboratories. A good example is the when the farmer wants to know the level of calcium in the soil. Assuming that this nutrient is considered to be of paramount importance to the crops that are growing in the field, the farmer may have much interest on the level of calcium that is remaining to be available to the crops. As such, a simple experiment incorporating the use of sodium hydroxide may help the farmer realize the impact that has resulted from soil erosion. The farmer will then be left with the option of finding appropriate ways of introducing the element back to the field in order to maintain the productivity of the crop. The same applies to the soil water holding capability. If the farmer considers this capability to be of prime importance in relation to the productivity of the crops that are in the field, simple procedures can be carried out to ascertain the impact of soil erosion. However, it should also be noted that these procedures may not necessarily be carried out to all the nutrients that are expected to be present in the field. The procedures should only be applied to those parameters and properties that are considered to affect the productivity of the crops which are grown in the field. This, therefore, nullifies the idea of quoting all the necessary procedures that should be carried out for each individual parameter.
The only assumption that is deemed necessary to this new idea underlie on the fact that the farmer ought to be aware of the initial level of the parameter that are essential to the growing crops. The farmer ought to have initial parameters measured as well as the crop utilization rate of the property. These two factors will help the farmer to know to what extent soil erosion has affected the state of balance in the field. This solution is intended to utilize readily available resources. The solution also presents a cost effective method of minimizing agricultural losses and risks. In arriving at this solution, the following questions will be answered:
What level of impact does soil erosion contribute to the decreasing level of soil fertility?
To what extent do slope of the topography influence soil erosion?#p#分页标题#e#
What are the other existing methodologies that have been employed to prevent soil erosion?
What are the best approaches that can be used to improve the rate of recovery of a field that has experienced from soil erosion?
Which available methods are best in responding to soil erosion menace?
RESEARCH PLAN
During my research, I will use many sources to ensure I have all relevant information on implementing soil erosion. To do this, I will perform the following tasks:
Compendex – an electronic version of Engineering Index with references and abstracts from over 5,000 engineering journals from 1969 to the present.
ASCE Online Research Library -- provides full-text access to 30 journals and conference proceedings beginning in 1990.
Science Direct-the world’s leading source for scientific, technical, and an engineering full-text research, contains more than 10 million journal articles and book chapters.
Obtain relevant technical literature
The articles I found using the online database can be obtained in two different ways. Many can be immediately retrieved online. If not available online, they can be requested from the Interlibrary Load Service, which has access to holdings of more than 47,000 libraries.
Search the internet
I will search the internet to find reliable information. Specially, I will look at the following sites as potentially valuable research websites:
asce.org
iagre.gov
ite.org
Consult with faculty and experts
I will consult with the following faculty members and experts in the field. Dr. Peric and Dr. Natalie are both professors in the civil engineering department doing research within foundation and environmental. Dr. Peric works on experimental and computational modeling of localized deformation, failure and instabilities of geomaterials, and on development of sustainable reinforcement systems for civil infrastructure materials. Dr. Natalie works on surface and groundwater quality, natural organic matter reactivity and metal interactions, fluorescence and UV-absorbance spectroscopy, and organic aerosols.
I also plan to contact the engineers who are working on the Soil Erosion program in the United Nations Food and Agricultural organization. I hope to gain more information about Soil Erosion.
QUALIFICATIONS
I am able to research this topic because of my qualifications below:
I am a senior in civil engineering at Kansas State University
I have taken Soil Mechanics and Environmental Engineering
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