Economic Assessment of Eroded Soils: Current State and Development Prospects

Abstract

Soil erosion, as a type of land degradation, affects various human economic interests. It is shown that the most promising areas of erosion studies where economic methods can be applied are assessment of actual damage from soil erosion, determination of the amount of probable damage from erosion processes in soils, and economic analysis in the development of sustainable land use systems for areas with soils subject to erosion. The group of methods for determining economic damage, including those which take into account ecosystem services that soils “lose” as a result of erosion processes, is characterized by the greatest development. Methods for assessing the risk of soil erosion have a significant development potential, since an extensive database of predictive models and equations (USLE, RUSLE, RUSLE-2, WEPP, EUROSE, CREAMS, EPIC, VNIIZiZPE, etc.) has been created, which make it possible to assess indicators of soil erosion in the future. Sustainable land use systems are developed using the neoclassical capital theory, which requires that the fertility of soil and net social benefits from nonmarket goods and services from agricultural lands should be maintained over time. Thus, it is possible to create compensatory taxation mechanisms for areas with the manifestation of soil erosion processes.