970 MMT of Soil Lost to Erosion Each Year in EU

600 million m³ of topsoil lost to water erosion annually

The greatest loss of soil in Europe is due to erosion by water compared to other erosion processes, such as wind, says the EU in-house science service (JRC).

“Soil erosion by water is one of the major threats to soils in the European Union, with a negative impact on ecosystem services, crop production, drinking water and carbon stocks.”

About 68.3% of total soil losses occurs in agricultural lands, while forests account for less than 1%, says the report.

Italy (8.46 t ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹) has the highest average annual rates of soil erosion by water, followed by Slovenia (7.43 t ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹) and Austria (7.19 t ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹).

Selected Report Highlights

• The mean soil loss rate in European Union is estimated to 2.46 t ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ (agricultural, forests and semi-natural areas)
• Arable and sparse vegetation have the highest soil loss rates.
  • 12.7% of European arable lands have soil loss >5 t ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹
    
  • Four million hectares of EU croplands have unsustainable rates of soil loss
• Average annual rate of soil formation in Europe is about 1.4 Mt per hectare.
  • It takes 100 years to form 1 cm of new soil under natural temperate grasslands

Soil loss by water erosion in the European Union

Additional Notes and Discrepancies

Main statistical findings: Agricultural holdings

• Some 12.2 million farms across the EU-28 in 2010, worked 174.1 million hectares of land (the utilized agricultural area) or 40.0 % of the total land area of the EU-28.
  http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Agricultural_census_2010_-_main_results

• EU-28 total land area: 4,324,782 km² (432.5 million hectares)

• “The mean soil loss rate in the European Union’s erosion-prone lands (agricultural, forests and semi-natural areas) was found to be 2.46 t ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹, resulting in a total soil loss of 970 Mt annually.”  http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1462901115300654

 

 

 

Iraq Casualties in August: U.N.

101 People killed or wounded in Iraq each day in August

At least 1,325 Iraqis were killed and another 1,811 were wounded in acts of terrorism, violence and armed conflict in August 2015*, according to the UN Mission in Iraq (UNAMI)

Civilians killed: 585 (including 20 civilian police and casualty figures in Anbar province)
Civilians wounded: 1,103 (including 44 civilian police and casualty figures in Anbar)

Iraqi Security Forces killed: 740 (including Peshmerga, SWAT and militias fighting alongside the Iraqi Army / Not including casualties from Anbar Operations)
Security forces wounded: 708

“Baghdad was the worst affected Governorate with 1,069 civilian casualties (318 killed, 751 injured). Diyala suffered 108 killed and 162 injured; Ninewa 69 killed and 3 injured; Salah al-Din 23 killed and 13 injured and Kirkuk 17 killed and 15 injured,” UN said.

*CAVEATS: In general, UNAMI has been hindered in effectively verifying casualties in conflict areas. Figures for casualties from Anbar Governorate are provided by the Health Directorate and are noted below. Casualty figures obtained from the Anbar Health Directorate might not fully reflect the real number of casualties in those areas due to the increased volatility of the situation on the ground and the disruption of services. In some cases, UNAMI could only partially verify certain incidents. UNAMI has also received, without being able to verify, reports of large numbers of casualties along with unknown numbers of persons who have died from secondary effects of violence after having fled their homes due to exposure to the elements, lack of water, food, medicines and health care. For these reasons, the figures reported have to be considered as the absolute minimum.