Land Topography
The topography of a given landscape, its rainfall and/or wind exposure all combine to influence the
land’s susceptibility to soil erosion. In the Philippines, where more than 58% of the land has a slope
greater than 11%, and in Jamaica where 52% of the land has a slope greater than 20%, soil erosion rates
as high as 400 t/ha/year have been reported . Erosion rates are high especially on marginal and steep
lands which have been converted from forests to crops . In addition under arid conditions with
relatively strong winds soil erosion rates as high as 5600 t/ha/year have been reported in an arid region in
India [28]. Even in a developed country with abundant farmland such as the United States where there is
less need to exploit croplands with steeper slopes, erosion losses as of 2007 average 13 tons/ha/year
In a developed region such as Europe, the measured rates of erosion range between 3 and 40 tons/ha/year
with “losses due to individual storms of from 20–40 tons/ha, that may happen every two or three years,
are measured regularly in Europe, with losses of more than 100 tons/ha in extreme events”