Impacts of Soil and Water Conservation

Photo credit: CGIAR

Traditional soil and water conservation structures in the arid agroecosystem of Southern Tunisia/ Photo credit: C. Zucca

 

Reviewing soil and water conservation research in Tunisia

Submitted by Dryland Systems CGIAR

A new report entitled “Impacts of Soil and Water Conservation Techniques in Tunisia – Inventory of Research Works and Studies” provides a comprehensive inventory of the research work and studies undertaken to date to assess the impacts of soil and water conservation in the country. This review is critical to the research effort at national and regional levels to address challenging issues such as water scarcity and land degradation.

A holistic systems approach that takes into account both biophysical and socio-economic factors was taken into account in order to pool together and categorize the main research topics, as follows:

• The economic cost of the soil and waters conservation structures
• The social value of soil and water conservation
• Impact on landowners, and their investment behavior
• Impact on the value of productivity
• Impact on the environment

This inventory report covers over 150 documents in the English or French languages published in scientific journals, conference proceedings, and project reports and technical studies by governmental agencies that were, in some cases, not easily available to the public. A variety of studies on different soil and water conservation structures were reviewed, including terraces or contour benches, hill lakes, jessour, and recharge wells/check dams.

Read the full story: CGIAR Dryland Systems