COST 623 Meeting: Working Group 2 – Key Thresholds in Soil Erosion

European Conference on Wind Erosion on Agricultural Land

Thetford, UK 30th April - 2nd May 2001

Programme organisers: Andrew Warren, Department of Geography, University College London, 26, Bedford Way, London, WC1H 0AP, UK. E-mail: a.warren@ucl.ac.uk, and Geert Sterk, Erosion and Soil & Water Conservation group, Department of Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University, Nieuwe Kanaal 11, 6709 PA Wageningen, The Netherlands. E-mail: geert.sterk@users.tct.wag-ur.nl.

All over Europe, wind erosion damages crops (by sandblasting and exposure), clogs ditches and roads, causes dust pollution and jeopardises sustainability. The off-site costs (as for ditch clearance and dust-related lung diseases) are almost certainly much larger than the on-site costs of wind erosion. Although much has been learned about and applied to the control of wind erosion, the wind erosion problem is now being exacerbated by mechanisation, increases in field size and contract farming systems which disperse responsibility. Today, effective policies to control wind erosion on agricultural land have not been developed and implemented in many European countries.

The aim of the meeting will be to bring together scientists working on wind erosion and professionals in the field of agricultural policy (eg. extensionists) to discuss recent developments in wind erosion research and control strategies, and to set the agenda for future research. The meeting will contribute to COST 623 Working group 2 on "key thresholds for soil erosion". Several European and one non-European keynote speakers will be invited to give a state-of-the-art presentation on current research and policy issues. Other participant will be invited to present papers orally or as poster during the meeting. There will be a half-day field trip to a wind erosion research site near the conference venue. The provisional programme is as follows:

29 April Late pm Registration
30 April Early am Opening session
Late am Scientific session Quantification
Early pm Policy session On-site and off-site costs
Late pm Poster session All issues
1 May Morning Field visit
Early pm Policy session Wind erosion and the Desertification Convention
Late pm Scientific session Modelling
2 May Early am Policy session Wind erosion control
Late am Scientific session Dust pollution and climate change
Afternoon Plenary session Research agenda

 The location of the meeting will be near Thetford in Suffolk, England. Further details of location, accommodation and how to reach will be provided later. There is limited support available for EU scientists and policy professional wishing to attend.

Deadline for submission of abstracts is 31st January 2001. Please send abstracts of maximum 500 words to Geert Sterk, either by e-mail, fax (+31 317 484759) or post if you would like to present a paper or poster at the meeting.

Last updated 21/09/2000 18:35:10 GMT+0:00