Assess the effectiveness of soil conservation measures for sustainable watershed management using fallout radionuclides - D1.50.08


Objective:

The overall objective is to develop improved land use and management strategies for sustainable crop production through effective soil erosion control practices. The specific research objectives are: a) to further develop fallout radionuclide methodologies, with particular emphasis on the combined use of 137Cs, 210Pb and 7Be for measuring soil erosion over several spatial and time scales, b) to establish standardized protocols for the combined application of the above techniques and c) to utilize these techniques to assess the impact of short-term changes in land use practices and the effectiveness of specific soil conservation measures.

Activities:

A Consultants' Meeting held at IAEA Headquarters, Vienna, 28-30 May 2001, recommended the initiation of a CRP to further develop and standardise fallout radionuclide methodologies, with particular emphasis on the combined use of 137Cs, 210Pb and 7Be for measuring soil erosion rates and establishing soil redistribution patterns at several spatial and time scales, and to utilize these techniques to assess the impact of short-term changes in land use types and the effectiveness of soil conservation measures tailored to local conditions and resources.

The CRP team comprises 19 participants including 12 research contractors from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China (2 contractors), Morocco, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, the Russian Federation, Turkey and Vietnam; 2 technical contractors from Austria and UK; and 5 agreement holders from Australia, Canada, Japan, Switzerland and USA. The first RCM and Training Workshop was held 19 - 23 May 2003, in Vienna and Seibersdorf, Austria. The second RCM took place in Istanbul, Turkey, between 4 and 8 October 2004. A field day with a visit to the Cekmece Nuclear Research Centre of the Turkish Atomic Energy Agency and a tour of the Buyukcekmece Dam Lake Erosion Study Site was part of the RCM. The third RCM was held at IAEA Headquarter in Vienna on 27-30 March 2006, to review the progresses achieved by the participants in the implementation of their respective objectives and work plan and to discuss and agree on the follow-up of experimental work until the fourth and final RCM. All participants reported the results of their research covering the period since the second RCM. In addition there were several technical presentations with regards to a proficiency test organized among the participating laboratories to the CRP, the use of geostatistics to improve the spatialization of Fallout radionuclides punctual data. And finally further updates were given on the latest developments on new conversion models for the use of FRNs (137Cs, 210Pbex and 7Be) for erosion/sedimentation studies and on the latest version new software that includes these models. A presentation was also made by a representative of the World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies (WOCAT) on the tools available from WOCAT for the dissemination of information on soil and water resource conservation issues.

The fourth and final RCM was successfully held in Vienna, Austria in October 2007, and all participants presented the final results of the research activities over the last four to five years. A wealth of valuable information on soil redistribution and effectiveness of soil conservation was generated by the CRP using several fallout radionuclides and conventional techniques in a wide range of environments. In total more than 150 scientific papers (peer-reviewed journals) were published by the CRP participants. Currently the final report (TEC-DOC) is in press.

Participants:

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Reports:

Project Officer:

Gerd Dercon