This document discusses a project aimed at reversing soil erosion trends through action at the river basin scale. It makes four main points: 1) Soil is being lost to erosion faster than it can be replenished, with negative impacts; 2) Acting at the river basin scale could effectively build resilience and accelerate reversal; 3) The project is developing a systemic, participatory approach to test in the Rapel River Basin in Chile; 4) Partners are sought to disseminate this approach in river basins worldwide.

1. Reversing soil erosion trends by
acting at the river basin scale
A del Valle, W Blake, C Kelly, C Bravo, A Izquierdo, F Carvajal
U. Plymouth (UK), U Austral (Chile), Foundation for Participatory
Innovation (Chile)
1

2. 2
Project’s Theses
1. Soil is being globally lost to erosion much faster than recovered, with
deep impacts upon climate, food, water, biodiversity, health and local
economies
2. Acting at the river basin scale, with an appropriate approach, could be
highly effective to build resilience to soil erosion and to accelerate its
reversal
3. Our project is developing and pilot-testing a systemic and participatory
approach to soil erosion reversal that can make this transformation
feasible
4. We are looking for partners into an initiative to disseminate, transfer
and apply this approach in several river basins around the world

3. 3
Thesis 1
Soil is being globally lost to erosion much faster than recovered,
with deep impacts upon climate, food, water, biodiversity,
health and local economies
 Every year 10,000,000 hectares of cropland are lost to erosion
worldwide (Pimentel 2006)
 Over the last few decades around 6.000.000 hectares of soil have
been recovered through farmer-led re-greening efforts in several
countries in Africa (Reij and Winterbottom 2015)
 What reversal speed do we need for Earth to become resilient to soil
erosion?
 How could we accelerate soil erosion reversal?

4. 4
Thesis 2
Acting at the river basin scale, with an appropriate
approach, could be highly effective to build resilience to soil
erosion and to accelerate its reversal
 This is the scale of the concrete actors whose daily actions and
complex interactions give rise to soil erosion: farmers, technical
advisors, water and power suppliers, government agencies, etc.
 Reversing soil erosion requires transformation of such actions and
interactions, and of their cultural grounds
 The farmer’s scale is too small to consider the whole complexity
of the challenge
 The national scale is too distant and prone to abstractions to be
transformative

5. 5
Thesis 3
Our project is developing and pilot-testing a systemic and
participatory approach to soil erosion reversal that can make
this transformation feasible
 Winner of Chilean-British research call with 120 applicants and 3
grants awarded
 Partners: University of Plymouth (UK), Universidad Austral (Chile) and
Foundation for Participatory Innovation (Chile); associate researchers
from Argentina, Brazil and Mexico
 Social and natural science work: Catchment Science, Social Resilience
Studies, Participatory Innovation Praxis
 Intervention approach: PI Praxis, based on complex thinking, with
hundreds of innovations implemented in several fields
 Pilot experience in Rapel River Basin, Chile, with local, national and
international convenors

6. 6

7. 2018 2019 2020
S1 GROUP OF
CONVENORS:
Selecting
participants in
Action Mapping
workshop
S2 GROUP OF
CONVENORS:
Selecting
participants in
subsequent
workshops
S3 GROUP OF
CONVENORS:
Prioritising
Innovations and
defining criteria
for the Strategy
S4 GROUP OF
CONVENORS:
Final approval of
the Strategy
ACTION
MAPPING
WORKSHOP
ACTION
MAPPING
EXPANDED
WORKSHOP:
• Validating
• Enriching
7 WORKSHOPS
FOR
IDENTIFYING
INNOVATIONS:
1O to 15
innovations
each
3 - 4
CONCEPTUAL
DESIGN
WORKSHOPS
FOR PRIORITY
INNOVATIONS
LATIN AMERICAN
SEMINAR AT FAO:
• Presentation Rapel
Basin Strategy
• Presentation Model of
Intervention
• Discussion and
Validation Model of
Intervention
GLOBAL-SCALE MEETING
AT PLYMOUTH, UK
• Presentation Rapel
Strategy and Model
• Search for support and
funding for Model’s
global dissemination
Project’s Time Line

8. 8
Thesis 4
We are looking for partners into an initiative to
disseminate, transfer and apply this approach in several
river basins around the world
 Objective: accelerating soil erosion reversal to make achievable several
UN SDGs
 Partners needed: basin-scale implementers, regional or global
coordinators, funding sponsors
 Launching event: Plymouth UK, February or March 2020