The political economy of soil erosion in developing countries

Argues for combining the study of physical and social processes to study the political economy of soil erosion; the study must include a 'place-based' analysis of soil erosion, where it actually occurs, where flooding and siltation caused by soil erosion in one place affects another, and where land users have been spatially displaced to and from areas. It must also include 'non-place- based' analysis of the relations of production under which land is used including land tenure, rents, prices of agricultural inputs and outputs. Bringing these two analyses together, a 'bottom-up' approach is outlined in which the focus is first directed to the smallest unit of decision making in the use of land, the family and the household, up to the government and administration. At the latter level, it looks at where power lies and how it is used.