Soil erosion as an indicator of agricultural sustainability in tropical watersheds

摘要

A systems approach was utilised for operationalisation of the concept of agricultural sustainability. The process was prerequisite to deriving case- and site- specific sustainability indicators for agriculture-based tropical watersheds. The breakdowninto functional units can be crucial for quantitative measurements of the degree of sustainability or could simply be valuable in developing alternatives to unsustainable farming practices. The most prominent indicator or measure of agricultural sustainability as determined from a causal loop diagram is the degree of erosion and runoff, which has also been identified by local stakeholders as the main driver of land degradation in their watershed area.