The Netherlands

An overview is given on soil erosion problems in the Netherlands. Soil erosion by water and wind occurs in The Netherlands. However, soil erosion is not a problem on a national scale. The total surface area of The Netherlands is 41 500 km2, of which 23 500 km2 30 was agricultural land in 1996. Soil erosion by water only occurs on 40 000 ha of loess soils in the region of South-Limbourg, which has a hilly topography. Wind erosion is more widespread than water erosion. Eppink (1982) mentions that wind erosion occurs on 97 000 ha of agricultural land in The Netherlands, of which 75 000 ha is seriously affected. Wind erosion is an active process in The Netherlands (Knottnerus, 1979; Eppink, 1982; Eppink and Spaan, 1989). It occurs on (a) the beaches and coastal dunes along 250 km of sandy North Sea coast, (b) part of the sandy arable soils behind the coastal dunes, (c) arable cut-over raised peat bog soils with a sandy subsoil in the provinces of Groningen and Drente in the north-eastern part of the country, (d) sandy arable soils in the NetherlandsJRC.H.7-Land management and natural hazard