Consideration of offsite impacts in targeting soil conservation programs

Soil erosion has off-site, as well as on-site consequences. Off-site erosion damages include sedimentation in reservoirs and waterways. The expenditure of resources for conservation programs, however, are usually based on on-site damages. Regions that could potentially benefit from off-site erosion reduction are identified, and are compared to a model of regions that are targeted using existing on-site erosion criteria. Given the divergence between the two models, it is suggested that the present procedure for targeting areas for soil conservation is inefficient and results in a poor allocation of resources. Conservation efforts should be planned around two factors: farm productivity (as is currently the case) and potential off-site benefits (as is proposed).