Our Indispensable Soil - Soil: Reflections on the Basis of our Existence - page 15

Dehydrating water. The woman in the photo earns a living selling souvenirs to passing tourists near
Lac Rose in Senegal. Evaporation is so high due to the heat that salt accumulates on the bottom of
the lake, where local people collect it in boats and send it away for refining. Growing crops is dif-
ficult here. The high salinity forces water from the plants' roots to even out the difference in salt
concentration between cell liquid and groundwater. This is why plants dry out in salty water
land for agriculture and fodder for livestock puts pressure on the natural veg-
etation. I joined Nepalese colleagues on a visit to a farming community in the
Kathmandu Valley, against a backdrop of gleaming snow-capped peaks on the
horizon. Villages in the mid-high alpine zone are those hardest hit by monsoon
landslides. On our approach to Kathmandu via the main highway from India, the
traffic came to a standstill: construction workers were feverishly repairing parts of
the road swept away in a landslide. As I scanned the sea of mud from the window
of our Mercedes, wondering how we would be able to continue, the driver sud-
denly hit the accelerator and we found ourselves slithering out of control, skidding
left and right, before miraculously emerging from the landslide onto a patch of tar-
mac. Only after we had resumed our journey did we spot the burnt-out car and bus
wrecks down in the valley.
The mountainsides are terraced to prevent erosion but the steepest slopes
remain susceptible to landslides. Torrential rain washes fertile soil down the val-
leys and into the rivers.
Villagers grow corn on the best soil nearest their communities, taking animal
fodder and firewood from farther afield. The fields near the villages are fertilised
by livestock, while the outlying land is gradually depleted. This results in patchy