ABSTRACT
Human-induced soil degradation in the arid region has been going on for thousands of years (Dregne, 1982). Water erosion in uplands and salinization of irrigated lands had a devastating effect on the land and, in some instances, on civilizations in the cultural centers of the Old World. Deforestation around the Mediterranean Sea was followed by accelerated water erosion, beginning at least 2000 years ago. Its effects are still being felt (Mikesell, 1960, 1969). Salinity damage to irrigated land in Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq) contributed significantly to the weakening and ultimate destruction of the hydraulic society that was utterly dependent upon the flow of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (~acobsen and Adams, 1958). Erosion and salinization are now global problems. Human-induced salinization is almost always a reversible process, on both irrigated and nonirrigated lands. Water erosion damage may be reversible or irreversible, in human "i:erms, depending upon the kind of soil that is eroded. Wind erosion, although widespread, does not usually bring about permanent damage to the land. As with water erosion, the characteristics of the eroded soil determine the severity of the impact and its reversibility.
