Invisible scars

Climate change and land-use changes exacerbate gully erosion, which is a major driver of land degradation across the world

- SUSMITA SENGUPTA

GULLY EROSION is arguably the most violent yet overlooked form of land degradation. It carves deep scars across landscapes, severely degrades fertile plains and quite literally swallows farmland, roads and buildings, impacting food production and livelihoods. What's worrying is that gully erosion is now a major driver of global land degradation, with impacts palpable from the red soils of eastern India to the savannahs of sub-Saharan Africa, and that it is getting exacerbated in the changing climate. In a paper published in Scientific Reports in February 2025, researchers estimate that gully erosion can potentially undermine efforts to realise nine of the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs), specifically those related to zero hunger, clean water and sanitation and climate action.

Gullies are erosional channels, with incisions several tens of metres into the soil, caused by surface and subsurface runoff, states the Scientific Reports article. It explains that gully erosion is distinct from other types of erosion “by virtue of its deeply erosive nature and attendant higher specific soil losses” and has an unpredictable and dynamic nature. “The direct effects of gully erosion on societies bear close resemblance to that of landslides or subsidence,” says Anindya Majhi, geographer at University of Manchester, UK, and lead author of the article. Earlier in a 2022 paper published in