mitigate climate change and its impacts

Mulch-till is a method of farming that does not utilise a plough, and thus the soil is not turned over. Furthermore, at least 30% of the cultivated area remains covered with organic residues left over from the previous crop. There are multiple benefits to the soil and carbon dioxide emissions are reduced.

Forests in headwater areas benefit water quality and hydrologic cycling. Furthermore, maintaining and restoring the forest cover in headwater catchments offers other, multiple benefits such as increased soil water retention, intercepted pollution pathways, improved soil, maintained biodiversity and captured carbon dioxide.

Permanent meadows or pastures are more effective in controlling land degradation than arable cropping. They are especially appropriate in hilly regions on sloping land where the risk of water erosion is high.

Sediment capture ponds are constructed and located along networks of ditches which drain watersheds. They slow the velocity of water and cause the deposition of suspended materials. These ponds help to avoid sediment accumulation in the ditches themselves, and can decrease sediment and nutrient pollution of surface water bodies downstream.

A small constructed wetland is a combination of ponds and vegetation filters, designed mainly to remove sediment and nutrients from streams. It is usually located in first and second order streams in agricultural landscapes.

Small retention ponds, located in the forest, are ponds or pools with sufficient storage capacity to store the surface runoff to prevent flooding during heavy rainfall events. Ponds contain limited or no water during dry weather, but are designed to retain water during rain events.