The World Association for Sedimentation and Erosion Research (WASER) was founded in the capital of central China's Hubei Province Tuesday and more than 140 scientists from 37 countries have applied to be initial members.

The research group decided to place the headquarters in China because China had played a leading role in research into erosion and riverbed sediment, said an expert from the China Water Conservancy and Hydroelectric Power Research Institute.

So far the country has hosted five of the nine international seminars on sedimentation and erosion.

The research on sedimentation and erosion covers the fields such as earth erosion, the transportation and deposition of earth in the river and its impact on water conservancy projects.

According to a WASER source, earth erosion results in a loss of 50,000 to 70,000 square kilometers of arable land and sediment causes a shrinkage of 1 percent in reservoirs around the world each year.

In China, about 3.56 million square kilometers of land suffer erosion, accounting for 37 percent of the country's total territory.

(Xinhua News Agency October 20, 2004)