**1. Introduction**

The ravine landscape is considered as one of the most degraded terrestrial ecosystems in the world. The continuous and aggravated soil erosion and subsequent anthropogenic activities leads to the formation of ravine landscapes. Ravine is intricate network of large gullies with depth ranging from 3 m or more and affected by extreme form of mass soil erosion. The high drainage density and multi-directional steep slopes are other morphological characteristics of ravines. In India, ravines occupy about 4.3 M ha along the rivers *Yamuna*, *Chambal*, *Mahi*, and *Sabarmati* [1]. The marginal lands near to gully head in ravines are dominated by agriculture land use, while pastures and open forests on the side slopes and gully bed. Generally ravine areas have 15 to 32% arable lands and 60 to 85% non-arable lands [2]. The marginal lands adjacent to ravines are under extensive cultivation without much attention to conservation measures, which leads to further extension of gullies head during rainy season. These ravine lands are under biotic stress due to uncontrolled grazing by stray and wild animals and poor vegetation cover leading to huge soil loss during rainy season. These are the worst form of land degradation

formed, when the vegetal cover is not strong enough to hold and bind the soil particles together from being carried away by the runoff water. The restoration of these ecosystems through bio-engineering measures is extremely important to conserve natural resources, maintain landscape sustainability, enhance carbon sequestration, mitigate climate change, improve socio-economic conditions and ensure food and livelihood security throughout such regions [3].

Ravine is subjected to extreme hydrological events (flood and drought), high summer temperatures, high wind velocity and extreme soil erosion that make them more vulnerable to land degradation. The several anthropological activities such as improper land use, illicit mining, faulty methods of road construction, uncontrolled grazing, deforestation, increased population, overexploitation of natural resources, unplanned urbanization, unregulated industrialization, increased rural poverty, low natural resource management skill and absence of appropriate resource conservation measures etc. accelerates the erosion process, that leads to land degradation and ravine landscapes formation [4]. To reclaim and rehabilitate such unproductive ravines, soil and water conservation technologies, e.g., peripheral and contour bund, vegetative barriers, grassed waterways, terrace, trench, composite check dams, gully plugs, gully easing, afforestation, agroforestry, contour cultivation, strip cropping, intercropping, mulching, tillage, cropping system, crop scheduling, crop geometry, organic manures, conservation agriculture, and soil management techniques have been successfully tested and recommended. These soil and water conservation measures can provide a large number of tangible i.e. controlling soil erosion, improving soil properties, promoting plant growth and yield, enhancing biomass/carbon stock, and provision of various tree products and intangible benefits i.e. mitigating climate change, protection of downstream water bodies, regulating the environmental flow, biomass recycling and soil formation, capacity building, out migration mitigation, bio-diversity [5]. Therefore, we have discussed the various engineering/mechanical, afforestation, agroforestry, agronomic and soil management practices for applied for managing and stabilizing the ravine slope.
