Dynamics of Land Use Land Cover Change and Soil Erosion Rate in Chure Landscape of Sudurpaschim Province

Abstract

Land use land cover, a dynamic process, has become a central component of current strategies in managing natural resources and monitoring environmental changes. This study adopts an integrated GIS and Remote Sensing approach to assess changes in land use, land cover (LU/LC), and soil erosion rates between 2001 and 2021. Land use maps were generated using supervised classification and the Maximum Likelihood algorithm, while RUSEL factors facilitated soil erosion mapping analysis. The findings underscore a remarkable decrease in 'agricultural land' and 'water,' accompanied by a simultaneous increase in 'settlement area,' 'forest area,' and 'bare land.' Agricultural land witnessed an annual decline of 2.5 percent, while water bodies decreased by 0.65 percent in 2021. Forest areas exhibited a 0.09 percent increment from 2001 to 2021, and settlement areas expanded at a rate of 0.41 percent annually. Notably, agricultural land reduction primarily contributed to the growth of settlement areas. Additionally, soil erosion rates rose from 3.82 (t/ha/year) in 2001 to 4.090 (t/ha/year) in 2021, indicating a correlation between land use change and soil erosion. Factors such as increased settlement, population growth, infrastructure development, riverbank cutting, and erosion were associated with the decline in agricultural land. Effective land use planning in the Churia region is imperative to address these changes. Government intervention and stakeholder cooperation are crucial to curbing forest degradation, unchecked human settlement expansion, and riverbank cutting. Furthermore, the study advocates for the intensified use of GIS and Remote Sensing technologies in monitoring and managing natural resources.