Abstract
Soil erosion is becoming one of the most serious phenomena over the world, impacting all water resources, agricultural lands, as well as the ecological and environmental systems in general. It is necessary to bring on studies for evaluating vulnerability to erosion, to set up strategies and management plans for the sustainable protection of watersheds. This study intends to demonstrate how the analytical hierarchy approach can be used in environmental studies, and more specifically, how it can be used to map erosion vulnerability using GIS software. The Lakhdar sub-basin is the subject of mapping; ten factors were used as evaluation criteria including: slope, elevation, soil types, morphometrics (curvature, aspect), river network density, LULC, NDVI, rainfall erosivity, and Stream power index (SPI). The weights of the factors were determined based on the AHP technique, and the results showed that the slope is the most important factor, followed by elevation, aspect and curvature, drainage density, SPI, NDVI, and rainfall erosion. The consistency of the parameters was verified by the consistency ratio (CR) having an acceptable result of 7.8%. According to the results of susceptibility, 31% of the basin is characterized by a moderate susceptibility to erosion, where 22% of the basin represents high susceptibility and 10% very high susceptibility. A larger part of the basin (63%), presents high erosion risks. Therefore, it is critical to bring protection plans for these area mapping and sustainable soil management measures to reduce the risk on the water potential and the natural ecological system. Keywords: Analytical Hierarchy Process, Erosion, Stream Power Index, NDVI, LULC, Geographic Information System DOI： https://doi.org/10.35741/issn.0258-2724.58.2.10
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