Abstract
Soil erosion is a global environmental threat, and Land Use Land Cover Changes (LUCC) have significant impacts on it. Nepal, being a mountainous country, has significant soil erosion issues. To examine the effects of LUCC on water erosion, we studied the LUCC in Sarada, Rapti and Thuli Bheri river basins of Nepal during the 1995–2015 period using the Remote Sensing. We calculated the average annual soil loss using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation and Geographical Information System. Our results suggest that an increase in the agricultural lands at the expense of bare lands and forests escalated the soil erosion through the years; rates being 5.35, 5.47 and 6.03 t/ha/year in 1995, 2007 and 2015, respectively. Of the different land uses, agricultural land experienced the most erosion, whereas the forests experienced the least erosion. Agricultural lands, particularly those on the steeper slopes, were severely degraded and needed urgent soil and water conservation measures. Our study confirms that the long term LUCC has considerable impacts on soil loss, and these results can be implemented in similar river basins in other parts of the country.
Highlights
Soil erosion is a severe ecological issue that humanity is facing [1] as it washes away the fertile topsoil, deteriorates soil quality and increases the soil sediments in stream channels [2]
Soil erosion rates of 11.17 and 10.74 t/ha/year have been reported in the Aringale Khola Watershed and Sarada river basin, respectively in the Siwalik Hills [11, 12]
This paper aims to assess the soil erosion dynamics induced by the long term LUCC in three central river basins of western Nepal, namely Sarada, Rapti and Thuli Bheri
Summary
Soil erosion is a severe ecological issue that humanity is facing [1] as it washes away the fertile topsoil, deteriorates soil quality and increases the soil sediments in stream channels [2]. Extensive use of available land for agriculture increases the soil loss at a global scale [3]. It is one of the major environmental issues of hill and mountain ecosystems [4]. Soil erosion is a significant feature in Nepalese terrain, given the hilly topography and rugged mountains, much-concentrated rainfall events in the monsoon (June-September) and increased human influence in the removal of natural vegetation [5, 6]. Slope, land use patterns and population pressure across different physiographic regions produces different rates of soil erosion in Nepal, ranging from zero in the lowland areas to 420 t/ha/year in the shrublands [10].
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