Spatial Analysis of Critical Land in Sub-Watershed of Lawe Pakam, Mardingding District, Karo Regency, North Sumatra Province

Abstract

The Lawe Pakam Sub-watershed, Mardingding Sub-district, Karo Regency is the upstream area of the watershed. It is dominated by protected forests, which will result in significant natural disasters in the watershed downstream such as flash floods, landslides, and drought. The objectives of this study were to analyze the criticality level of land and its changes. The research method used was the critical land spatial analysis with primary data from 2019, to make comparison of secondary data from 2013 sourced from BPDAS Sei Wampu Ular to find out the changes in the critical land, and to have field examination. The results demonstrtated changes in the critical land. The criticality level of the land in Lawe Pakam Sub-watershed, Mardingding District in 2013 was categorized into very critical covering an area of 2,155.47 Ha, critical 4627.93 Ha, rather critical 6,019.72 Ha, criticallyl potential 2,307.35 Ha and not critical 3,788.04 Ha, whereas that of in 2019 was categorized into very critical covering an area of 8,014.23, critical 1,226.77 Ha, rather critical of 8,462.19 Ha, potentially critical of 268.87 Ha and not critical at 926.44 Ha. The results showed that changes in the criticality level of the land were caused by changes in the land cover. it is recommended that the critical land be rehabilitated, especially that of in protected forest areas.