Impact assessment of alternate land cover and management practices on soil erosion: A case study

Abstract

Soil erosion is affected by climate, vegetation, topography, and man. Of these, vegetation and soil to some extent are the only factors which man can control. Erosion fills dam reservoirs and reduces dam’s economical life. This affects the economy of a country to a large extent. To specify hazard and damage of soil erosion is essential. Among many environmental hazards, checking land degradation is of utmost importance. It also ends up affecting productivity on arable and non arable lands. To prevent the erosion and rapid siltation, management of water, soil cover and vegetation resources on watershed is a must. In the present study, the expected soil loss from Bina river watershed of Betwa river basin has been estimated using USLE model in GIS platform. About 4% of the total geographical area of the Bina watershed was found under very severe erosion with a rate of more than 120 t/ha/year. The average soil erosion for the Bina basin was found to be 8.7 t/ha/year. Impact of alternate land cover management practices have been analysed by hypothetically assigning the alternate land use practices and changing the values of controlling factors of USLE model accordingly. The best management practices to help increase food production and control soil erosion have been suggested.