Application of a RUSLE-based soil erosion modelling on Mauritius Island
Rody Nigel A C and Soonil D. D. V. Rughooputh BA Stagiaire Postdoctoral, Bureau 5310, INRS Centre Eau Terre Environnement, 490 rue de la Couronne, Québec, QC G1K 9A9, Canada.
B Faculty of Science, University of Mauritius, Réduit, Mauritius.
C Corresponding author. Email: Rody.Nigel@ete.inrs.ca
Soil Research 50(8) 645-651 https://doi.org/10.1071/SR12175
Submitted: 4 July 2012 Accepted: 19 December 2012 Published: 31 January 2013
Abstract
Soil erosion by water is one of the most important natural resources management problems in the world. The damages it causes on-site are soil loss, breakdown of soil structure, and decline in organic matter content, nutrient content, fertility, and infiltration rate. Lands with the highest erosion risk on Mauritius Island are crop cultivations (sugarcane, tea, vegetables) on erosion-susceptible terrain (slopes >20% coupled with highly erodible soils). The locations of such lands on Mauritius were mapped during previous, qualitatively based regional-scale erosion studies. In order to propose soil conservation strategies, there is a need to apply a more quantitative approach to supplement the previous, qualitatively based studies. This paper reports an application of the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) within a geographical information system in order to estimate soil loss on the island, and particularly for the high-erosion areas. Results show that total soil loss on the island is estimated at 298 259 t year–1, with soil loss from high-erosion areas summing 84 780 t year–1 (28% of total soil loss). If all of the high-erosion areas were afforested, their soil loss would be reduced to 10 264 t year–1, i.e. a reduction of 88% for the high-erosion areas and a reduction of 25% for the island. This study thus calls for soil and water conservation programs directed to these erosion-prone areas before the land degradation and environmental damage they are causing become irreversible. The methodological approach used in this work to quantitatively estimate soil loss from erosion-prone areas can be adopted in other countries as the basis for a nationwide erosion assessment in order to better inform environmental policy needs for soil and water conservation.
Additional keywords: erosion risk mapping, GIS, priority action areas.
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