Grid-Scale Impact of Climate Change and Human Influence on Soil Erosion within East African Highlands (Kagera Basin)

Bibliographic Data

ID15464622
AuthorsChaodong Li (0000-0003-4714-9569, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation), Zhanbin Li (0000-0003-3389-5069, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, corresponding author), Mingyi Yang (0000-0003-2574-552X, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, corresponding author), Bo Ma (0000-0002-7475-250X, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation), Baiqun Wang (Institute of Soil and Water Conservation)
Year2021
Volume18
Issue5
Pages2775-2775
Publication date2021-03-09
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1661-7827 • E-ISSN: 1660-4601
PublisherMultidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (PUBLISHER • CH)
DOI10.3390/ijerph18052775
PMID33803377
OpenAlexW3134509870
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited53

Under global climate change and pressure from human activities, soil erosion is becoming a major concern in the quest for regional sustainable development in the Kagera basin (KB). However, few studies in this region have comprehensively considered the impact of climate change and human influence on soil erosion, and the associated processes are unclear. Based on the premise of quantifying climate change, human influence, and soil erosion, this study undertook a neighborhood analysis as the theoretical support, for a grey relation analysis which was conducted to realize the qualitative assessment of the influence of climate change and human activities on soil erosion. The results show that 90.32% of the KB saw climate change as having a greater influence on soil erosion than human influence, with the remaining area 9.68% seeing human influence having a greater impact than climate change, mainly as a result of the effect of rangeland and farmland. The average soil erosion rate of the KB shows a very low level (10.54 t ha -1 yr -1 ), with rangeland and farmland being the main land use/land cover (LULC) types that see soil loss, followed by forest, wetland, and built-up areas. The climate change trends of the KB show the most dramatic changes in the northeast and southwest, gradually decreasing towards the line crossing from the Birunga National Park (Rwanda) to the Keza district (Tanzania). The human influence intensity (HII) shows a high level in the KB (21.93), where it is higher in the west and lower in the east of the basin

Agroforestry · Climate change · Erosion · Geography · Geomorphology · Hydrology (agriculture · Land use · Physical geography · Rangeland · Aeolian processes and effects · Environmental Science · Rangeland Management and Livestock Ecology · Soil erosion and sediment transport · Ecology · Geology

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