Department of Geography, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India.
Environ Monit Assess. 2023 Dec 26;196(1):82. doi: 10.1007/s10661-023-12226-1.
Soil erosion is the inherent and destructive threat affecting agricultural production and livelihood of million mouths. The increased frequency of floods and land use/land cover changes has made Upper Jhelum Sub-catchment susceptible to soil erosion risk. Morphometric based watershed prioritization for soil erosion risk may help in sustainable management of natural resources. Thus, this paper endeavors to prioritize watersheds of Upper Jhelum Sub-catchment in India based on morphometric parameters for soil erosion risk using geospatial techniques. Weights to the morphometric parameters were assigned through a multi-criteria decision method. The watersheds in the Sub-catchment have been categorized into low, medium, high and very high priority classes based on prioritization ranks that were determined by computing the compound value for the soil erosion risk, based on prioritization ranks obtained through compound value for the soil erosion risk. The results revealed 1E1D3 and 1E1D8 watersheds accorded very high priority. The watersheds namely IE1D2 and IEID4 were found under high priority. Medium priority for soil erosion risk was determined in IEID5 and IED7 watersheds while 1E1D1 and IE1D6 watersheds were identified for low priority. The study calls for implementing soil conservation practices in the Sub-catchment. The Sub-catchment can be made less hazardous for the soil erosion risk by implementing contour farming, building check dams, terrace farming, afforestation and limiting large scale overgrazing. The findings of this study may offer valuable insights for stakeholders for conservation of soil resource. The approach utilized in the study may be linked with soil loss estimation for effective conservation of natural resources in further future studies.
土壤侵蚀是影响百万人口农业生产和生计的固有破坏性威胁。洪水频发和土地利用/土地覆被变化使杰赫勒姆上游子流域容易受到土壤侵蚀风险的影响。基于地貌的流域优先排序对于土壤侵蚀风险的可持续管理可能会有所帮助。因此，本文试图利用地理空间技术，根据地貌参数对印度杰赫勒姆上游子流域的流域进行土壤侵蚀风险优先排序。通过多标准决策方法为地貌参数分配权重。根据基于土壤侵蚀风险优先排序获得的复合值计算出的优先排序等级，将子流域中的流域分为低、中、高和极高优先级类别。结果显示，1E1D3 和 1E1D8 流域被评为极高优先级。IE1D2 和 IEID4 流域被评为高优先级。IEID5 和 IED7 流域被评为中优先级，而 1E1D1 和 IE1D6 流域则被评为低优先级。该研究呼吁在子流域实施土壤保持措施。通过实施等高耕作、修建挡水坝、梯田耕作、造林和限制大规模过度放牧，可以使子流域降低土壤侵蚀风险。本研究的结果可为利益相关者保护土壤资源提供有价值的见解。在未来的研究中，可以将本研究中使用的方法与土壤流失估计联系起来，以有效地保护自然资源。
