The assessment of erosion risk and prediction of soil losses in Somalia

Soil erosion is a global environmental problem in the nature of food that is dangerous for future generations in terms of negative surveillance of the sustainability of the entire natural environment, especially agricultural areas, and security. As a matter of fact, studies on soil conservation and management primarily focus on the estimation of soil loss and the measures to be taken to reduce erosive processes. In this thesis, it is aimed to evaluate the soil erosion risk for Somalia by using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) and the European Land Cover Inventory Environmental Information Coordination (CORINE) models. In evaluating the risk of erosion in research and assessing the risk, the RUSLE model was used to estimate the amount of soil loss, and the CORINE model was used to determine the current and potential soil erosion risk situations. To generate soil maps using both methods, parameters such as depth, stoniness, climate, land cover, precipitation erosivity, soil erosion, slope length, and erosion control applications were integrated and used in the Geographical Information System. According to the RUSLE model A factor map result, 97.12% of the study area has low, 2.35% moderate, 0.52% high, and 0.004% very high erosion intensity. The findings of the CORINE model showed that 84.26% of the soils in the northern and central regions of the country were categorized as having a moderate true risk of soil erosion. The percentages of low and high true soil erosion risks were determined as 12.08% and 3.66%, respectively. Areas with a high risk of real soil erosion were found primarily in the southern parts, while areas with a medium level of real soil erosion risk were found to be distributed in the northern and middle parts. In the field controls, it was observed that the top soil was eroded, and there were traces of surface erosion in areas with high erosion intensity. Although water erosion has not been considered an important problem in the vast majority of Somali soils, planning agricultural activities in areas where erosion intensity is present will be an important step for the protection of soils.