A Theoretical Analysis on the Local Climate Change Induced by the Change of Landuse

The local climate change induced by the change of landuse, i.e., the degeneration of vegetation is studied by the consideration of the equilibrium among radiation, phase change and convection in an air column and the energy balance condition on the ground surface. The result shows that the increase of ground albedo and the change of the surface heat flux as well as the decrease of the surface roughness length may induce the decrease of precipitation and the increase of temperature in the northern China, similar to the numerical simulation. Considering advection, this conclusion is also true except the amounts of the decrease of precipitation and the increase of temperature are changed. The decrease of precipitation and the increase of temperature will be more serious in case of global warming.

Monitoring and Evaluation of Soil Changes Under Landuse of Different Patterns at a Small Regional Level in South China

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Landuse/landcover changes in Zhangye oasis of Hexi Corridor

Taking two f alse color composite Landsat 5 TM (Thematic Mapper) images of band 4,3,2 taken in 1995 and 2000 as data resources, this paper carried out study on LUCC of Zhan gye oasis in recent five years by interpretation according to land reso urces classification system of 1:100,000 Resources and Environmental Data base of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The results show that great changes have taken place in landuse/landcover in Zhangye oasis since 1 995: (1) Changes of landuse structure show that cropland and land for urban c onstruction and built-up area increased, on the contrary, water area an d grassland decreased. These changes reflect the deterioration of eco-e nvironment and the acceleration of urbanization, and also indicate the problems existing in the arrangement of water and land resources betw een the upper and lower reaches of the Heihe River. (2) Regional diff erences of landuse/landcover are evident, characterized by following asp ects: in Sunan County located in Qilian Mountain area, unused land an d grassland decreased, but cropland and land for urban construction an d built-up area increased. In Minle and Shandan counties located in f oothills, unused land, water area and cropland decreased, but grassland and land for urban construction and built-up area increased. In Zhan gye City, Linze County and Gaotai County located in plain area of th e middle reaches of the Heihe River, unused land, water area and gra ssland decreased, while woodland, cropland and land for urban construction and built-up area increased.

The non-point output of different agriculture landuse types in Zhexi hydraulic region of Taihu Basin

This paper takes Zhexi hydraulic region in Taihu Basin as a study area. On the basis of hydraulic analysis function of Arcgis8.3, the drainages were delineated by selecting the monitoring points and discharge stations as outlets. The landuse map were finished by denoting the TM/ETM image. The precipitation map was finished by spatial interpolation according to the rainfall monitoring records. Overlaying the drainage boundary, landuse map and precipitation map, the rainfall, different landuse type area, and runoff pollution concentration and runoff were calculated. Based on these data in different sub-watersheds, by Origin7.0 regression tool, an equation is established to predict runoff using the relationships between runoff, precipitation depth and land use patterns in each of the sub-watersheds. Selecting the sub-watershed which is mainly composed of forest landuse type, the mean runoff concentration (MRC) from sub-watershed has been estimated. The mean runoff concentration of farmland has been estimated by the same methods after the contribution of forest landuse type was removed. The results are: for the forest landuse type, the mean runoff concentrations of COD, BOD, Total N and Total P are 2.95 mg/l, 1.080 mg/l, 0.715 mg/l, and 0.039 mg/l, respectively; for the farmland, the mean runoff concentrations of COD, BOD, Total N and Total P are 5.721 mg/l, 3.097 mg/l, 2.092 mg/l, and 0.166 mg/l, respectively. By using these results, the agriculture non-point pollution loads have been assessed. The loads of COD, BOD, Total N and Total P in Zhexi region are 14,631.69 t/a, 6401.93 t/a, 4281.753 t/a and 287.67 t/a, respectively.

Analysis of the Relationship between Landuse and Non-point Source Pollution in Ashi River Basin

Landuse is one of the most influential factors of non-point source pollution. Based on the three-year landuse data( 2000,2005 and 2008),Arc GIS and Fragstat were used to analyze the landuse type and the change of landscape pattern. The relationships between landuse and non-point source-total nitrogen( NPS-TN) and nonpoint source-total phosphorus( NPS-TP) were discussed with the methods of spatially statistical analysis,landscape pattern analysis and principal component analysis. The study results conveyed that agricultural land and forestland,which accounted for over 92% of the study area,were the major landuse type of Ashi River Basin.Meanwhile,the NPS pollution had close connections with landuse type and landscape pattern. When it comes to landuse type,the export risks of NPS-TN and NPS-TP were agricultural land > urban land > grassland > forestland. As for landscape pattern,NPS-TN and NPS-TP were positively related to SHDI and SHEI, while negatively connected with LPI,AI and COHESION. Therefore,the study could reach the conclusion that the more fragmented and complicated the landscape patterns were,the more serious the NPS pollution was.

Establishing landuse/cover change patterns over the last two decades and associated factors for change in semi arid and sub humid zones of Tanzania

This study investigated landuse cover change patterns and established potential environmental and social factors that have contributed to changes in two zones namely sub humid and semi-arid found in southern highland and central parts of Tanzania respectively. The overall objective was to understand change patterns;the process evolves and clearly isolates various factors that have contributed to the changesover the last 20 years. A total of four villages,two in each zone were involved whereby historical land use cover changes were analysed using remote sensing techniques. To do so satellite imageries for1991 and 2011 and those of1986 and 2009 for sub humid and semi-arid zones respectively. Factors for changes were established through focus group discussions (FDGs) with a total of 80 participants (20 per village) and household (HH) interviews subjected to 10% of the total number of HH per village. Both woodlands and bush lands decreased in the expense of mixed farming in both sub humid and semi- arid zones to a maximum of 121% and 146.8% respectively. Wetland farming also increased particular in sub humid zone. In general, both environmental and social factors were found to have contributed to LUCC in various magnitudes in both zones. Such observed change on landuse will continue and it is recommended that there is a need to have in place and implement proper landuse plan also have capacity building programs on climate and land management issues for both livelihood and ecosystem sustainability need to in place.

Land Capability Index Mapping for Waste Disposal Landuse Option Using Geographic Information System (GIS) in Enugu Area, South Eastern Nigeria

The projected 300% growth rate in the population of Enugu area and its environs by the year 2020 and the expected increase in waste generation necessitated the need to map out areas for waste disposal for future utilization and as a protective strategy for the environment in Enugu area. Land capability index mapping using Geographic Information System (GIS) is one of the appropriate tools required for solving this problem. A total of 12 landuse determinants were selected as thematic data layers, and as basic factors influencing the choice of waste disposal landuse option in the area. The themes (thematic maps) generated from field/laboratory measurements and from literature, include slope, water table, surface and subsurface water conditions, elevation, geology, soil, drainage and geo-structural stability (fault, erosion, landslide and flooding) maps. The maps were scanned, digitized, georeferenced, and polygonized using autocard drawing capabilities to convert them into vector format and later exported to arc view software for analysis. The final processing using overlay model builder yields layers that display areas of preferred waste disposal sites in a map form, which generally shows areas of varying suitability (suitable, moderately (low) suitable and unsuitable). The waste disposal map of Enugu area shows that blocks1 (Obeagu area) and 3 (Ebe/Nsude areas) represent suitable and unsuitable areas, respectively, while block 2 (Ngwo area) has low suitability for waste disposal.

Quantifying Spatiotemporal Change in Landuse and Land Cover and Accessing Water Quality: A Case Study of Missouri Watershed James Sub-Region, North Dakota

Spatial causal effects on water quality are essential in identification of vulnerable watersheds. Modelling landuse variables is an effective method of projecting localized impairment. This study presents an integrated index, designed to gauge the ability of an 8-digit Hydrologic Unit Code watershed in its ability to produce clean water. This index, IAPCW, can be successfully applied on a geospatial platform. In this study we utilized IAPCW to address forest cover dynamics of an impaired watershed, that is, Missouri Watershed James Sub-region in North Dakota. Specific parametric functions were analysed and combined within a customized GIS interface to provide a multi-faceted structured technique to derive IAPCW. These included ambient forest cover, housing density, agricultural land, soil erodibility and road density;it can be lucidly ascertained that where a prevailing forest cover undergoes conversion processes, the secondary effect may spur an exponential increase in water treatment costs. These parameters when projected statistically validated temporal and spatial relations of landuse/land cover dynamics to nutrient concentrations especially those that would be noted at the mouth of the watershed. In this study, we found that the levels of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) were much higher for the years 2014 to 2016 with a discernible increased alkalizing effect within the watershed. When IAPCW was compared to Annualized Agricultural Nonpoint Source (AnnAGNPS), the spatial distribution generated by the AnnAGNPS study showed that fallow areas produced significant amounts of sediment loads from the sub-watershed. These same locations in this study generated a low IAPCW.

A STUDY ON REGIONAL DIFFERENCE OF CHINA＇S PAID URBAN LANDUSE SYSTEM AND GRADING

At present, paid urban landuse system is one of the most important economic reform in China. In the other words, landuse right can be transferred and land users must pay the rent to the state according to the quality of land. It is necessary toapply the theory of rent and location to the economic appraisal of urban land. China is vast in territory. Is's geographical condition and economic development vary from place to place, so does the urban land value. In order to reveal the difference of land value between different cities, the following method is used. (1) Analysing the factors and elements that affect the quality of urban land. Six factors including 17 elements were selected in this paper: macrolocation of a city, benefit of urban aggregation, infrastructure investment, output value of urban land, potential of urban land, and investment intensity. (2) Deciding the weight andvalue of each factor. (3) Appraising each element separately. (4) Accountingthe value of all factors and getting the total appraisal score of each city. (5) Grouping the 430 Chinese cities into sevencategories according to the appraisal values.The result shows that all the cities in the category with the highest land output values are in the coast belt, whereas most cities in the inland and outlying areas are belong to the category with low rank. For example, 87% of the cities in the outlying regions are belong to the lowest rank. Although there are some relationship between the size of cities and urban land rank, generally speaking, the larger the city, the higher the urban land rank. In fact, the locational condition is the most important factor which influences the rank of urban land.

THE LAND RESOURCE AND LANDUSE OF HONG KONG The author is very grateful to Dr. David K.Y. Chu and Dr. Roger Chan for their comments and to Professor Gu Chaolin and Mr. Hu Tianxin for their helps in data collection.

The urban development is a decisive factor for the landuse of the territory of Hong Kong, as a realm of a world city. A speed up change of the landuse structure of Hong Kong and some contradictions in the landuse have been revealed after a brief mentioning of the characteristics of the limited land resources of Hong Kong. Hong Kong consists of peninsula and islands dominated by hilly terrain in south subtropical zone, 84% of the total area is slope, unfavorable for urban and agricultural development, only 16% is small plains. The land is barren and water resource is very limited. Urban landuse is taken as the dominant factor. Due to the expansion of the scale of the urban development, and the limitation of the land resource, there is a high degree of the urban land utilization, but the proportions of commercial and industrial landuse are not high, only 1.3% of the total developed land is used for commerce, 6.0% for manufacture industries, the road and railway lands amount to 14.6%. The great efforts were made in reclamation and construction of reservoirs in order to add land and water resources. The arable lands were reduced heavily and the farmlands were wasted seriously. The author proposed some view points on the present and future landuse in Hong Kong as follows: 1) the urban landuse remains as a guiding factor in the landuse of the whole territory of Hong Kong; 2) one of the problems is the fondness for the reconstruction of the old city, loosening up on the new town development; 3) the reclamation is not only very costly, but also causing some negative effects on the eco environment; 4) the problem of the protection of the farmlands against wasting should be seriously; 5) the development and the landuse for the construction in Hong Kong should be considered with the relationship with the inland, especially Guangdong Province; 6) fully use the convenient condition of the territorial linkage of the city with the mainland, further to bring the role of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone into fully play for solving the landuse problems in the development of Hong Kong.

Spatial Landuse and Farming System Analyses of Reclaimed Tidal Lowland in South Sumatra, Indonesia

This study aims to analyze spatial landuse and farming system of reclamated tidal lowland in South Sumatra, Indonesia by using remote sensing technology and GIS in knowing the distribution of landuse change of tidal lowland. From these conditions, it can see cropping patterns on each of the secondary block and its relation to the condition of the water system network. The study was carried out in Delta Saleh areas. The used methodology was field survey and remote sensing technique. It was combined with GIS technology for spatial analysis. Over the last 11 years （1992-2002）, a decline in the paddy field area is from 23,619.4 ha to 18,518.40 ha （27.65%）. A decrease of river acreage （water body） occurred from 6,643.53 ha to 6,559.83 ha. In 1992 it has not detected any coconut plantation, while in 2001 it showed an area of coconut plantation 3,422.84 ha and 3,822.84 ha in 20l l. Significant changes are also presented in primary mangrove forest, widespread declining around 1,940.88 ha （147.20%）. Most of the mangrove forest was converted into secondary mangrove forest and scrub. Linkage with topography type showed that the land with topography Type A was majority for paddy fields 250.28-262.80 ha （62.72%-65.59%）. Mixed crop fields were in second place with acreage of 90.66-107.36 ha （22.72%-26.80%）. The land with topography Type B showed the widest paddy fields （283.14-314.20 ha or 70.70%-78.48%）, followed by upland crops. The land with topography Type C showed that paddy fields were 283.03-300.41 ha （70.66%-75.02 %）, followed by upland crops 94.85-102.78 ha （23.69%-25.66%）, and coconut was the smallest 0.09-0.27 ha. Generally, the cropping index was 100 on PS-I （planting season 1） for BL-I （business land 1） and BL-2 planted with paddy fields, while the PS-2 are generally not cultivated land （fallow）.

Watershed Characteristics and Landuse Analysis of Govindsagar Catchment, Lalitpur (UP) India Using Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques

Watershed characteristics and land use/land cover study is necessary, for improved decision-making and for the resource management strategies. The methodology necessitates the provision of the base map from SOI toposheet, delineation of drainage, preparation of slope and flow direction map using ASTER data and for the land use/land cover change detection, visual interpretation has been carried out using IRSP6-LISS-III data of 2005 and 2015. The land use/land cover analysis discloses several categories of land cover as well as land use present in Govindsagar variation from 2005 to 2015. The study area is mainly cramped to cultivated land and uncultivated land which show changes since last decade, there is an increase in cultivated land of about 4.86% of the geographical area where as uncultivated land (fallow land) shows a decline of 1.61% of the total geographical area, morphometric analysis reveals that area has impermeable subsurface materials and mountainous relief with dendritic drainage pattern with low surface runoff.

An Integrated Remote Sensing and GIS in Monitoring Landuse and Land Cover Change in Egbeda Local Government Area, Oyo State, Nigeria

Effective planning relies on accurate and up-to-date information on existing land use and land cover. The timely detection of trends in land use and land cover change and a quantification of such trends are of specific interest to planners and decision makers. The aim of this research is to use remote sensing and GIS to monitor landuse and land cover change in Egbeda Local Government Area, Oyo State with a view to determining how useful such information can be to planners and decision makers for effective urban management. The research was conducted using remote sensing and Geographical information System at determining the trend and extent of land use and land cover change and its driving force in Egbeda Local Government Area, Oyo State. The methods used include: digitization, digital image processing and spatial analysis using an inverse distance weighted (IDW) technique, Maximum likelihood supervised classification and post classification change detection techniques were applied to Landsat imageries acquired in 1984, 2006 and 2018. Imageries were classified into built-up area, vegetation, bare surface, cultivation and water body. The results of the analysis obtained showed drastic change in built-up area which rose to 32.8% from 25.4% between 1984 and 2018 periods. To reduce the effect of land use expansion in the study areas, policy measures were recommended which include proper inventory of land use and land cover, regular monitoring of urban areas spread of development and regional development programs. These will enable the government, stakeholders, policy makers and planners to make informed decisions provided by these technologies to attain and sustain future urban development.

Assessment of Stakeholders’ Perceptions of Landuse/Landcover Change Drivers in Abuja, Nigeria

Landuse/Landcover(LULC)changes are recognised as some of the major causes of environmental problems like land degradation and climate change.To achieve sustainability,we need to properly understand such changes in order to have adequate information that will enable us to design and implementing measures to mitigate their negative impacts.Doing this particularly requires a proper understanding of how stakeholders perceive the changes in general and their drivers in particular.Unfortunately,not much is known for many areas about the perspective of landuse stakeholders on drivers of LULC changes.This paper reports the results of a study conducted to examine the perceptions of different landuse stakeholders on drivers of LULC changes in Abuja Federal Capital Territory,Nigeria.Questionnaire survey was utilised,involving 514 households across four settlements,2 rural(Karshi and Orozo)and 2 urban(Nyanya and Karu)towns in the territory,which were complimented with Focus Group Discussions were conducted.The results obtained showed that urban dwellers are largely aware of drivers of changes in socio-economic drivers(physical development on lands,more commercial complex development and more institutional development).Rural dwellers are largely aware of environmental drivers of LULC changes(bush burning,livestock overgrazing,collections of wood and medicinal plants,and agricultural expansion).It was concluded that there is the need to bring about a harmonisation of the perceptions of LULC change drivers by the rural and urban dwellers so as to bring about a common front understanding and responding to LULC changes in the study area.

Soil Properties Degradation Assessment Using Infrared Scanning Technique of Soils （Case Study： Eastern of Congo）

Recently, near infrared reflectance （NIR） and mid-infrared （MIR） spectroscopy techniques are increasingly introduced as convenient and simple non-destructive techniques for quantifying several soil properties. This study uses MIR method to predict pH, soil organic C, total N, AI, Ca, Mg and K, CEC and soil texture for soil samples collected in Sud-Kivu, Congo. A total of 536 composite soil samples were taken from two locations （Burhale and Luhihi） at two depths （0-20 cm and 20-40 cm） using a spatially-stratified random sampling design within an area of 200 km2. Differences in characteristics were evaluated between the two locations, land use （cultivated vs. non-cultivated land） with soil depths. A random subset of the samples （10%） were analyzed using standard wet chemistry methods, and calibration models developed by MIR data to estimate soil properties for the full soil sample set. Partial least squares regression （PLS） method gave acceptable coefficients of determination between 0.71 and 0.93 for all parameters. Soil organic matter levels were higher in cultivated plots in Luhihi （3.9% C） than in Burhale （3.0% C）, suggesting lower levels of soil fertility in the later area. This indicates high levels of acidity, which are likely to limit crop production in the area. Phosphorus deficiency is acute in Burhale （2.4 mg P/kg） but less in Luhihi （5.4 mg P/kg）. In both locations, low levels of Ca and Mg indicate that soils may be susceptible to deficiencies in both elements.These findings provide new opportunities for monitoring soil quality in the region which can benefit multiple actors and scientists involved in the agricultural and environmental sectors.

基于ArcGIS的土地利用数据库的研究与建立

土地利用数据库建设是国土信息化工程的重要基础工作之一,目的是全面查清土地利用状况,掌握真实的土地基础数据,实现对土地资源的科学管理,为推动"数字城市"的建设打下基础。该文探讨了利用ArcGIS软件构建县级土地利用数据库问题,基于地理信息系统(GIS)的理论基础上,以ArcGIS为平台,依据土地利用数据建库标准,根据阜新地区已有的土地资料,建立了土地利用数据库,在此基础上并对数据库的更新方法做了研究。

Changes in Ecosystem Service Values on the Loess Plateau in Northern Shaanxi Province,China

The Loess Plateau in northern Shaanxi Province of China covers Yulin, Yan＇an, and Tongchuan cities mainly. The kind of physiognomy is complicated and various, including the transitional region of the sand and wind, the hilly-gully fragile region, the pimple mound region from North to South. Large-scale land reclamation projects that are severely affecting these ecosystems have been implemented. In this paper, we reported an investigation to the changes in land use and ecosystem services on the Loess Plateau in northern Shaanxi Province from 1978 to 2000. We used three LANDSAT TM and/or ETM data sets to estimate the changes in the size of five land-cover/land-use categories, and we also used previously published value coefficients to estimate the changes in the value of ecosystem services delivered by each land category. Finally, we ranked the contribution of various ecosystem functions to the overall value of the ecosystem services, we have estimated that the annual value of the ecosystem services is 56.95 billon RMB yuan in the Loess Plateau in northern Shaanxi Province in 2000. In the region, from 1978 to 2000, the economic value of the fixing carbon was higher, the economic value of water conservation was the lowest, but the economic value of the NPP, fixing carbon, and supplying oxygen accounted for above ninety percent of the total value, obviously the vegetation created the biggest ecosystem service value. We can conclude that future land-use policy formulation should give precedence to the conservation of these ecosystems over uncontrolled reclamation, and that further land reclamation should be based on rigorous environmental impact analyses.

Composition, structure and diversity characterization of dry tropical forest of Chhattisgarh using satellite data

The purpose of this study was to characterize the land use, vegetation structure, and diversity in the Barnowpara Sanctuary, Raipur district, Chhattisgarh, India through the use of satellite remote sensing and GIS. Land cover and vegetation were spatially analyzed by digitally classifying IRS 1D LISS III satellite data using a maximum likelihood algorithm. Later, the variations in structure and diversity in different forest types and classes were quantified by adopting quadratic sampling proce- dures. Nine land-cover types were delineated： teak forest, dense mixed forest, degraded mixed forest, Sal mixed forest, open mixed forest, young teak plantation, grasslands, agriculture, habitation, and water bodies. The classification accuracy for different land-use classes ranged from 71.23% to 100%. The highest accuracy was observed in water bodies and grass- land, followed by habitation and agriculture, teak forest, degraded mixed forest, and dense mixed forest. The accuracy was lower in open mixed forest, and sal mixed forest. Results revealed that density of different forest types varied from 324 to 733 trees ha-l, basal area from 8.13 to 28.87 m2.ha-1 and number of species from 20 to 40. Similarly, the diversity ranged from 1.36 to 2.98, concentration of dominance from 0.06 to 0.49, species richness from 3.88 to 6.86, and beta diversity from 1.29 to 2.21. The sal mixed forest type recorded the highest basal area, diversity was highest in the dense mixed forest, and the teak forest recorded maximum density, which was poor in degraded mixed forests. The study also showed that Normalized Difference Vegetation Index （NDVI） was strongly cor- related to with the Shannon Index and species richness.

Relationship between cultivated land use functions and land rental behavior of rural households:empirical evidence from different dominant functional regions in central China

This paper analyzes the relationship between the cultivated land use functions and the land rental decisions of rural households in three Dominant Functional Zones of Hubei, China. The results indicate that 41.10% of the rural households in the study areas participated in the land rental market. The land rental market in the Key Development Zone has both a higher participation rate and land rent; the Agricultural Production Zone has a higher participation rate but a lower land rent; and the land rental market in the Key Ecological Zone is underdeveloped. The difference in regional function and economic level leads to a significant difference in the spatial variation of the cultivated land use multifunction. Overall, the cultivated land function of rural households has a significant impact on their land transfer behavior. The higher the Functions of Economic Contribution, Food Production, and Pension & Employment, the more willing the rural households are to rent in the land, while the higher the Function of Inheritance and Retainment of the cultivated land use, the more likely the peasants are to retain their cultivated land resources. Furthermore, the correlation coefficient is significantly higher in the Key Development Zone than in the Key Ecological Zone.

Prediction of spatial soil loss impacted by long-term land-use/land-cover change in a tropical watershed

The devastating effect of soil erosion is one of the major sources of land degradation that affects human lives in many ways which occur mainly due to deforestation, poor agricultural practices, overgrazing,wildfire and urbanization. Soil erosion often leads to soil truncation, loss of fertility, slope instability, etc.which causes irreversible effects on the poorly renewable soil resource. In view of this, a study was conducted in Kelantan River basin to predict soil loss as influenced by long-term land use/land-cover(LULC) changes in the area. The study was conducted with the aim of predicting and assessing soil erosion as it is influenced by long-term LULC changes. The 13,100 km^2 watershed was delineated into four sub-catchments Galas, Pergau, Lebir and Nenggiri for precise result estimation and ease of execution. GIS-based Universal Soil Loss Equation(USLE) model was used to predict soil loss in this study. The model inputs used for the temporal and spatial calculation of soil erosion include rainfall erosivity factor,topographic factor, land cover and management factor as well as erodibility factor. The results showed that 67.54% of soil loss is located under low erosion potential(reversible soil loss) or 0-1 t ha^(-1) yr^(-1) soil loss in Galas, 59.17% in Pergau, 53.32% in Lebir and 56.76% in Nenggiri all under the 2013 LULC condition.Results from the correlation of soil erosion rates with LULC changes indicated that cleared land in all the four catchments and under all LULC conditions(1984-2013) appears to be the dominant with the highest erosion losses. Similarly, grassland and forest were also observed to regulate erosion rates in the area. This is because the vegetation cover provided by these LULC types protects the soil from direct impact of rain drops which invariably reduce soil loss to the barest minimum. Overall, it was concluded that the results have shown the significance of LULC in the control of erosion. Maps generated from the study may be useful to planners and land use managers to take appropriate decisions for soil conservation.