Prediction Soil Erosion Using GIS-USLE Under Different Land Uses In West Timor, Indonesia

Abstract

Transformation of land uses from several semi-arid agroecosystems in Indonesia: forest to settlement, dryland agriculture, and others had affected to soil erosion. This study was conducted to evaluate soil erosion at semi-arid Manikin Baki watershed, West Timor, Indonesia. USLE method was used to predict soil erosion supporting ArcGIS 10.3 software. The results showed that the highest soil erosion occurred at dryland farming (60.22% with total land cover 11% of total areas), while the smallest one went to the forest (0.20% with total land cover 42% of total areas). Another finding that soil erosion at Manikin Baki watershed was dominated by class I (12,251.77 Ha; 64.38% of total areas), while the smallest one was majored for class IV (1.59% of total areas).

Can local agroforestry systems survive for rural development and sustainable ecosystems in dryland areas? A case study in Timorese Mamar systems

“…Provisioning ecosystem services gain direct service from the system, for food, fodder, spices, building material, fiber, and lastly 3) regulating and cultural services, such as climate, water, and air regulation. Mixed cropping has lower soil erosion [15], surface run-off [10], windbreaks, soil moisture, air temperature, soil temperature, light availability, and humidity regulation [11], and the most important role is carbon sequestration (carbon stock) [16,17]. For cultural services, Mamar provides for the spiritual and emotional needs of local people, especially the betel nut (Areca catechu), which has a very high cultural value (customary service) for weddings, a symbol of love.…”