Assessment of drivers and dynamics of gully erosion in case of Tabota Koromo and Koromo Danshe watersheds, South Central Ethiopia

Abstract

Globally erosion has been considered as an environmental and agricultural problem since the first agricultural revolution. In Ethiopia gully erosion has been recorded as a very serious and common socioeconomic and environmental problem of several watersheds. Therefore, the objective of this research was to assess the drivers, dynamics and impacts of gully erosion in case of Tabota Koromo and Koromo Danshe watersheds, South-Central Ethiopia. The intended objectives were achieved by triangulating the image analysis with the data obtained from GPS, group discussion, interview, house hold survey, field observation and field measurement. The result of the study indicated that gully erosion was initiated in the steep slope following the 1970s and 1980s land cover change and other anthropogenic factors. In addition, the soil properties and steep slope (gravity) of the land have contributed in exacerbating the problems. Gully erosion caused physical, social and economic impacts in the area. According to the participants on group discussion and interview, the socioeconomic impacts of gully erosion were loss of life for a 12 year boy, injuries of five live stocks, and decline of yields throughout the year. Result from field measurement and observation depicted that loss of soil (1,080,782.6m 3) and loss of biodiversity are the major physical impacts of gully erosion. Yet there are promising conditions to rehabilitate the gullied area for sustainable ecosystem services in the watersheds. These promising conditions are the availability of high labour forces, access of transportation, civic societies working on natural resource conservation and the green economy development policy of the country. Therefore, concerned government bodies and the local communities at different level need to set plan and work for implementation in a way to use the existing opportunities.

Response to Tragedy: An Ethnography of Gully Erosion Threats in Three Communities in Edo State, Southern Nigeria

“…This inference does not negate the fact that gullies and mass wasting are principally attributable to hydrological, geological, topographic and environmental conditioning typical of badland topographies (Egbueri and Igwe, 2020;Arabameri et al, 2019). Yet, anthropogenic factors are prominently implicated (Hassen and Batinder, 2020;Abdulfatai et al, 2014;Desta and Adugna, 2012). Urbanisation is the chief driver of gully erosion in our research universe.…”

Head-cut gully erosion susceptibility modelling based on ensemble Random Forest with oblique decision trees in Fareghan watershed, Iran

“…Source: Author. local people (Jahantigh and Pessarakli 2011;Hassen and Bantider 2020). The precise prediction of gully erosion susceptible zones is therefore much required to implement protection measures.…”

Contribution of physical and anthropogenic factors to gully erosion initiation

“…Rapid population growth, especially in developing countries, usually leads to deforestation, occupation of rangeland, and cultivation of hillsides with no conservation measures. Improper irrigation design, expansion of agricultural activities to uplands, and overgrazing result in significant land cover changes (Hassen and Bantider, 2020), and accelerate the natural gullying process (Valentin et al, 2005). Soil organic matter reduction due to years of intense farming reduces soil structural stability and resilience to crusting, and concentrates flow-based gully erosions (Valentin, 2004).…”