article · Land
Soil degradation driven by climate variations and human activity presents an escalating challenge in Mediterranean environments. An investigation into the R'Dom watershed in Morocco assessed historical soil erosion rates between 2000 and 2013, alongside projected rates for 2014 to 2027. The methodology integrated the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation and the Soil and Water Assessment Tool with remote sensing and geographic information systems, supported by a statistical downscaling model to forecast rainfall. Due to limited field data, outputs were evaluated through expert knowledge. Findings indicate that agricultural areas and bare ground suffer the highest rates of soil loss. Furthermore, while the catchment remains largely characterised by low and very low erosion classes, the land area occupied by these minimal erosion categories continues to decline over time.
Soil loss threatens agricultural productivity and land stability, especially in vulnerable Mediterranean ecosystems affected by changing rainfall patterns. Predicting which areas are most susceptible to erosion enables environmental planners and local authorities to prioritise conservation measures, safeguard fertile soils, and design targeted watershed management policies to mitigate long-term land degradation.
The modelling framework offers decision-support information for watershed managers, regional agricultural authorities, and environmental consultancies planning soil conservation interventions. Because the model relies on expert validation rather than empirical field data, this work remains early-stage research. Real-world operational deployment or adoption by environmental planners would require ground-level calibration and field validation.
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Soil erosion is an increasingly issue worldwide, due to several factors including climate variations and humans’ activities, especially in Mediterranean ecosystems. Therefore, the aim of this paper is: (i) to quantify and to predict soil erosion rate for the baseline period (2000–2013) and a future period (2014–2027), using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) and the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model in the R’Dom watershed in Morocco, based on the opportunities of Remote Sensing (RS) techniques and Geographical Information System (GIS) geospatial tools. (ii) we based on classical statistical downscaling model (SDSM) for rainfall prediction. Due to the lack of field data, the model results are validated by expert knowledge. As a result of this study, it is found that both agricultural lands and bare lands are most affected by soil erosion. Moreover, it is showed that soil erosion in the watershed was dominated by very low and low erosion. Although the area of very low erosion and low erosion continued to decrease. Hence, we hereby envisage that our contribution will provide a more complete understanding of the soil degradation in this study area and the results of this research could be a crucial reference in soil erosion studies and also may serve as a valuable guidance for watershed management strategies.
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DOI: 10.3390/land11010093
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