Soil Erosion Hazards and its Mitigation Scenariosin the Bubunawan River Watershed, Bukidnon, Philippines
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36777/jag2026.5.1.6Keywords:
Soil Erosion, Digital Hazard Assessment, RUSLE, GIS, Watershed Management, Reforestation, Climate Change ScenariosAbstract
Watersheds in the Philippines are increasingly vulnerable to geohazards such as soil erosion, driven by land-use change and climate-intensified rainfall. This degradation threatens both ecosystem stability and downstream communities. To better understand the extent of erosion in a watershed in the southern Philippines, this study presents a hazard assessment framework using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE), integrated within a Geographic Information System (GIS), to quantify and map soil erosion risk in the Bubunawan River Watershed (BRW) in Bukidnon, a key tributary of the Cagayan de Oro River Basin. By processing spatially distributed parameters, namely rainfall erosivity (R), soil erodibility (K), topographic factor (LS), cover management (C), and conservation practices (P), the model estimated a mean annual soil loss of 246.50 tonnes per hectare per year. The analysis identified high-hazard zones, revealing that 21.66% of the watershed exhibits very high to extreme erosion susceptibility, thus requiring priority intervention. Scenario-based modelling further elucidated system dynamics. Simulation of potential soil loss (7,524.70 t/ha/yr) under conditions without land cover and conservation practices effectively isolates and quantifies the mitigating role of current management strategies. Additionally, simulations of future climate scenarios with rainfall increases of 10–20% indicate elevated erosion rates. In contrast, modelling of nature-based solutions, specifically the reforestation of rangelands, demonstrates a potential reduction in soil loss of 33.27%. This research presents a replicable approach for transforming geospatial data into actionable insights for hazard mitigation, providing a critical tool for sustainable watershed management and enhancing resilience to climate-related geohazards.
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Ganasri, B., & Ramesh, H. (2016). Assessment of soil erosion by RUSLE model using Remote Sensing and GIS - A Case Study of Nethravathi Basin. Geoscience Frontiers, 7(6), 953-961.
Garcia-Gaines, R., & Frankenstein, S. (2015). USCS and the USDA soil classification system: Development of a mapping scheme. U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory. Retrieved from https://usace.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p266001coll1/id/3757/
Li, J., He, H., Chen, L., & Sun, R. (2022). Long-time Series Dataset of Soil Conservation Capacity Preventing Water Erosion in China (1992–2019). Earth System Science Data. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2022-222
McCool, D., Brown, L., Foster, G., Mutchler, C., & Meyer, L. (1987). Revised slope steepness factor for the Universal Soil Loss Equation. Transactions of the ASAE, 30(5), 1387-1396.
Po, E. C., Sabines, M. O., & Taat, J. (2018). Determination of Farm Level Soil Erosion Using the Revised Universal Loss Equation (RUSLE). Mindanao Journal of Science and Technology, 16(1).
Po, M. T., Galang, M., & Viscon, R. (2018). Application of the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) in the calculation of soil erosion in the Manupali Watershed Bukidnon, Philippines. Journal of Environmental Science and Management, 21(1).
Rodriguez, J. G., & Gimenez Suarez, M. (2012). Methodology for estimating the topographic factor LS of RUSLE3D and USPED using GIS. Geomorphology, 175-176, 98-106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2012.07.001.
Rogerio de Mello, C., Norton, L., Pinto, L., Beskow, S., & Curi, N. (2015). Agricultural watershed modeling: a review for hydrology and soil erosion processes. Ciencia e Agrotecnologia, 40(1). https://doi.org/10.1590/S1413-70542016000100001
Salino, B. A., Medrano, K. T., Mosquito, M., Dagaraga, V. B., & Vallente, J. R. (2024). A GIS-RS Approach for RUSLE-Based Method of Mean Estimation of Mean Annual Soil Loss of the Tagoloan River Basin, Philippines. The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, 91-103. doi:10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVIII-5-2024-97-2024
Waseem, M., Humayun, M. M., Javed, T., & Kebede, L. M. (2023). Spatial Assessment of Soil Erosion Risk Using RUSLE Embedded in GIS Environment: A Case Study of Jhelum River Watershed. Applied Sciences, 13(6), 3775.
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