Identification of priority areas for controlling soil erosion

Conservation prioritization is an important consideration for planning of natural resources management, allowing decison makers to implement management strategies that are more sustainable in the long-term. However, only a current erosion status or a relative index cannot exactly identify priority area for conservation. The objective of this paper is to identify conservation priorities by a specific multicriteria evaluation method. Trends in erosion risk indicate regions of increasing erosion risk and are also chosen as one of the evaluation criteria to identify the priorities based on the instability of soil erosion in the Yongding river basin. In this paper, vegetation cover, land-use, and slope gradient are used to assess erosion risk and trends in erosion risk are obtained by comparing the results of erosion risk between 2000 and 2006. Using this information, the priority conservation areas are graded into six levels. The two highest priority levels cover the regions with severe erosion or a substantial recent increase in erosion risk (4722.56 km², or 11.82% of the study area), and are recommended as erosion control regions with appropriate conservation strategies. The middle two levels cover the regions with stable erosion status or slight change, needing only minor measures. The method presented is fast and straightforward, showing good potential for successful application in other areas.