Simulating the impact of future land use and climate change on soil erosion and deposition in the Mae Nam Nan sub-catchment, Thailand

This paper evaluates the possible impacts of climate change and land use change and its combined effects on erosion and deposition in the Mae Nam Nan sub-catchment, Thailand. Soil loss models were employed to estimate soil loss and net soil loss under direct impact (climate change), indirect impact (land use change) and full range of impact (climate and land use change) to generate results at a 10 year interval between 2020 and 2040. Results indicate that there is potential for climate change to increase soil loss rate, soil erosion and deposition in future periods, whereas considerable decreases in erosion are projected when land use is increased from baseline periods. The combined climate and land use change analysis revealed that land use planning could be adopted to mitigate soil erosion and deposition in the future, in conjunction with the projected direct impact of climate change.