دورية أكاديمية

Applying Analytic Hierarchy Process for Identifying Best Management Practices in Erosion Risk Areas of Northwestern Himalayas

التفاصيل البيبلوغرافية
العنوان: Applying Analytic Hierarchy Process for Identifying Best Management Practices in Erosion Risk Areas of Northwestern Himalayas
المؤلفون: Nurnabi Meherul Alam, Chayna Jana, Debashis Mandal, Sunita Kumari Meena, Shashi Shekhar Shrimali, Uday Mandal, Sabyasachi Mitra, Gouranga Kar
المصدر: Land, Vol 11, Iss 6, p 832 (2022)
بيانات النشر: MDPI AG, 2022.
سنة النشر: 2022
المجموعة: LCC:Agriculture
مصطلحات موضوعية: best management practice, analytic hierarchy process, erosion risk areas, SWAT model, northwestern Himalayan, Agriculture
الوصف: Despite the growing importance of soil and water conservation and watershed development projects as an approach to rural development and natural resource management, there has been relatively little research on devising site-specific best management practice (BMP) to check the soil erosion losses within permissible limits, especially in hilly regions. For a sustainable watershed management programme and implementation, site specific BMPs assume importance and hold the promise of making conservation planning and watershed management simpler and more effective. The study was attempted to develop a methodology to obtain BMPs, aiming to reduce the erosion losses in erosion risk areas of the northwestern Himalayas by employing Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The AHP technique was employed to prioritise the potential technologies and select the BMP suitable for a particular land area. The prioritization of technologies was performed with four criteria viz. soil erosion resistance, cost, benefit, maintenance and environment friendliness of conservation measures. The soil erosion scenario of the study area located in the northwestern Himalayas was generated with each selected measure in a SWAT model using DEM, land use maps, a soil map and climate data of the study area. Then, the resultant erosion scenario of the conservation measures was compared and used for the AHP analysis. However, other criteria were assessed based on the judgement of a group of experts as well as farmers. In this study, four conservation measures, viz. Bench Terraces (BT), Vegetative Barrier (VB), Contour Farming (CF) and Zero Tillage + Live Mulch (ZL), were considered for BMP selection. Three scenarios, viz. experts’ judgement, farmers’ opinions and combined expert and farmer opinion, were analyzed to uncover the BMP for the different zones. The result revealed that experts and farmers unanimously preferred ZL as a BMP because of its low-cost implementation value and lower maintenance requirement while significantly controlling the erosion level as well as being environment friendly. The BT was the second most preferred technology for the study area. However, BMP was recommended for different zones having high to very severe erosion (soil loss > 10 t/ha/yr). Therefore, ZL was recommended for the areas with low altitude, whereas BT was recommended for the areas having high slopes because of its high capability for erosion control in the high slopping area. The methodology will act as a useful strategy for decision makers to prioritize the technology and recommend the best management for any region after considering suitable criteria. Future work may consider more criteria for inclusion to thus recommend the technology for a region in a more realistic way.
نوع الوثيقة: article
وصف الملف: electronic resource
اللغة: English
تدمد: 11060832
2073-445X
Relation: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/11/6/832; https://doaj.org/toc/2073-445X
DOI: 10.3390/land11060832
URL الوصول: https://doaj.org/article/fcfa860f1be24317a0d2e8b39887f66f
رقم الأكسشن: edsdoj.fcfa860f1be24317a0d2e8b39887f66f
قاعدة البيانات: Directory of Open Access Journals
الوصف
تدمد:11060832
2073445X
DOI:10.3390/land11060832