IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i5p3059-d764938.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The New Island-Wide LS Factors of Taiwan, with Comparison with EU Nations

Author

Listed:
  • Walter Chen

    (Department of Civil Engineering, National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei 10608, Taiwan)

  • Kieu Anh Nguyen

    (Department of Civil Engineering, National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei 10608, Taiwan)

Abstract

Soil erosion is a global environmental challenge that the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (UN SDG) #15 wants to address, and the topographic factor, according to the RUSLE (Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation) model, is one of the most critical factors causing soil erosion. In this study, we employed three separate digital elevation models of Taiwan, with horizontal resolution ranging from 20 to 90 m, to compute the LS factors based on the upslope contributing areas and multiple flow directions, utilizing the methodologies used by the European Soil Data Centre. This is the first study to create a map of Taiwan’s island-wide LS factors without using a fixed slope length of 40 m. To compare European Union countries with Taiwan, we also calculated their LS means, standard deviations, and coefficients of variation of LS factors. As a result, Taiwan’s high LS values are readily noticeable as compared to the EU. Taiwan’s LS factor is greater than that of any EU country and the United Kingdom, at 2.69 times the EU average. To put it another way, while all other erosive factors are held equal, Taiwan’s average soil erosion is about 2.69 times that of the EU. With an LS factor of 6.95, Austria has the highest average LS in the EU, yet it is 91 percent of Taiwan’s. The findings demonstrate that Taiwan has a far higher mean LS factor than any EU country or the United Kingdom, which helps to partially explain why soil erosion in Taiwan is substantially higher than in the EU.

Suggested Citation

  • Walter Chen & Kieu Anh Nguyen, 2022. "The New Island-Wide LS Factors of Taiwan, with Comparison with EU Nations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-11, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:5:p:3059-:d:764938
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/5/3059/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/5/3059/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kieu Anh Nguyen & Walter Chen & Bor-Shiun Lin & Uma Seeboonruang & Kent Thomas, 2019. "Predicting Sheet and Rill Erosion of Shihmen Reservoir Watershed in Taiwan Using Machine Learning," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(13), pages 1-18, July.
    2. Lo, Kwong Fai A., 1994. "Quantifying soil erosion for the Shihmen reservoir watershed, Taiwan," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 105-116.
    3. Bor-Shiun Lin & Chun-Kai Chen & Kent Thomas & Chen-Kun Hsu & Hsing-Chuan Ho, 2019. "Improvement of the K-Factor of USLE and Soil Erosion Estimation in Shihmen Reservoir Watershed," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-16, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Semih Ediş & Özgür Burhan Timur & Gamze Tuttu & İbrahim Aytaş & Ceyhun Göl & Ali Uğur Özcan, 2023. "Assessing the Impact of Engineering Measures and Vegetation Restoration on Soil Erosion: A Case Study in Osmancık, Türkiye," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-16, August.
    2. Walter Chen & Kieu Anh Nguyen & Yu-Chieh Huang, 2023. "Soil Erosion in Taiwan," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-18, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kieu Anh Nguyen & Walter Chen & Bor-Shiun Lin & Uma Seeboonruang, 2020. "Using Machine Learning-Based Algorithms to Analyze Erosion Rates of a Watershed in Northern Taiwan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-16, March.
    2. Kent Thomas & Walter Chen & Bor-Shiun Lin & Uma Seeboonruang, 2020. "Evaluation of the SEdiment Delivery Distributed (SEDD) Model in the Shihmen Reservoir Watershed," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-21, August.
    3. Kieu Anh Nguyen & Walter Chen & Bor-Shiun Lin & Uma Seeboonruang & Kent Thomas, 2019. "Predicting Sheet and Rill Erosion of Shihmen Reservoir Watershed in Taiwan Using Machine Learning," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(13), pages 1-18, July.
    4. Jihui Fan & Artemis Motamedi & Majid Galoie, 2021. "Impact of C factor of USLE technique on the accuracy of soil erosion modeling in elevated mountainous area (case study: the Tibetan plateau)," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(8), pages 12615-12630, August.
    5. Walter Chen & Wu-Hsun Wang & Kieu Anh Nguyen, 2022. "Soil Erosion and Deposition in a Taiwanese Watershed Using USPED," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-17, March.
    6. Valter S. Marques & Marcos B. Ceddia & Mauro A. H. Antunes & Daniel F. Carvalho & Jamil A. A. Anache & Dulce B. B. Rodrigues & Paulo Tarso S. Oliveira, 2019. "USLE K-Factor Method Selection for a Tropical Catchment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-17, March.
    7. Walter Chen & Kieu Anh Nguyen & Yu-Chieh Huang, 2023. "Soil Erosion in Taiwan," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-18, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:5:p:3059-:d:764938. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.