Spatial modeling of soil erosion risk: a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approach in the paguyaman watershed, gorontalo, Indonesia

Soil erosion is a pressing natural phenomenon confronting nations all over the world. The study's objectives are to establish an evaluation model of soil erosion in the Paguyaman Watershed, Gorontalo, Indonesia, using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Eight different factors, slope, elevation, slope length, annual rainfall, average wind speed clay ratio, NDVI, and NDMI were considered in this study. Each factor has been assigned a weight, and maps have been created using a Geographic Information System and remote sensing tools. The combined map of all maps indicates the intensity of soil erosion in five separate classes: very high (0.07%), high (18.90%), moderate (46.69%), low (5.94%), and very low (0%). The high and moderate class is the dominant study area, which shows that the area is at high risk of soil erosion. Slope (0.24), NDVI (0.23), and annual rainfall (0.15) were found to be the dominant factors influencing the soil erosion risk. According to the AUC ROC value of 0.762, the soil erosion risk map has an overall success rate of 76.2%. The findings of this study may be used by policymakers to adopt suitable conservation programs to prevent soil erosion or to advocate soil conservation acts.