Modeling the Impact of Landscape Dynamics on Soil Erosion in Eastern DR Congo: Implications for Sustainable Land Management

Human activity and related land‐use/land cover (LULC) changes are the primary causes of accelerated soil erosion during the 21st century. However, there is limited information about the spatiotemporal dynamic of soil erosion under different conditions of LULC changes in mountainous regions of eastern DR Congo. In addition, the impact of landscape structure on soil erosion dynamics has not been assessed yet in this region despite that this information is crucial for sustainable land management. Therefore, the Kalehe territory which is subjected to an upsurge of hydroclimatic risks (erosion, landslides, and flash floods) was used as a case study. The revised universal soil loss equation (RUSLE) modeling was integrated into the GIS environment to assess the synergy between the spatiotemporal changes of LULC and the dynamic of soil loss by erosion during the 1987–2020 period. The historic LULC maps were obtained through the supervised classification of Landsat images. The relationship between the annual soil loss and the landscape characteristics was assessed using the Pearson correlation, principal component analysis, and multiple linear regression model. The results demonstrated that the soil erosion rate has increased over time from 32.08 t/ha/year in 1987 to 44.35 t/ha/year in 2020 due to the changes in landscape structure and composition. The landscape metrics, which significantly influenced the erosion dynamics with composition indices, collectively explained 60.9%, while the landscape structure metrics explained 34.89% of annual soil erosion rate variability in the best fit developed models. The increase in soil erosion is positively influenced by the deforestation, landscape diversity, and land fragmentation but negatively influenced landscape complexity (irregularity of patch’s shape) and patch size. These findings highlight the need for landscape‐level management strategies to mitigate soil loss in Eastern DR Congo, emphasizing the importance of maintaining forest cover, preserving larger patches, reducing fragmentation, reducing the landscape diversity, and encouraging complex patch shapes.