Risk assessment of soil erosion by using CORINE model in the western part of Syrian Arab Republic

Soil erosion is a major threat to the natural ecosystem and agricultural sector in the western part of Lattakia Governorate, Syrian Arab Republic. The main goals of this research are to investigate erosion risk by using the Coordination of Information on the Environment (CORINE) Model and to prioritize areas for conservation practices. To achieve these goals, soil samples were collected from the field, the climatic data (i.e., rainfall) and Digital Elevation Model (DEM) were obtained and utilized to perform CORINE model in Geographic Information System (GIS) environment. The results showed that only 13.2% of the study area was classified as high erodible. In addition, 45.24%, 49.15% and 5.29% of the study area were under low, moderate and high actual erosion risk, respectively. This research identified slope and land use/land cover as key factors responsible for soil erosion in the study area. The CORINE model acknowledged as a good tool for predicting soil erosion and highlighting the areas affected by soil erosion in the study area with high precision.