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Application of Geographic Information Systems for Soil Conservation-oriented Land Use Planning in Dol Tung, Northern Thailand
Dissertation Abstract:
A soil conservation-oriented land use planning technique using Geographic Information System (GIS) technology was developed and used in the mountainous Doi Tung, Chiang Rai Province, northern Thailand.
Land evaluation was conducted using spatial and non-spatial data on soil, land use, and climate from secondary sources, actual field survey, and laboratory analyses. These data were entered and stored in the computer, collated, and manipulated to generate the desired information with the aid of a GIS called Integrated Land and Watershed Management Information Systems (ILWIS).Important information outputs included potential and actual erosion maps, soil suitability maps for 11 crops (coffee, ginger, grass, litchi, maize, macadamia nut, pineapple, potato, upland and wetland rice, and tea), recommended erosion control practices map for five major crops (maize, coffee, litchi, pineapple, and upland rice), and a land use planning map.
Soil suitability for the 11 crops was evaluated using the Department of Land Development of Thailand scheme which was basically like the Land Evaluation for Rainfed Agriculture of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). In soil suitability rating, the land use requirements in terms of oxygen availability, rooting condition, nutrient availability and retention, and mechanization potential were considered using arithmetic method to come up with a suitability rating. Potential and actual erosion data were calculated using the Universal Soil Loss Equation. The recommended soil conservation control practices were a product of manipulation of crop cover, cultural management, potential erosion, and a given tolerable soil loss.
Results strongly indicated that about 78 percent of the Doi Tung area was not suitable for agriculture and were better declared as afforestation sites. The rema ining 22 percent of the area was moderately to well-suited to a particular crop or a group of crops. Many of these sites would require soil conservat ion measures such as conservation tiIIage. mulching, crop rotation, buffer strips, and judicious fertilization.
Applicability of GIS would depend on the availability and validity of the data and information entered into the system. Since such\ in tormation and databases are now avai lable at the Department of Land Development of Tha iland. the GIS method could easily be applied for land use and conservat ion planning, particularly on the provincial level. GIS could indicate the various cropping a lte rnative in time and space, and, with new data. update of the result could be easily done at anytime.