Abstract This study investigated the intersection between empirically derived and farmers perceived soil erosion risk in a medium-sized catchment on the Ugandan side of mountain Elgon. We postulated that farmers' perception of soil erosion risk was high and this influenced their employment of Soil and Water Conservation (SWC) measures on their land. An adapted Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) was employed to model the soil erosion risk in a Geographical Information System (GIS) environment. Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) tools covering household interviews and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were implemented in two representative subcounties of the catchment to elicit information on farmers' perception of soil erosion risk. Household interviews covering 184 respondents were georeferenced using a Geographical Positioning System (GPS). Farmers perceived soil erosion risk on their land was then matched with RUSLE modelled risk using GPS positional data. The modelled soil erosion risk was substantial and a sizeable proportion of the catchment (63%) exhibited soil losses >10 t ha-1 yr-1, which is considered above the tolerable limit for mountain environments. A slight but significant agreement (p 0.05) between farmers' perceived soil erosion risk and implementation of SWC on their land. On this basis, our postulation that perceived high soil erosion risk influences the implementation of SWC does not suffice in the studied catchment. We surmise that successful risk mitigation should be directed more on increasing farmer's awareness of the long-term adverse consequences of soil erosion on their land.

中文翻译：

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乌干达埃尔贡山保护区土壤侵蚀风险的交叉 RUSLE 模型和农民感知

摘要 本研究调查了埃尔贡山乌干达一侧中型流域中经验得出的与农民感知的土壤侵蚀风险之间的交集。我们假设农民对土壤侵蚀风险的看法很高，这影响了他们在土地上采取水土保持 (SWC) 措施。采用经过修改的修订通用土壤流失方程 (RUSLE) 来模拟地理信息系统 (GIS) 环境中的土壤侵蚀风险。参与式学习和行动 (PLA) 工具涵盖家庭访谈和焦点小组讨论 (FGD)，在流域的两个代表性子县实施，以获取有关农民对土壤侵蚀风险看法的信息。使用地理定位系统 (GPS) 对涵盖 184 名受访者的家庭访谈进行了地理参考。然后使用 GPS 位置数据将农民感知到的土壤侵蚀风险与 RUSLE 模型风险进行匹配。模拟的土壤侵蚀风险很大，相当大比例的集水区 (63%) 表现出土壤流失 >10 t ha-1 yr-1，这被认为高于山区环境的可容忍限度。农民感知的土壤侵蚀风险与在他们的土地上实施 SWC 之间存在轻微但显着的一致性 (p = 0.05)。在此基础上，我们认为高土壤侵蚀风险影响 SWC 实施的假设在所研究的流域中是不够的。我们推测，成功的风险缓解应该更多地针对增加农民的