Soil erosion study at tragic areas of highland tower and Ulu Langat / Nor Azman Abdul Manaf

Recently soil erosion has become a very serious problem in Malaysia in recent times, and will continue to enhance the problem in the future, unless proper planning and administration of the utilization of land is adopted at the very early stage. There are indications, that this is so as direct result of an accelerated rate of development; both in the public and commercial sector. Timber extraction and consequently denudation of soil, highway construction and housing development, have all led to tremendous and severe movement of soil, such that it has resulted in the loss of good agriculture land, siltation and clogging up of surface waterways and damage to installations. The prevention of soil erosion, which means reducing the rate of soil loss to approximately that which would occur under natural conditions, relies on selecting appropriate strategies for soil conservation and this, in turn, requires a thorough understanding of the processes of erosion. The factors which influence the rate of erosion are rainfall, runoff, wind, soil properties topography, slope vegetation and the presence or absence of conservation measures. The protection group focuses on factors relating to the slope vegetation. By intercepting rainfall and reducing the velocity of runoff and wind, a slope vegetation protects the soil from erosion. Different slope vegetation afford different degrees of protection so that, by knowing the land use,human, to a considerable degress, can control the rate of erosion.