International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health Article USLE-Based Assessment of Soil Erosion by Water in the Nyabarongo River Catchment, Rwanda Fidele Karamage 1,2,3, Chi Zhang 1,4,*, Alphonse Kayiranga 1,2,3, Hua Shao 1,2, Xia Fang 1,2, Felix Ndayisaba 1,2,3, Lamek Nahayo 1,2,3, Christophe Mupenzi 1,2,3 and Guangjin Tian 5 1 State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China; fi
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[email protected] (C.M.) 2 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China 3 Faculty of Environmental Studies, University of Lay Adventists of Kigali (UNILAK), P.O. 6392, Kigali, Rwanda 4 School of Resources Environment Science and Engineering, Hubei University of Science and Technology, Xianning 437000, China 5 State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China;
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[email protected]; Tel.: +86-991-7823127 Academic Editor: Yu-Pin Lin Received: 12 July 2016; Accepted: 12 August 2016; Published: 20 August 2016 Abstract: Soil erosion has become a serious problem in recent decades due to unhalted trends of unsustainable land use practices. Assessment of soil erosion is a prominent tool in planning and conservation of soil and water resource ecosystems. The Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) was applied to Nyabarongo River Catchment that drains about 8413.75 km2 (33%) of the total Rwanda coverage and a small part of the Southern Uganda (about 64.50 km2) using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing technologies.