4.1. Major finding, ground realties, drivers of soil erosion and LCLUC
The findings of this research revealed, at the national scale in Pakistan in 2005 the estimated average soil erosion was 1.79 ± 11.52 ton/ha/year which increased 2.47 ± 18.14 ton/ha/year in 2015 (Table 3) and total 29,081 km2 (3.30%) loss and 17,506 km2 (2.00%) gain in LCLUC classes between 2005 - 2015 (Table 5).
. Among seven administrative units, in the Azad Jammu & Kashmir maximum with an increasing rate of soil erosion observed in ten years (2005 - 2015). On 8th October 2005, in the Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Pakistan, the 7.6 Mw earthquake and aftershocks triggered several landslides and soil erosion in the region (Kamp et al. , 2008; Shafique et al. , 2016). Based on temporal soil erosion assessment between 2005 and 2015 around the earthquake epicenter in ten years annual soil erosion increased (Table 3, Figure S2 & Figure 5). Earthquakes are major cause of soil erosion. Zhang et al., (2009) estimated soil erosion changes in the Wenchuan earthquake of May 12, 2008, results indicated due to earthquake soil erosion area increasing by 279.2 km2, or 1.9% of the total statistical area. In Pakistan, due to 2010, devastating flood around ~796,095 square kilometers area of the country came underwater along the Indus River, at least 2,000 people died and almost 20 million people were affected and cost the government US$ 9.7 billion loss. In the subsequent years, in 2011 and 2012, Pakistan was again faced floods. Erosion increases as a function of population growth (Pimentel & Burgess, 2013). According to the 2017 population census, the total population of Pakistan is 212.2 million with 2.08% population growth rate. Population expansion coupled with infrastructural development; LCLUC are intensifying soil erosion. Pakistan has ~2.5% forest cover with 2.1% of the annual rate of deforestation (FAO, 2010) which is also one of the major drivers of soil erosion causing the instability of sloppy land in the mountainous regions. Due to socioeconomic discrepancies, violation of rules and orders, and lack of awareness and education, the soil conservation practices are hard to implement on the ground. In ten years of the study period (2005 - 2015), soil erosion increased in high altitudes may be due to poor weathering of rocks, increasing surface runoff, landslides, deforestation, forest degradation, natural disasters etc. (Figure 4 and Figure 6).