Soil erosion resulting from steep slope cultivation and heavy deforestation is among the most difficult and incessant environmental problems in Meja watershed. Studies that characterize erosion rates that are crucial to improve land and water resources management are rarely done in this watershed. Thus the main aim of this study was to measure erosion rates and map erosion risk areas using GIS and Remote sensing techniques. The soil loss was estimated by using Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) model. Sentinel2A satellite imagery with spatial resolution of 10 m and field survey was used to derive RUSLE's soil loss variables. The RUSLE parameters were analyzed and overlain using raster calculator in the geo-processing tools in ArcGIS environment to estimate erosion rates and map erosion risk. The result showed that soil losses ranged from 0 t/ha/year in plain areas to more than 100 t/ha/year in the steep slope areas of the watershed with an average soil loss of 25.14 t/ha/year. Priority classes II and III combined contribute 41.1% with a total soil loss of 45671.9 tons. Priority Class IV and V contributes the lowest percent (16.9% and 10.2% respectively) for the total soil loss. Most of the soil erosion affected areas were found to be situated in the cultivated steepest slope part of the watershed. Therefore, understanding the magnitude of soil erosion is very important to plan appropriate soil conservation strategy. Given the seriousness of soil erosion problem in the study area, the study recommends that planners should give due attention to priority areas with severe erosion rates and treat these area with appropriate soil and water conservation measures.

Keywords : Erosion Risk, GIS, RUSLE, Soil Loss, Sentinel, Meja