**5. The influence of vegetation**

The constant deforestation of the former rainforest due to population explosion and in‐ creased agricultural activities in the region expose the bare soils to the vagaries of weather thus escalating the soil erosion problems. The implication is that the soils are frequently sub‐ ject to different degrees of erosion including accelerated erosion. Vegetation and land use are one of the most important factors in soil erosion process in southeastern Nigeria. Stock‐ ing [15] noted that vegetation acts in a variety of ways by intercepting raindrops through encouraging greater infiltration of water and through increasing surface soil organic matter and thereby reducing soil erodibility. According to Lal [19], choosing an appropriate land use can drastically curtail soil erosion.

In southeastern Nigeria soil erosion especially gullies are most intensive on soil on which the former growth has been disturbed, that is mostly on agricultural soils stripped of growth for reasons of infrastructural developments such as road and housing construction. Ofomata [3] showed that in the region soil erosion is connected mainly with agricultural activities and other related land use activities such as mining, road building, urbanization, industriali‐ zation and general infrastructural development. These land use activities deprive the soil surface of its vegetation and also contribute directly to sliding, slumping, interrill and rill erosion including gullying.
