Premium
Risk assessment of land degradation (RALDE) model
Author(s) -
Masoudi Masoud,
Vahedi Maryam,
Cerdà Artemi
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
land degradation and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.403
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1099-145X
pISSN - 1085-3278
DOI - 10.1002/ldr.3883
Subject(s) - land degradation , degradation (telecommunications) , land use , environmental degradation , hazard , environmental science , risk assessment , natural hazard , environmental resource management , geography , computer science , civil engineering , meteorology , engineering , ecology , telecommunications , computer security , biology
Land degradation threatens the sustainability of human societies due to the loss of resources, services, and goods. To assess land degradation, models are useful and fruitful due to the complex and multidisciplinary processes acting. The present research attempts to design and develop a new model to assess land degradation based on biophysical and socioeconomic parameters to investigate land at a high risk of degradation. The use of models can shed light on the land degradation processes and will contribute to better design of restoration and rehabilitation processes. The identification of regions that are more vulnerable to degradation can improve land planning and enhance development. Fars Province, in Southern Iran, was selected as a test area to assess risk of land degradation by means of the risk assessment of land degradation (RALDE) model. Data gathered from the different governmental offices of Fars Province and MODIS satellite data were used for this purpose. The hazard maps of natural, human and degradation trend were produced with a geographical information system (GIS) tool. The final land degradation risk map was developed by first overlaying all three natural, human, and degradation trend layers, and then it was compared with current state layer of degradation in GIS. Areas under risk were classified to subclasses with different probability level to show a statistical picture of risk. In RALDE, the percentage of risk probability is evaluated according to trend and potential for degradation. Results show that degradation risk probability ranges between 6 and 58%. The areas under different subclasses of severe to very severe risk cover about 67% of the study area. RALDE shows higher threats of land degradation for these zones, and we propose immediate attention to this region with related conservational and reclamation works. Fars Province has been used successfully to apply the RALDE model and its use for other regions will contribute to improving land degradation assessment and promoting development programmes.