Assessment of land degradation in Inner Mongolia between 2000 and 2020 based on remote sensing data

Achieving land degradation neutrality(LDN)worldwide is a significant target of the Sustainable Development Goal(SDG15.3).Inner Mongolia,as a typical dryland region in northern China,has carried out several large-scale ecological restoration programs to combat land degradation.However,there is a lack of comprehensive assess-ment of its land degradation situation after ecological programs implementation,which is of great significance to supporting SDG15.3 in China.This study analyzed the land degradation situation using the improved SDG15.3.1 calculation framework based on fine resolution data in Inner Mongolia from 2000 to 2020,and finally compre-hensively evaluated the land status of the whole region and those subject to ecological programs.The results show that net land restoration proportion of various ecological project regions and whole region continues to increase.The scope of the Grain for Green Program(GGP)had the largest proportion of net land restoration while the Natural Reserve Program(NRP)had the lowest proportion from 2000 to 2020.The net land restoration area of Inner Mongolia during 2000-2010 and 2010-2020 was 35,800 km 2 and 65,300 km 2,respectively.Overall,Inner Mongolia has achieved statistically zero growth in land degradation under the governance of ecological restora-tion programs.Therefore,reasonable planning,well monitoring,and timely assessment of ecological restoration programs are crucial to support SDG15.3.

Impacts of Agricultural Activities on Land Degradation along the Bomboré River in Burkina Faso

Land along the Bomboré River in the rural commune of Mogtédo in Burkina Faso is experiencing degradation. The explanatory causes of this degradation constitute the subject of this study. To do this, a survey was conducted among agricultural producers deployed along the watercourse. Soil profiles were described and samples were taken to analyze pH, soil organic carbon, soil organic matter, total nitrogen, and texture. The RUSLE model approach based on landstat8 OLI/TIRS and SRTM satellite images dated December 17, 2021 with fairly good radiometric, spatial, and spectral resolution was used to calculate the land loss rate. In terms of results, the potentially irrigable areas that spread out on both sides of the banks of the river cover 209.23 ha with a perimeter of 6.16 km. The number of irrigators is 26 producers and they grow 17.92 ha of vegetables. Soil analyzes indicate the presence of a moderate acid on the vertisol with a pH between 5.57 and 5.86. On the depth 0 - 30 cm of the horizon, the color of the horizons ranges from 5YR4/2 on the talweg and on the right bank to 7.5YR3/2 on the left bank and presents no risk of salinity because the electrical conductivity measured is less than 1dS/cm. The diagnosis of hydromechanical equipment shows that producers use 46 motor pumps for irrigation, of which 15 motor pumps run on gasoline and 31 motor pumps on butane gas with a ratio of 1.7 motor pumps per producer. The number of Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) pipes used by producers in combination with a motor pump gives an average of 44 per farmer. In terms of mineral fertilization, the gross doses used by producers are 415.53 kg/ha of NPK and 201.55 kg/ha of urea, while the quantities of phytosanitary products are 3.99 l/ha of pesticides and 1.42 l/ha of herbicides. Agricultural activities emit about 222,436.66 kgCO2eq into the atmosphere, whose emissions from motor pumps represent 84.52% of these total emissions. The land loss estimate gives an average rate of 2.30 t/ha/year of land loss. This loss is due to the effects of poor agricultural practices, water erosion, and the drainage channels and gullies created by the anarchic installation of dwellings around the edges of the river. This study calls for more monitoring actions to sustainably safeguard the soil and water resources of this river which contribute to the survival of more than 73,214 inhabitants.

Human induced dryland degradation in Ordos Plateau,China,revealed by multilevel statistical modeling of normalized difference vegetation index and rainfall time-series

Land degradation causes serious environmental problems in many regions of the world, and although it can be effectively assessed and monitored using a time series of rainfall and a normalized difference vegetation index （NDVI） from remotely-sensed imagery, dividing human-induced land degradation from vegetation dynamics due to climate change is not a trivial task. This paper presented a multilevel statistical modeling of the NDVI-rainfall relationship to detect human-induced land degradation at local and landscape scales in the Ordos Plateau of Inner Mongolia, China, and recognized that anthropogenic activities result in either positive （land restoration and re-vegetation） or negative （degradation） trends. Linear regressions were used to assess the accuracy of the multi- level statistical model. The results show that： （1） land restoration was the dominant process in the Ordos Plateau between 1998 and 2012; （2） the effect of the statistical removal of precipitation revealed areas of human-induced land degradation and improvement, the latter reflecting successful restoration projects and changes in land man- agement in many parts of the Ordos; （3） compared to a simple linear regression, multilevel statistical modeling could be used to analyze the relationship between the NDVI and rainfall and improve the accuracy of detecting the effect of human activities. Additional factors should be included when analyzing the NDVI-rainfall relationship and detecting human-induced loss of vegetation cover in drylands to improve the accuracy of the approach and elimi- nate some observed non-significant residual trends.

Mechanism and regulation of land degradation in Yulin district

Yulin district is located in the transitional zone between Mu Us Desert and Loess Plateau of northern Shaanxi Province, thus it is particularly vulnerable to degradation due to its fragile ecosystem and intense human activities there. The purpose of this study is to explore the mechanism, process and driving force of land degradation in area with vulnerable eco-environment within the context of increasing population and intensifying human economic activities, and then find out the patterns and countermeasures of how to control them using the economic and technological ways. In detail, this study includes three main sections: the first section analyzes the mechanism, causes and characteristics of land degradation, which can be achieved by the typical field investigations and systematical analysis within the regional natural, social and economic context. Based on the technologies of remote sensing and GIS, and combined with the modeling methods, the second section reveals the change characteristics of land use and its driving force from 1990 to 2000; As to the third section, feasible countermeasures of how to prevent the degradation and rehabilitate the regional ecology are proposed, which are studied from the perspective of harmony between nature and economy, and the conception of regional sustainable development.

Land degradation in the subtropical hilly andmountain regions of South China

Land degradation, caused by water erosion. closely related to inherent vulnerabilities of itseco-environment in South China. Spatial variation of land degradation from top to foot of a slope wasmainly induced by differentiation of surface materials and their erodibility, nutrient and moisture dueto downslope variation of land erosion. It was showed by comparing maps of land degradationbetween the 1950s and the 1980s that changes of land degradation varied from one area to anotherbecause of differences of human activities, including land reclamation and vegetation depletion.

Evaluation of Land Degradation and So-cio-Environmental Issues: A Case Study of Semi Arid Watershed in Western Rajasthan

The present work attempts to assess the land cover changes at watershed level and status of land degradation in Mithri Watershed lying in the semi-arid tracts of Western Rajasthan, using time series climate data and remote sensing data and GIS techniques. The study also has a strong field component in the form of village wise surveys to record observations on climatic changes, agriculture, socio-economic condition of the community, water availability etc. Integration of remote sensing technique along with climate data analysis and household surveys, Group discussion and Participatory rural appraisal (PRA) was conducted to record land use/land cover changes and its impact on socio-economic condition of the people. Degradation mapping of the area reveals that area is affected by forest degradation, scrub erosion and salinization. Anthropogenic factors like fuel wood and timber extraction, livestock grazing etc. are also responsible for forest degradation. People have shifted from cash crops such as cotton to maize, barley and cereal during the last two decades.

Comparing Land Degradation and Regeneration Trends in China Drylands

The aim of this paper is to offer a statistically sound method to make a precise account of the speed of land degradation and regeneration processes.Most common analyses of land degradation focus instead on the extent of degraded areas,rather than on the intensity of degradation processes.The study was implemented for the Potential Extent of Desertification in China(PEDC),composed by arid,semi-arid,and dry sub-humid regions and refers to the period 2002 to 2012.The metrics were standard partial regression coefficients from stepwise regressions,fitted using Net Primary Productivity as the dependent variable,and year number and aridity as predictors.The results indicate that:①the extension of degrading lands(292896 km 2 or 9.12%of PEDC)overcomes the area that is recovering(194560 km 2 or 6.06%of PEDC);and②the intensity of degrading trends is lower than that of increasing trends in three land cover types(grassland,desert,and crops)and in two aridity levels(semi-arid and dry sub-humid).Such an outcome might pinpoint restoration policies by the Chinese government,and document a possible case of hysteresis.

LAND DEGRADATION AND ITS CONTROL STRATEGIES IN CHINA

Human induced land degradation refers to decline or loss of biological or economic productivity resulting from a process or combination of processes, including displacement of soil matreial, terrain deformation and loss of nutrients and/or orgnic matter through wind erosion, water erosion, secondary salinization and pollution. Wind erosion is a major problem in the dry land of China and the area of sandy desertified land caused by wind erosion has reached 371,000 km 2. Water erosion frequently occurs in hilly and mountainous areas where 1.79 million km 2 of land have been observed and degraded land area affected by secondary salinization now covers 63,000 km 2 in China. Statistical data indicated that depletion of soil nutriution is a serious problem in China. Some 460,000 km 2 of cultivated or 46 percent of the total cultivated land area is deficient in P, and 330,000 km 2 of cultivated land or one-third of nation′s total is deficient in K. Adverse human activities are recognized as a principal reason of land degradation. In northern China, 30.1 percent of land degradation caused by over grazing, 26.9 percent by over reclamation, 33.7 percent by excessive fuel collection, 9.6 percent by mis-use of water resources, as well as 0.7 percent by industrial, mining and transportation construction. In southern China, 37 percent of degraded land caused by deforestation, 35 percent by slopeland reclamation, 18 percent by improper afforestation, and 10 percent by industrial, mining and transportation construction. Following the discussion of the causes and disasters of land degradation, this paper presents the achievements gained in prevention and control of land degradation since 1949. The several control strategic measures in combating land degradation such as prompting public awareness and people's participation, strengthening national laws and policies formulation, carrying out projects on rehabilization and monitoring, are proposed by the end of this paper.

Land degradation sensitivity assessment and convergence analysis in Korla of Xinjiang, China

Land degradation has a major impact on environmental and socio-economic sustainability. Scientific methods are necessary to monitor the risk of land degradation. In this study, the environmental sensitive area index(ESAI) was utilized to assess land degradation sensitivity and convergence analysis in Korla, a typical oasis city in Xinjiang of China, which is located on the northeast border of the Tarim Basin. A total of 18 indicators depicting soil, climate, vegetation, and management qualities were used to illustrate spatial-temporal patterns of land degradation sensitivity from 1994 to 2018. We investigated the causes of spatial convergence and divergence based on the Ordinary Least Squares(OLS) and Geographically Weighted Regression(GWR) models. The results show that the branch of the Tianshan Mountains and oasis plain had a low sensitivity to land degradation, while the Tarim Basin had a high risk of land degradation. More than two-thirds of the study area can be categorized as "critical" sensitivity classes. The largest percentage(32.6%) of fragile classes was observed for 2006. There was no significant change in insensitive or low-sensitivity areas, which accounted for less than 0.4% of the entire observation period. The ESAI of the four time periods(1994–1998, 1998–2006, 2006–2010, and 2010–2018) formed a series of convergence patterns. The convergence patterns of 1994–1998 and 1998–2006 can be explained by the government's efforts to "Returning Farmland to Forests" and other governance projects. In 2006–2010, the construction of afforested work intensified, but industrial development and human activities affected the convergence pattern. The pattern of convergence in most regions between 2010 and 2018 can be attributed to the government's implementation of a series of key ecological protection projects, which led to a decrease in sensitivity to land degradation. The results of this study altogether suggest that the ESAI convergence analysis is an effective early warning method for land degradation sensitivity.

Determinants and rates of land degradation： Application of stationary time-series model to data from a semi-arid environment in Kenya

The causes of land degradation in the African drylands have been shown to vary. Some researchers consider climate to be the major contributor to degradation, with anthropogenic factors playing a minor role. Others reverse the significance of these two factors. A third group attributes land degradation to climate and anthropogenic factors equally. This study was undertaken to establish the factors influencing land degradation in a semi-arid environment in southeastern Kenya and the rate of change in vegetation types for a period of 35 years （1973-2007）. The reduction in grassland cover was used as an indicator of land degradation. Causes of land degradation were determined by a multiple regression analysis. A log-linear regression analysis was used to establish the rate of vegetation change. The multiple and log-linear regression analyses showed： （1） woody vegetation, livestock population and cultivated area to be the main contributors of reduction in grassland cover in the area, and （2） an increase in undesirable woody species, livestock population and cultivated area had a significant （P〈0.05） negative effect on grassland vegetation. Increased human population, low amounts of rainfall and drought showed no significant negative effect on grassland vegetation cover. In conclusion, human and livestock population growth and increased agricultural land have contributed to intensive crop cultivation and overgrazing in the semi-arid lands. This overuse of the semi-arid rangelands has worsened the deterioration of the natural grassland vegetation.

LAND DEGRADATION AND ITS MANAGEMENT IN THE ARID AND SEMI ARID AREAS OF CHINA

hina is a large country with varied physical environments. Some of them are quite fragile and susceptible to land degradation, such as the arid and semiarid areas, as well as the slopeland of extensive mountain and hilly areas. Therefore, human actions play a significant role in desertification processes. It was estimated that there are 3,327,000 km 2 of desertified areas in China, in which 1,533,000 km 2 are desert, gobi and sandy desertified areas. Most of them are in arid, semiarid and dry sub humid areas in northern China. Soil salinization is another kind of land desertification. It was estimated that about one fifth of the 66,700 km 2 of farmlands have been affected by soil salinization to certain extent. Grassland degradation is also serious in China. The main problems are the reduction of bio mass, decline of preferred species and soil erosion induced by overgrazing. In Inner Mongolia the area of degraded grasslands occupies 43.8 percent of the total available area of the grasslands. The productivity of grasslands in Tibet has decreased by 20 - 50 percent [21]. Soil and water erosion is more serious in China. Based on remote sensing general survey initiated by Ministry of Water Resources in 1992, the total soil eroded area is 3,670,000 km 2, occupying 38.2 percent of the total territorial area, in which 1,790,000 km 2 is water eroded area and 1,880,000 km 2 is wind eroded area.

Research on Farmers' Response to Microeconomic Policies and Its Impact on Land Degradation in Zhaodong Heilongjiang Province

The livelihoods of farmers are responding to the mioroeconomic policies and result in many changes in the landuse pattern and landscape, and the farmer＇s attitude to the natural resources conservation, specifically in the land degradation. In order to find the relationship between the farmers＇ response to the microeeonomic policies and land degradation, the authors surveyed 120 household in three villages in the black soil zone in Heilongjiang Province. Based on the feedback of the questionnaires, the authors established a model to analyze the impact. The results demonstrated that land degradation was impacted by farmers behaviors in the process of the adjustment of agricultural structures in the city of Zhaodong. And the main factors acted on the land degradation were the agricultural labour education level, the transfer of the labour from agricultural production, the price of the agricultural production materials, and the land scale management. The authors put forward some suggestions for sustainable agriculture based on the analysis on the topic.

Biological Diversity, Land Degradation and Sustainable Rural Livelihoods

The 1998 Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity asked national governments to demonstrate the importance of biological diversity in supporting rural communities. This paper introduces‘agrodiversity’as the primary way in which farmers use biological diversity and, more generally, the natural diversity of the environment for production, including their choice of crops, and management of land, water and biota as a whole. Promoting agrodiversity and understanding how it functions in tropical smallholder farming systems is the best way that importance may be shown. A win-win scenario is presented which links agrodiversity to land degradation control and sustainable rural livelihoods as evidenced by food security. It is argued that policies that encourage biological diversity in areas of land use will not only meet countries’ responsibilities under the Convention but will also address land degradation problems and support to rural livelihoods. The human significance of various types of biological diversity is shown. Sustainable rural livelihoods are presented in the new capital assets framework to demonstrate how rural households may use various components to control land degradation. To enable agrodiversity to be implemented practically, it has been codified into core elements of: biophysical diversity, the diversity of the natural environment that controls the resource base for food production; management diversity that embraces the practices (many of them indigenous) of farmers such as live hedges, soil amendments and ridge tillage techniques; agro-biodiversity which is the diversity of crop, plant and animal combinations; and organisational diversity, the way that farms are owned and operated, and the way that capital assets are allocated. Each element is then systematically related to show how agrodiversity controls land degradation and how it promotes food security. The example of the maize-Mucuna system in South America is cited as an evident demonstration of the value of agrodiversity to both soil conservation and to smallholder farmers’ livelihoods.

Sustainable Environmental Management:A Case of Assessment of Land Degradation Using Space Technologies in Longido District,Arusha Tanzania

This study was conducted to assess land degradation in Longido District,Arusha,Tanzania using remote sensing techniques.Biophysical degradation indicators i.e.land use/land cover,land productivity level and soil erosion were used.Specifically,Landsat Satellite images of 1995 and 2015,together with soil data and digital elevation model were applied.Land cover maps of the study area over the study years were produced by supervised classification method.Soil erosion was assessed using RUSLE(Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation)model producing soil erosion map of Longido district,the inputs into the RUSLE model were rainfall,erosivity factor,soil erodibility factor,slope steepness and slope length factor,cover management factor and support practice factor.Biophysical land degradation map was produced by applying weighted overlay technique whereby soil erosion was given more weight followed by land use/land cover of 2015 and land productivity level of 2015.The findings show that about 38% of Longido district areas are highly vulnerable to land degradation which is above the international allowable level.It is being concluded that Longido District is at high risk of failure to sustain livelihood of and resilient for its communities,the earth in general,so it is timely for the district authorities to take steps towards mitigating further land degradation.It is being recommended that sustainable conservation and management strategies as well as policies must be affected by district authorities including farmers and pastoralists to improvise land degradation friendly cultivation and grazing methods.

Assessment of Land Degradation in Dambatta Local Government Area Using Remote Sensing Techniques

Kano State is one of the frontline states in northern Nigeria that have suffered land degradation. This degradation results from urbanization and anthropogenic influence. In Danbatta Local Government Area (LGA), persistent degradation of the land has adversely affected the environment and the economy and there is lack of studies on land degradation in the area. Therefore, this study assessed land degradation in Dambatta Local Government Area (LGA) of Kano State paying special attention to the causes and effects of the reduction in the lands’ actual or potential uses. The images used for the research analysis were obtained from National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA), Abuja. The data sets were captured by Landsat Multispectral Scanner/Thematic Mapper (MSS/TM) 1997, Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) 2007 and Operational Land Imager (OLI) 2017. Post classification change detection technique was conducted in ILWIS 5.2, and later converted to shape files where it was imported to Arc Map 10.2 GIS software. The results showed Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) ranges from ?0.056 to 0.18 in 1997, ?0.07 to 0.11 in 2007 and ?0.128 to 0.217 in 2017. This depicts that there has been a progressive loss in vegetation cover in Dambatta LGA over a period of 20 years with corresponding acceleration in bare lands and developed areas. The Land Surface Temperature (LST) results generally show a continuous and constant increase in surface temperature from the developed and urban areas to the undeveloped and rural areas. The LST results also show that no area under consideration in the study area experienced an extreme temperature (≥44?C) during the period of study. In 2017, a large part of the study area fell within the higher temperature zones (≥40?C) and other areas fell into mid-temperature zones (35?C - 40?C). This high surface temperature resulted from increase in bare land, high insolation, urbanization, anthropogenic influences and large distribution of imperviousness or geographical relief of the area. It was suggested that afforestation and sustainable development should be encouraged and strengthened in the area. In addition, studies should be carried out on the appropriate solution to the land degradation problem in Dambatta LGA, Kano State. Furthermore, Local Government Areas neighboring Dambatta LGA should also be analyzed on the issue of land degradation.

A comprehensive method for refining essential SDGs variables for land degradation monitoring based on the DPSIR framework

The United Nations adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs)to address societal,economic and environmental sustainability issues.The efficiency of SDGs monitoring could be improved by essential variables(EVs),which can help to better deal with massive data,interdisciplinary knowledge and workloads.However,in practice,effectively combining EVs with SDGs monitoring remains challenging.In this paper,we proposed a refining method of essential SDGs variables(ESDGVs)to land degradation.Firstly,we selected northwest China as our experimental region and extracted a group of variables related to land degradation from SDG indicators based on the DPSIR framework.Next,we identify the essential ones using a combined qualitative and quantitative methods with the criteria of feasibility,spatialization,and relevance which considered the issues of data acquisition,monitoring scale,and closeness to the land degradation.Finally,we analysed the monitoring role of ESDGVs.Results show that,compared to conventional observations,ESDGVs facilitate the monitoring and evaluation of regional SDGs with reduced efforts.And both climate and human activities have a facilitating or inhibiting effect on land degradation processes.In the future,we hope to have more mature data sets and consider adding more SDG indicators for ESDGVs’refinement.

Monitoring land degradation at national level using satellite Earth Observation time-series data to support SDG15-exploring the potential of data cube

Avoiding,reducing,and reversing land degradation and restoring degraded land is an urgent priority to protect the biodiversity and ecosystem services that are vital to life on Earth.To halt and reverse the current trends in land degradation,there is an immediate need to enhance national capacities to undertake quantitative assessments and mapping of their degraded lands,as required by the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs),in particular,the SDG indicator 15.3.1(“proportion of land that is degraded over total land area”).Earth Observations(EO)can play an important role both for generating this indicator as well as complementing or enhancing national official data sources.Implementations like Trends.Earth to monitor land degradation in accordance with the SDG15.3.1 rely on default datasets of coarse spatial resolution provided by MODIS or AVHRR.Consequently,there is a need to develop methodologies to benefit from medium to high-resolution satellite EO data(e.g.Landsat or Sentinels).In response to this issue,this paper presents an initial overview of an innovative approach to monitor land degradation at the national scale in compliance with the SDG15.3.1 indicator using Landsat observations using a data cube but further work is required to improve the calculation of the three sub-indicators.

Factor influencing land degradation sensitivity and desertification in a drought prone watershed in Thailand

This study aimed to assess land degradation sensitivity of an area contributing to desertification risk in Lam Ta Kong Watershed using Environmental Sensitivity Area Index(ESAI).Five risk factors comprised climatic,soil,geographical,land utilization and vegetation,and water resources factors together with fifteen sub-factors were used to analyze the sensitivity to land degradation.The spatial analysis was calculated using Geographic Information System(GIS)and Remote Sensing(RS)techniques.The key factors influencing land degradation risks in the watershed area were analyzed using the triangular fuzzy numbers(TFNs)method.The results showed that approximately 33%of Lam Ta Kong watershed was affected by a high desertification risk excluded the water bodies and around 24.64%of the area suffered from a moderate risk.This research pointed out that key factors causing land degradation and desertification in the watershed area were related to the soil factors,followed by climatic,geographical factors,water resources,and land utilization and vegetation,respectively.The results of this study can be used as a database for planning and implementing area-based mitigations and measures as well as for land use planning in the watershed area.

Land degradation and integrated watershed management in India

In view of the stagnating productivity levels of irrigated agriculture,the contribution from rainfed agriculture should be increased to meet the requirements from the ever growing human and animal population of India.Land degradation is a major threat to our food and environment security and the extent of degradation problems are more pronounced in rainfed regions.Large potential of rainfed agriculture is untapped largely due to lack of enabling policy support and investments.In drought-prone rainfed areas,watershed management has shown the potential of doubling the agricultural productivity,increase in water availability,restoration of ecological balance in the degraded rainfed ecosystems by greening these areas and diversification of cropping farming systems.Impact of various watershed programmes can be substantially enhanced by developing new approaches and enabling policies new paradigm based on learnings over last 30 years for people-centric holistic watershed management involving convergence,collective action,consortium approach,capacity development to address equity,efficiency,environment and economic concerns is urgently needed.However,this can be used as entry point activity for improving livelihood for rural community.It has been realized that for sustainable developments of degraded lands,involvement of people(land less and beneficiaries)is very much essential.For the last decade efforts have been made institutionalize the organizations of the community&beneficiaries and ensuring their involvement in planning project formulation,implementation and maintenance.Government of India has launched various centre-sector,state-sector and foreign aided schemes for prevention of land degradation,reclamation of special problem areas for ensuring productivity of the land,preservation of land resources and improvement of ecology and environment.These schemes are being implemented on watershed basis in rainfed areas.Soil conservation measures and reclamation of degraded lands are decided considering the land capability and land uses.The efforts made so far resulted in enhancement of agricultural production and productivity of lands,increase in employment generation,improving the environment of the areas and socio-economic upgradation of the people.Integrated watershed management approach has been adopted as a key national strategy for sustainable development of rural areas.This has been proved by conducting monitoring and impact evaluation studies of the integrated watershed projects by external agencies.