Assessment of Land Desertification Based on the MEDALUS Approach and Elaboration of an Action Plan: The Case Study of the Souss River Basin, Morocco

Bouabid, Rachid; Rouchdi, M.; Badraoui, Mohamed; Diab, A.; Louafi, Sélim

doi:10.1007/978-90-481-8657-0_10

Cited by 18 publications

(29 citation statements)

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“…We used this methodology and chose the multiplication of parameters because several studies in regions affected by desertification adopted the same approach, in Egypt (Ali and El Baroudy, 2008;Gad and Lotfy, 2008) in Morocco (Bouabid et al, 2010) and in Iran (Honardoust et al, 2011;Parvari et al, 2011;Sepehr et al, 2007).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For the past two decades the concept of desertification in arid, semi-arid and dry subhumid areas was always associated with land degradation as a result of various factors, including climatic variations and human activities (UNCCD, 2000). In this perspective, the intensity of the desertification phenomena was viewed as the degree of vulnerability or the reaction of ecosystems to the impacts of natural or anthropogenic activities (Bouabid et al, 2010). Desertification was generally associated with geo-physical conditions (e.g.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Assessment and mapping the sensitive areas to desertification in an insular Sahelian mountain region Case study of the Ribeira Seca Watershed, Santiago Island, Cabo Verde

Tavares

Baptista

Ferreira

et al. 2015

CATENA

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment and mapping the sensitive areas to desertification in an insular Sahelian mountain region Case study of the Ribeira Seca Watershed, Santiago Island, Cabo Verde

Tavares

Baptista

Ferreira

et al. 2015

CATENA

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“…The method has also been applied in Mediterranean African countries, such as Algeria [19]. In Morocco, the approach was applied in the arid regions of the Sous Massa River Basin to propose an action plan of potential interventions to mitigate the desertification problems in this region [20] and in Oued El Maleh, central Morocco [21]. However, the MEDALUS model has been elaborated and developed in the context of Mediterranean areas prone to desertification, and most applications have been done in semi-arid, arid, and hyper-arid zones.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Desertification Sensitivity Analysis Using MEDALUS Model and GIS: A Case Study of the Oases of Middle Draa Valley, Morocco

Lamqadem

Pradhan

Saber

et al. 2018

Sensors

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Oases can play a significant role in the sustainable economic development of arid and Saharan regions. The aim of this study was to map the desertification-sensitive areas in the Middle Draa Valley (MDV), which is in the southeast of Morocco. A total of 13 indices that affect desertification processes were identified and analyzed using a geographic information system. The Mediterranean desertification and land use approach; which has been widely used in the Mediterranean regions due to its simplicity; flexibility and rapid implementation strategy; was applied. All the indices were grouped into four main quality indices; i.e., soil quality; climate quality; vegetation quality and management quality indices. Each quality index was constructed by the combination of several sub-indicators. In turn; the geometric mean of the four quality index maps was used to construct a map of desertification-sensitive areas; which were classified into four classes (i.e., low; moderate; high and very high sensitivity). Results indicated that only 16.63% of the sites in the study were classified as least sensitive to desertification; and 50.34% were classified as highly and very highly sensitive areas. Findings also showed that climate and human pressure factors are the most important indicators affecting desertification sensitivity in the MDV. The framework used in this research provides suitable results and can be easily implemented in similar oasis arid areas.

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“…As the exclusive scope of the study is to detect susceptible areas to land degradation, the analytic calculation of the Environmentally Sensitive Areas Index (ESAI) was chosen to depict such areas across the study area. The use of the ESAI to depict environmental sensitive areas and thus susceptible to land degradation is considered efficient, well‐tested ,and has been already used in several similar studies (e.g., Contandor, Schnabel, Gutierrez, & Fernandez, ; Bouabid, Rouchdi, Badraoui, Diab, & Louafi, ; Parvari, Pahlavanravi, Nia, Dehvari, & Parvari, ; Salvati & Bajocco, ; Jafari & Bakhshandehmehr, ; Symeonakis, Koukoulas, & Panagopoulos, ; Vieira et al, ). Furthermore, the use of the ESAI except for its reliability, especially at regional scales, is performed for the first time in the entire Cyprus Island.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Detection of areas susceptible to land degradation in Cyprus using remote sensed data and environmental quality indices

2018

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This study is an effort to adapt the general principles, methodological tools, and equations of a widely used Mediterranean desertification and land use approach (MEDALUS approach) in order to detect environmental sensitive areas susceptible for land degradation in Cyprus. For this scope, different remote sensed data and products (Landsat multispectral imagery and ASTER Digital Elevation Model) were used as well as demographic information, taken from the Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center. Four quality indices were calculated (Climate Quality Index, Demographic Index, Soil Quality Index, and Vegetation Quality Index) and combined in order to provide at final stage, the Environmental Sensitivity Area Index (ESAI) with which the environmental status is described. The use of remote sensed data of 30‐m spatial resolution and the calculation of different indices to extract the environmental stress at regional scale can be considered as innovative characteristics of this study. According to this ESAI, it was found that 9.68% of the Cyprus Island is at environmental risk, strictly related to the land degradation potential. The spatial distribution of the ESAI values shows that the environmental risk is most significant in Paphos district and Limassol, following the Larnaca and the Famagusta districts. Nicosia and Kyrenia districts are found slightly less problematic. In addition, large parts of Troodos Mountain (especially in its low altitudes), which is one of the most vegetated areas of the Island, seem to be at notable environmental stress.

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Assessment of Land Desertification Based on the MEDALUS Approach and Elaboration of an Action Plan: The Case Study of the Souss River Basin, Morocco

Cited by 18 publications

References 1 publication

Assessment and mapping the sensitive areas to desertification in an insular Sahelian mountain region Case study of the Ribeira Seca Watershed, Santiago Island, Cabo Verde

Assessment and mapping the sensitive areas to desertification in an insular Sahelian mountain region Case study of the Ribeira Seca Watershed, Santiago Island, Cabo Verde

Desertification Sensitivity Analysis Using MEDALUS Model and GIS: A Case Study of the Oases of Middle Draa Valley, Morocco

Detection of areas susceptible to land degradation in Cyprus using remote sensed data and environmental quality indices

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