Development and Application of Water and Land Resources Degradation Index (WLDI)

Abstract

Natural resources are gradually coming under continuous and increasing pressure due to anthropogenic interventions and climate variabilities. The result of these pressures is reflected in the sustainability of natural resources. Significant scientific efforts during the recent years focus on mitigating the effects of these pressures and on increasing the sustainability of natural resources. Hence, there is a need to develop specific indices and indicators that will reveal the areas having the highest risks. The Water and Land Resources Degradation Index (WLDI) was developed for this purpose. WLDI consists of eleven indicators and its outcome results from the spatiotemporal performance of these indicators. The WLDI is based on the Standardized Drought Vulnerability Index (SDVI) and the Environmentally Sensitive Areas Index (ESAI). The WLDI is applied for the period from October 1983 to September 1996, considering Greece as a study area. The results of the application of this index reveal the areas with the highest risks, especially in the agricultural sector, with less than the needed water quantities due to extensive periods of droughts. This index could be used by scientists, but also by policy makers, to better and more sustainably manage environmental pressures.

Evaluating the Degradation of Natural Resources in the Mediterranean Environment Using the Water and Land Resources Degradation Index, the Case of Crete Island

“…The current methodology for the WLDI development has followed the "XERASIA" framework as already described in [58,59,70]. It is important to note again that aridity, which occurs in areas with continuous low rainfall, and as a permanent climatic feature is quite different from temporary water shortages.…”

“…The latter show a deviation from the average state, but they are still within the natural variability of the system. In addition, the induced changes such as desertification caused by human activities mostly by misuse of soil and water resources and unstainable cultivation practices must be distinguished from drought which has natural causes [58,59,70]. All such conditions signify water deficits.…”

“…In this context, the central objective of the present work is to find common drivers for the pressures inflicted by drought and desertification as they portrayed by the application of WLDI (Water and Land Degradation Index) in the area. Furthermore, according to the well-known DPSIR (drivers, pressures, state, impact and responses) framework, driving forces are applying pressure on a system [12,[57][58][59]. Thus, the main scope of the current study is to identify the soil and water resources degradation status through the application of the already developed composite index WLDI for the period 1999-2014 [59].…”

“…Furthermore, according to the well-known DPSIR (drivers, pressures, state, impact and responses) framework, driving forces are applying pressure on a system [12,[57][58][59]. Thus, the main scope of the current study is to identify the soil and water resources degradation status through the application of the already developed composite index WLDI for the period 1999-2014 [59]. As described in detail by the index development process [59], it uses 11 indicators, namely Aridity Index (AI), Water Demand (WD), Vegetation Drought Impacts (VDI), Vegetation Drought Resilience (VDR), Water Resources Infrastructure (WRI), Land Use Intensity (LUI), Soil Parent Material (SPM), Plant Cover (PC), Rainfall (R), Slope (S), and Soil Texture (ST).…”

A GIS-Cellular Automata-Based Model for Coupling Urban Sprawl and Flood Susceptibility Assessment

“…It is a very simple method to use, but when a problem has many variables, then the computational requirement increases [45][46][47]. There are a plethora of models and methodologies that can provide the required results in terms of weights of parameters [48][49][50][51][52][53][54].…”