Landscape degradation in the Jazan coastal desert: Understanding the impact of human activities

A hazard zoning map is the most essential tool during the crisis management cycle’s prevention and risk reduction phase. In this study, a geographic information system (GIS) is applied to the crisis management of ports through the preparation of a risk zoning map in Jazan Port, Saudi Arabia, using a novel integrated model of the fuzzy hierarchical analysis process and emotional artificial neural network (FAHP-EANN). The objective is to more accurately identify the highly potential risk zones in the port through hybrid techniques, which mitigates the associated life and financial damages through proper management during a probable hazard. Prior to creating the risk zoning map, every potential port accident is identified, categorized into six criteria, and assigned a weight through the utilization of a machine learning algorithm. The findings indicate that the three most effective criteria for the risks of Jazan Port are land fires, pollution and dangerous substances, and human behavior, respectively. A zoning map of all risks in Jazan Port was generated by using the weights obtained for each of the major accidents. This map may be utilized in the development of crisis prevention measures for the port and in the formation of crisis management units.

Section: Case Study Area Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial Analysis and Risk Evaluation for Port Crisis Management Using Integrated Soft Computing and GIS-Based Models: A Case Study of Jazan Port, Saudi Arabia

Alshareef,

Aljahdali,

Alghanmi

et al. 2024

“…Desertification, a global, regional, and local issue, has been studied using various techniques, including empirical, remote sensing, and model-based approaches [5][6][7][8]. Over the past three decades, remote sensing data has been utilized for monitoring ecosystems and natural disasters such as landscape degradation of coastal deserts [9], drought [10], and desertification [11,12]. Remote sensing collects precise data, provides rapid updates, and analyzes imagery over long periods of time, aiding in combating desertification in arid and semiarid regions and minimizing its effects.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Jazan is experiencing a decline in vegetation and cultivated land, leading to a decrease in biodiversity and contributing to droughts and desertification. Coastal degradation, possibly due to coastal development projects, is also a significant environmental issue [9,23]. Limited studies on desertification and land degradation in Jazan have been conducted, with NDVI being a single indicator that makes it difficult to determine overall desertification characteristics; such studies AL-Sheikh [24] and Abd El-Hamid et al [25].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of Desertification Dynamics in Arid Coastal Areas by Integrating Remote Sensing Data and Statistical Techniques

Hasan,

Alharbi,

Alqurashi

et al. 2024

Self Cite

Arid coastal regions are threatened by land desertification, which poses a serious threat to desert ecosystems, urban areas, and sustainability on a local as well as global scale. The present study aims to map desertification and the degree of its severity over the Jazan province on the western coast of Saudi Arabia. This investigation was conducted through the integration of remote sensing data (2001 and 2020) and statistical techniques. A scatter diagram, Karl Pearson correlation coefficient, and significance p-value test were performed on various spectral indices and tasseled cap transformation (TCT) derivative matrices to determine the strong significant relation of the spectral indices combination. Based on these analyses, the desertification degree index (DDI) was developed using a NDVI–TCG combination. The desertification grades were mapped and categorized into five classes, namely, non-desertification, low, moderate, severe, and extreme desertification. The results indicated that the spatial distribution of desertification grades declined from west to east during the period from 2001 to 2020. The degree of desertification improved during the study period since there was a significant reduction in extremely serious desertification land by 15.5% and an increase in weak desertification land by 7.8%. The dynamic changes in the DDI classes in the Jazan province mainly involve transformation from extremely serious to serious, serious to moderate, and moderate to weak, with areas of 2268.1 km2, 1518.5 km2, and 1062.5 km2, respectively. Generally, over the 19-year period, the restoration of vegetated areas accounted for 41.99% of the total study area, while desertification degradation land represented 15.57% of the total area of the Jazan province.

“…The presence of vegetation debris along the Moroccan Mediterranean beaches is also of great importance from the managerial perspective, seriously affecting the aesthetic quality of coastal landscapes, especially in villages and rural areas where clean-up operations are seasonal or virtually absent (Figure 7c,d). Vegetation debris, despite being small in size and of natural origin, has a negative impact on coastal scenery and is not much appreciated by beach users [8,63,64], especially when their quantities become significant. Despite along the Mediterranean beaches the natural accumulation of vegetation debris is usually low (except after strong storms that can bring large quantities of Posidonia oceanica leaves or heavy rains that can favor the deposition of large quantities and voluminous vegetation debris transported by rivers) [65][66][67] around the world and especially in many tropical beaches, vegetation debris may constitute a major problem with relevant aesthetic and safety aspects and have been considered a significant threat to tourist beaches [27].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Sector Analysis as a Coastal Management Tool for Sustainable Tourism Development on the Mediterranean Coast of Morocco

Er-Ramy,

Nachite,

Anfuso

et al. 2023

Beaches are ecologically valuable ecosystems and sites that attract many tourists from all over the world, therefore, knowledge of their environmental conditions to establish sound management strategies is of extreme relevance. This study aims to assess and classify 50 beaches through an innovative coastal management approach called “Sector Analysis”, which integrates Litter grading, the coastal scenic quality and beach typology in order to classify sites into one of three sectors: Green (high value sites), Red (low value sites) and Yellow (sites with contradictory values). Litter Grade makes it possible to classify a site according to the quantity of litter using four grades from “A” (low) to “D” (high amount). The Coastal Scenic Evaluation System (CSES) allows to classify sites into five classes, ranging from extremely attractive natural sites (Class I) to unattractive degraded and urbanized sites (Class V). This innovative methodology for sustainable coastal area management can be easily applied to any beach in the world. The results on Litter Grade and CSES considered in this paper were obtained from previous studies and used to obtain the Sector Analysis that showed only 8 sites (16%) are in the Green sector, 18 sites (36%) in the Red sector and 24 sites (48%) in the Yellow sector. The significant percentage of sites in the Red sector (one third of the sites studied) clearly indicates the degradation that the Moroccan Mediterranean coast has undergone due to considerable anthropogenic activities and the lack of adequate coastal management programs. In this study, various management interventions were proposed to conserve and improve the aesthetic quality of beaches and reduce the impact and presence of litter in the coastal areas.