The use of remote sensing to develop a site history for restoration planning in an arid landscape

Abstract

Developing a site history and ecological site description is one of the critical steps in restoration planning for arid landscapes. This study focuses on Umm Nigga, Northeast of Kuwait, which was damaged by various human activities. The northern portion of Umm Nigga falls within the boundaries of the demilitarized zone (DMZ) adjacent to Iraq, and was fenced off to restrict public access since 1994. The central objective of this project was to use remote sensing, field assessment, and Geographical Information System (GIS) spatial data to develop a site history for restoration planning of Umm Nigga. Field observation and GIS analysis indicated that the landscape could be divided into three units along a gradient ranging from the coast to inland locations, based on geology, soil properties, and dominant vegetation. Reference sites in the DMZ were also matched for each unit. Remote sensing was used to compare vegetation cover between damaged and reference sites at selected units. Results showed that vegetation cover increased in the unfenced damaged site after the 1991 Gulf War from 2% in 1988 to 37% in 1998, but then it decreased to 23% in 2013. In the DMZ reference site, the vegetation cover also increased from 0% in 1988 to 40% in 1998, but it continued increasing through 2013 to 64%. We conclude that overgrazing and destructive camping are the major source of disturbance in the damaged areas.

Assessing native desert vegetation recovery in a war‐affected area using multispectral and hyperspectral imagery: a case study of the Sabah Al‐Ahmad Nature Reserve, Kuwait

“…Remotely sensed imagery is becoming a common tool for reconstructing a site's history and detecting changes in vegetation cover (Zweig & Newman 2015;Abdullah et al 2016). Several researchers agree that remote sensing (RS) can help generate the necessary information to study the distribution of vegetation cover (Shuman & Ambrose 2003;Muthumanickam et al 2011;Im et al 2012;Peng et al 2012;Harris et al 2014) and monitor desertification (Diouf & Lambin 2001;Mollot & Bilby 2008;Malmstrom et al 2009) in arid and semi-arid lands.…”

“…Several researchers agree that remote sensing (RS) can help generate the necessary information to study the distribution of vegetation cover (Shuman & Ambrose 2003;Muthumanickam et al 2011;Im et al 2012;Peng et al 2012;Harris et al 2014) and monitor desertification (Diouf & Lambin 2001;Mollot & Bilby 2008;Malmstrom et al 2009) in arid and semi-arid lands. RS allows researchers to examine dynamic landscape changes (Herold et al 2002;Groom et al 2006;Jia et al 2008;Hadeel et al 2010;Abdullah et al 2016), but the classification of arid land vegetation images can be challenging because of the high reflectance of the soil background, variable mixture of green and senescent grasses, shrubs and herbs, and multiple reflectance from open canopies and bright soils (Laliberte et al 2007). The vegetation of Kuwait is characterized mainly by open dwarf shrubs, perennial herbs and ephemerals, and rare taller shrubs (Halwagy & Halwagy 1974).…”

Integrated Ecosystem Sustainability Approach: Toward a Holistic System of Thinking of Managing Arid Ecosystems

“…Most actions taken by decision-makers focused on solving one part of the system, which may end up declining other parts, leading to failure in managing and restoring ecological systems. It is also important to understand that restoration of disturbed ecosystems is costly, and that one restoration program is not suitable for all locations, it significantly depends on the type and degree of disturbance, and site condition [8] [33] [34].…”

“…Therefore, the social-ecological system is a critical aspect that needs to be addressed in this approach. Previous work showed that human activities were the primary source of disturbance in the State of Kuwait [8]. The degradation of the ecosystem is also influenced by the rapid urbanization processes leading to more loses in the ecosystem services.…”

“…The demand for natural resources is adding additional pressure on the ecosystems, leading to more changes in land use/land cover. Several activities are negatively influencing the ecosystems through the increase in agriculture areas and crop production [4] [5], overgrazing [6] [7], and other recreational activities such as spring camping [8]. As a result of these activities, natural ecological systems are becoming more degradable, as well as, the ability of the ecosystem to continue providing the quality and quantity of ecosystem services for human well-being is harmfully affected [9] [10] [11].…”