The social driving forces of desertification in the high Algerian steppe plains

peer reviewedThe sedentarization of shepherds at the margins of the desert and the introduction of private land ownership in the high Algerian steppe plains has led to profound lifestyle transformations and increased desertification. Based on policy analysis, field observations and oral surveys with 188 household heads, this paper underlines the social drivers of desertification where short-term economic strategies and political misunderstanding are the key elements. Agro-forestry-pastoral practices are no longer in balance with the local environment. Assembling the puzzle pieces has underlined that political leaders and administrators are only partially familiar with the local geosystem, have implemented multiple unsuccessful measures, and have been unable to sufficiently learn (from their efforts) due to political instability. The paper shows that the sedentarization occurring in this fragile environment with low soil fertility creates rural systems that are less resilient to climate fluctuations, which severely impacts both the environment and the most vulnerable inhabitants.International Steppification Oberservatory1. No poverty10. Reduced inequalities13. Climate action15. Life on land11. Sustainable cities and communitie

The effects of natural landscape elements in combating emerging desertification in Northern Nigeria

Desertification or land degradation is a serious environmental problem with tremendous socio-economic consequences. Today's northern Nigeria arid and semi-arid zones are affected by desertification resulting from various factors, from climatic variations to anthropological activities such as bush fire, deforestation, grass-shrub, and tree thickening, degradation, over-cultivation, and overgrazing. Many policies and programs have been formulated and implemented at the national and international levels to address this phenomenon. Programs like afforestation are one of the most effective means of preventing desertification in conjunction with natural landscape elements. Consequently, with the constrained availability of human and ecological resources, there are widespread negative impacts on security. The purpose of this research was to establish the merit and demerit of desertification, to assess the causal factor, and recommend a sustainable method using Natural Landscape Elements (indigenous tree species) in combating drought and desertification, this includes variables of stocking rate, natural mortality, chopping, cutting, grafting and seedling regeneration. The effects of methods of afforestation and reforestation on the promotion of bio-diversity have been investigated. The Stratification Sampling Approach was used for this study. Primary data was compiled using structured interviews. Questionnaires were used to obtain quantitative data from 30 villages in three Local Government Councils of Kano State namely Danbatta, Gabasawa, and Tsanyawa. Secondary data relied on the internet and library research. The major findings of the study include; (i) Anthropological activities are the major determinants of climatic changes; (ii) Climatic changes have notably led to resource scarcities with fundamental effects on various aspects of anthropologic securities in the region of Northern Nigeria; (iii) Climate change served as a key driver of anthropological insecurity. It was also revealed that the government can address the process of desertification using elements for sustainable reforestation projects. It was recommended that while dealing with climate and anthropological changes, global, regional, and national institutions, regimes, and policies be guided by taking into consideration of the broader anthropologic insecurities. Finally, the therapeutic effect using Natural Landscape Elements will serve as the Gap while the Natural Elements is a novelty in the research

Estudo espaço temporal de áreas susceptíveis à desertificação no semiárido brasileiro

Desertification is a serious environmental problem of land degradation, which af fects many countries around the world, but it is in the arid, semi arid and sub humid regions of developing countries that this phenomenon has been causing real d i sa s ters due to the natural fragility, anthropic actions and climate change. In the state of P ernambuco, desertification is installed, in the so called desertification nucleus of Cabrobó, however, 136 municipalities are part of areas susceptible to deserti f ic a tion. The basin of the Moxotó river, is part of the San Francisco sub regio n and is totall y inserted in areas susceptible to desertification. This research had as its focus a study of the temporal space of areas susceptible to desertification, in the M o xo t ó river basin. A georeferenced database was created with images of LANDSAT 5 TM and LANDSA T 8 OLI satellites. In SPRING, the technique of Linear Spectral Mixture MLME was applied. The Spatial Language of Algebraic Geoprocessing LEGAL was used in th e c r ossing of maps and obtaining indices of vegetation IVDN and IVAS. The spatialisation of the surface temperatur e (Ts) and the finalization of the maps were performed in the QGIS 2.18 software. The results showed that the Moxot ó river basin presents appro x im a tely 32% of vegetated areas, conserved during the 21 years of study, 28% of degraded areas, 21% of areas tha t were recovere d, 9% of areas with potential to desertification, and 10 % of water bodies, clouds and shadows during the study period. The most a ff e cted municipalities in the Moxotó river basin are located in the State of Pernambuco and include Ibimirim, I najá and Cust ó d ia In the State of Alagoas, the affected municipalities are Mata Grande, Pariconha and Delmiro Gouveia. In this sense, the datab a se provides information that corroborates the study of desertification in the Brazilian semi arid region. In th e context of en vironmental management, the results may contribute to the discussion on sustainable management practices in degraded areas and to su p port decision making regarding the implementation of actions and programs that can support territorial devel opment with sus tainability.A desertificação é u m problema ambiental grave da degradação das terras, que afeta muitos países em todo o mundo, ma s é nas regiões de clima árido , semiárido e sub-úmido de países em desenvolvimento, que esse fenômeno vem causando verdadeiros desastres em decorrência da ação conjugada das fragilidades naturais, das ações antrópicas e mudanças climáticas . No estado de Pernambuco, a desertificação encontra se instalada, no chamado núcleo de desertificação em Cabrobó, entretanto , 136 municípios fazem parte de áreas susceptíveis à desertificação. A bacia do rio Moxo tó, faz parte d o submédio São Francisco e, está totalmente inserida nas áreas susceptíveis à desertificação. Essa pesquisa teve como foco realizar um estudo espaço temporal de áreas susceptíveis à desertificação, na bacia do rio Moxotó . Foi criado um banco de dados georreferenciado com imagens de satélites LANDSAT 5 TM e LANDSAT 8 OLI No SPRING aplicou se a técnica de Modelo Linear de Mistura Espectral MLME A Linguagem Espacial de Geoprocessamento Algébrico LEGAL foi utilizada no cruzamento de mapas e obtenção dos índices de vegetação IVDN e IVAS. A espacialização da temperatura superficial ( Ts e a finalização dos mapas foram realizadas no software QGIS 2 .18 Os resultados mostraram que a bacia do rio Moxotó apresenta aproximadamente 32 % de áreas vegetadas, conservadas durante os 21 anos de estudo , 28% de áreas degradadas, 21 % de áreas que foram recuperadas , 9 % de áreas com potenciais à desertificação, e 10 % de áreas de corpos hídricos, nuvens e sombras durante o período de estudo. Os municípios mais afetados na bacia do rio Moxotó , estão situados no Estado de Pernambuco e compreendem Ibimirim, Inajá e Custódia. No Estado de Alagoas, os municípios afetados são Mata Grande, Pari conha e Delmiro Gouveia. Nesse sentido, o banco de dados fomentado, fornece informações que corroboram para o estudo da desertificação no semiárido brasileiro. No âmbito da gestão ambiental, os resultados poderão contribuir na discussão sobre as formas de manejo sustentáveis em áreas degradadas e subsidiar a tomada de decisão quanto à implantação de ações e programas que possam apoiar o desenvolvimento territorial com sustentabilidade

Desertification Susceptibility Mapping Using Logistic Regression Analysis in the Djelfa Area, Algeria

The main goal of this work was to identify the areas that are most susceptible to desertification in a part of the Algerian steppe, and to quantitatively assess the key factors that contribute to this desertification. In total, 139 desertified zones were mapped using field surveys and photo-interpretation. We selected 16 spectral and geomorphic predictive factors, which a priori play a significant role in desertification. They were mainly derived from Landsat 8 imagery and Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission digital elevation model (SRTM DEM). Some factors, such as the topographic position index (TPI) and curvature, were used for the first time in this kind of study. For this purpose, we adapted the logistic regression algorithm for desertification susceptibility mapping, which has been widely used for landslide susceptibility mapping. The logistic model was evaluated using the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. The model accuracy was 87.8%. We estimated the model uncertainties using a bootstrap method. Our analysis suggests that the predictive model is robust and stable. Our results indicate that land cover factors, including normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and rangeland classes, play a major role in determining desertification occurrence, while geomorphological factors have a limited impact. The predictive map shows that 44.57% of the area is classified as highly to very highly susceptible to desertification. The developed approach can be used to assess desertification in areas with similar characteristics and to guide possible actions to combat desertification

Evaluation and mapping of tropical African rangelands

Proceedings of the seminar on evaluation and mapping of tropical African rangelands, particular categories of rangeland survey and evaluation, review of experiences; site development, parameters and methods; sampling and data processing, cartography, with recommendations and guidelines for the future