Home Dzhanibek, Russia Desertification risk assessment maps

Desertification risk assessment maps Print

Source: extracted from Karavitis, C., Kosmas, C. et al. (submitted article) An expert system towards assessing desertification risk using indicators. Environmental Management

 

The main desertification processes in the Dzhanibek study site are:

 

  • overgrazing,
  • water stress,
  • soil salinization and
  • water erosion in pastures & shrubs
 
Table 1: Desertification risk calculation per map unit

 

For these processes the Desertification Risk Assessment Tool required the input of data to calculate 130 indicators in 9 map units. This data was obtained from the WOCAT database. The procedure was applied to all the map units in the Dzhanibek study site and the DRI values calculated are shown in Table 1.

 

The DRI values were mapped for each of the 9 polygons (Map 1)

 

Map 1: Desertification risk index (DRI) Map 2: Degree of land degradation (as assessed using the WOCAT mapping method)

 

The DRI map was compared with the WOCAT QM of the same area (Map 2). It can be seen that the rate of degradation and the measures' effectiveness seen in the WOCAT map correspond closely to the DRI values, with the highest rate of degradation and the lowest measures effectiveness matching up to the highest values of DRI.

 

More details ... about the use of the Desertification Risk Assessment Tool to calculate the Desertification Risk Index (DRI)
»Using the Desertification Risk Assessment Tool

 

 
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Acknowledgement

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The DESIRE project was 
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European Commission,
Global Change and
Ecosystem.
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and non-governmental organisations.
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