Mapping of Land Degradation Vulnerability in the Semi-Arid Watershed of Rajasthan, India

Lal Chand Malav, Brijesh Yadav (), Bhagwati L. Tailor, Sarthak Pattanayak, Shruti V. Singh, Nirmal Kumar, Gangalakunta P. O. Reddy, Banshi L. Mina, Brahma S. Dwivedi and Prakash Kumar Jha
Additional contact information
Lal Chand Malav: ICAR—National Bureau of Soil Survey & Land Use Planning, Regional Centre, Udaipur 313001, India
Brijesh Yadav: ICAR—National Bureau of Soil Survey & Land Use Planning, Regional Centre, Udaipur 313001, India
Bhagwati L. Tailor: ICAR—National Bureau of Soil Survey & Land Use Planning, Regional Centre, Udaipur 313001, India
Sarthak Pattanayak: Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, Bolangir 751003, India
Shruti V. Singh: Krishi Vigyan Kendra, ICAR—Indian Institute of Vegetable Research, Kushinagar 274406, India
Nirmal Kumar: ICAR—National Bureau of Soil Survey & Land Use Planning, Amravati Road, Nagpur 440033, India
Gangalakunta P. O. Reddy: ICAR—National Bureau of Soil Survey & Land Use Planning, Amravati Road, Nagpur 440033, India
Banshi L. Mina: ICAR—National Bureau of Soil Survey & Land Use Planning, Regional Centre, Udaipur 313001, India
Brahma S. Dwivedi: ICAR—National Bureau of Soil Survey & Land Use Planning, Amravati Road, Nagpur 440033, India
Prakash Kumar Jha: Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research on Sustainable Intensification, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 16, 1-16

Abstract: Global soils are under extreme pressure from various threats due to population expansion, economic development, and climate change. Mapping of land degradation vulnerability (LDV) using geospatial techniques play a significant role and has great importance, especially in semi-arid climates for the management of natural resources in a sustainable manner. The present study was conducted to assess the spatial distribution of land degradation hotspots based on some important parameters such as land use/land cover (LULC), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), terrain characteristics (Topographic Wetness Index and Multi-Resolution Index of Valley Bottom Flatness), climatic parameters (land surface temperature and mean annual rainfall), and pedological attributes (soil texture and soil organic carbon) by using Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) and GIS techniques in the semi-arid region of the Bundi district, Rajasthan, India. Land surface temperature (LST) and NDVI products were derived from time-series Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) datasets, rainfall data products from Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station data (CHIRPS), terrain characteristics from Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), LULC from Landsat 9, and pedological variables from legacy soil datasets. Weights derived for thematic layers from the AHP in the studied area were as follows: LULC (0.38) > NDVI (0.23) > ST (0.15) > LST (0.08) > TWI (0.06) > MAR (0.05) > SOC (0.03) > MRVBF (0.02). The consistency ratio (CR) for all studied parameters was <0.10, indicating the high accuracy of the AHP. The results show that about 20.52% and 23.54% of study area was under moderate and high to very high vulnerability of land degradation, respectively. Validation of LDV zones with the help of ultra-high-resolution Google Earth imageries indicates good agreement with the model outputs. The research aids in a better understanding of the influence of land degradation on long-term land management and development at the watershed level.

Keywords: analytical hierarchical process; land degradation vulnerability; NDVI; land surface temperature; soil properties (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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