Assessing Spatial–Temporal Characteristics of Land Desertification from 1990 to 2020 in the Heihe River Basin Using Landsat Series Imagery

Jie Liao, Xianzhong Yang, Qiyan Ye, Kaiming Wan, Jixing Sheng, Shengyin Zhang and Xiang Song ()
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Jie Liao: Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730030, China
Xianzhong Yang: Gansu Academy of Agri-Engineering Technology, Lanzhou 730030, China
Qiyan Ye: Zhangye Heihe Wetland National Nature Reserve Administration, Zhangye 734000, China
Kaiming Wan: Zhangye Heihe Wetland National Nature Reserve Administration, Zhangye 734000, China
Jixing Sheng: Zhangye Heihe Wetland National Nature Reserve Administration, Zhangye 734000, China
Shengyin Zhang: Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730030, China
Xiang Song: Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730030, China

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 15, 1-22

Abstract: Monitoring the status and dynamics of desertification is one of the most important parts of combating it. In this study, 30 m high-resolution information on land desertification and restoration in the Heihe River basin (HRB) was extracted from the land cover database. The results indicate that land desertification coexists with land restoration in the HRB. In different periods, the area of land restoration was much larger than the area of land desertification in the HRB, and the HRB has undergone land restoration. Upstream of the HRB, there is a continuing trend of increasing land desertification associated with overgrazing in a context where climate change favors desertification reversal. In the middle and lower reaches, although climate variability and human activities favor land desertification, land desertification is still being reversed, and land restoration dominates. Implementing the eco-environmental protection project and desertification control measures, especially the Ecological Water Distribution Project (EWDP), contributes to the reversal of desertification in the middle and lower reaches of the HRB. However, the EWDP has indirectly led to the lowering of the water table in the middle reaches, resulting in local vegetation degradation. Therefore, there is an urgent need to transform the economic structure of the middle reaches to cope with water scarcity and land desertification.

Keywords: land desertification; spatial–temporal pattern; driving factors; Heihe River; Landsat imagery (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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