Abstract. Land degradation reduces production of biomass and vegetation cover in every land uses. The lack of specific data related to degradation is a severe limitation for its monitoring. Assessment of current state of land degradation or desertification is very difficult because this phenomena includes several complex processes. For that reason, there is no common agreement has been achieved among the scientific community for its assessment. This study was carried out as an attempt to develop a new approach for land degradation assessment based on its current state by modifying of FAO1/UNEP2 index and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) index in Khuzestan province, placed in the southwestern part of Iran. The proposed evaluation method is easy to understand the degree of destruction due to low cost and save time. Results showed that based on percent of hazard classes in current condition of land degradation, the most widespread and minimum area of hazard classes are moderate (38.6 %) and no hazard (0.65 %) classes, respectively. While results in the desert area of study area showed that severe class is much widespread than other hazard classes, showing environmentally bad situation in the study area. Statistical results indicated that degradation is highest in desert and then rangeland compared to dry cultivation and forest. Also statistical test showed average of degradation amount in the arid region is higher than other climates. It is hoped that this attempt using geospatial techniques will be found applicable for other regions of the world and better planning and management of lands, too. 1 Food and Agriculture Organization 2 United Nations Environment Programme
A New Approach for Land Degradation and Desertification Assessment Using Geospatial Techniques
