Monitoring land sensitivity to desertification using the ESAI approach and evaluation of the key indicators: A spatio‐temporal study in India

Abstract

Desertification is one of the primary environmental problems that negatively affect agricultural production leading to poverty, hunger, and economic instability in a country like India. A holistic study is therefore extremely valuable rather than localized ones for addressing this issue and its' further consequences. In this study, the environmentally sensitive area index (ESAI) has been used to identify the areas vulnerable to desertification from 1992 to 2015 in India. In addition to this, the random forest (RF) model was used to identify the drivers with major influence over the phenomenon. The result revealed that the desertification process has extended from the west and spread over the southern region in the Country. Among the states of India, Rajasthan and Ladakh possess the highest mean ESAI values (1.5–1.7), where 87.61% and 83.83% of land, respectively, are critically degraded due to desertification. According to the Mann‐Kendall mutation point detection test, the years of 1996, 2009, and 2014 were identified as the abrupt change of desertification processes over the Country. The most severe form of degradation is observed in the period between 1997 and 2009, where the highly sensitive (Critical‐3) area increased up to 37.44%. Based on variable importance for the RF‐model, drought resistance has the highest importance among all the other inputs that is, 46% followed by erosion protection with 20%. Our study also points out that 33.76% of the land of the Country is still classed under a very high critical zone and without any immediate action; it may result in irreversible loss.

Spatial assessment of land degradation using MEDALUS focusing on potential afforestation and reforestation areas in Ethiopia

“…The quality indices of MEDALUS were compared to each other using various remotely sensed data and products of geographic information systems, and the relationships between the causes (climate, management, and soil) and effects (vegetation and integrative environmentally sensitive area) were identified. MEDALUS has been directly adopted by various countries, but the quality indices are independently analyzed (Jafari & Abedi, 2021;Rajbanshi & Das, 2021). The quality indices cannot explain every cause and effect of land degradation and desertification, but utilizing them is useful to overcome the lack of field studies in Ethiopia due to the long-term civil war, volcanic events, etc.…”

Assessment of land degradation risks in the Loess Plateau

“…Due to the flexibility and utility of the ESAI method, researchers can select appropriate indicators to assess the responsiveness of land degradation in accordance with the diverse scales, conditions, and characteristics of the study area. The ESAI method has been successfully adopted in several regions of Europe, Africa, and specific parts of Asia to understand land degradation(Rajbanshi & Das, 2021;Song et al, 2022). However, there is a limited body of research that has examined the potential for land degradation inChina resulting from the implementation of ESAI.…”