This paper by ISRO broadly deals with desertification and the process of land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas. It describes the classification system, methodology and results of the desertification & land degradation status mapping carried out for the entire country on 1: 500,000 scale using multi-temporal Resourcesat AWiFS data. The dominant processes of land degradation, viz. water erosion, vegetal degradation, wind erosion, salinization, waterlogging, frost heaving, frost shattering and mass movement have been deciphered and mapped using satellite data.
According to the study, nearly one third of the country’s land area (32.07%) is undergoing processes of land degradation and the area undergoing desertification is around 81.4 mha. There are about eight major processes of land degradation active in the country. Water erosion is the most pronounced process, followed by vegetal degradation and eolian processes. Rajasthan, Jammu & Kashmir, Gujarat and Maharashtra have high proportions of land undergoing degradation.
The study provides baseline data on desertification and land degradation for the country, which will be useful for future monitoring of desertification.
Download the paper from Current Science website (Vol 97, No 10, November 2009) here.