Geospatial Techniques for Mapping Land Degradation Vulnerability in a Hot Arid Agroecosystem of India

The land is an important and precious resource that plays a crucial role in the production of essential commodities as ecosystem services such as food, fiber, and fuel. These services are essential for the survival of life on land. Nevertheless, the land degradation and deterioration caused by continuous human-induced disruptions and climatic irregularities pose a significant threat to both livelihoods and sustainable growth. The use of geospatial tools in the mapping of land degradation vulnerability (LDV) has considerable significance and is particularly valuable in arid and semi-arid type climates. The objective of this study was to evaluate the spatial distribution of areas experiencing land degradation, using six key parameters including land use/land cover (LULC), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), relative slope position (RSP), land surface temperature (LST), wind erodible fraction (EF), and soil crust factor (SCF). The analytical hierarchical process (AHP) and geographic information system (GIS) techniques were employed to analyze LDV in a watershed located in the arid ecosystem of Rajasthan, India. The AHP approach was used to calculate weights for the thematic layers, which were subsequently integrated into the ArcGIS environment. Weights computed for all input thematic layers from the AHP were as follows: RSP (0.35) > LULC (0.25) > EF (0.17) > NDVI (0.10) > LST (0.07) > SCF (0.06). Results indicate that nearly 18.8% of the total area comes under high degradation vulnerability, while 38.6% and 42.6% are classified under moderate and low vulnerability, respectively. The research provides a comprehensive understanding of the land degradation assessment using cutting-edge technologies for sustainable land resource management and watershed development.