Monitoring implementation of desertification combating plan using geomatics – A case study, districts Dhar and Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh

• Published in: Journal of Earth System Science Vol. 124; no. 1; pp. 87 - 99
• Main Authors: ARUNIMA, DASGUPTA, DHINWA, P S, RAJAWAT, A S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: India Springer India 01.02.2015; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Agricultural land; Arid lands; Arid zones; Case studies; Check dams; Climate and human activity; Climate change; Desertification; Deserts; Drought; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Ecosystem degradation; ecosystems; forests; humans; India; irrigated farming; Land development; land use; monitoring; Natural resource management; Natural resources; Remote sensing; Resource management; Soil conservation; Soil water; Space Exploration and Astronautics; Space Sciences (including Extraterrestrial Physics; stream channels; Sustainability; Sustainable development; wastelands; Water conservation; Water resources; Madhya Pradesh India; India; plan implementation; Combating desertification; integrated CLDS approach; NDVI; increase in water body and agriculture
• ISSN: 0253-4126; 0973-774X
• DOI: 10.1007/s12040-014-0525-x

The world’s drylands are subject to desertification as a result of extended droughts, climate change, and human activities. Development in drylands depends on addressing degradation of the ecosystem, mainstreaming sustainable natural resources management, and building upon the existing adaptive capacities of communities and institutions. In this regard, recent scientific results aimed to promote sustainable development through action plans for combating desertification. In India, under the Integrated Mission for Sustainable Development (IMSD) programme, remote sensing based integrated land and water resource studies were carried out with an objective to generate locale specific action plans for sustainable development of a region. A specific study was carried out, in districts of Jhabua and Dhar, in Madhya Pradesh using Composite Land Development Sites (CLDS) approach for forest and wasteland development and soil and water conservation. Various treatments were suggested and implemented in 1995. The present study was carried out with an objective to monitor the positive impacts of combating plan implementation through visual interpretation and NDVI analysis of temporal images of LISS III data, since 1991 to 2013. The study reveals that there is substantial increase in the area of irrigated agricultural land with increase in number of check dams along with the stream channels.