Document Type
Article
Publication Date
10-10-2019
Abstract
Desertification is a global phenomenon caused by various processes, including climate change, vegetation processes, and human activities. The need to combat desertification is increasing in many countries. A reasonable assessment of the vulnerability or sensitivity of land cover to desertification at national scales is crucial to formulate appropriate strategies or policies for combating it. The main purpose of this work was to quantitatively assess the sensitivity of land cover to desertification in Mongolia using the MEDALUS approach. The MEDALUS method is a widely known technique for assessing desertification in the Mediterranean area. In this study, the method was adjusted to be applied to Mongolia, while the numerical methods of the MEDALUS remained the same. The modified MEDALUS method used nine factors from 2003 and 2008 to quantify the sensitivity of land to desertification. As a result, our study resulted in the calculation and spatial distribution of the Environmental Sensitive Area Index (ESAI), produced throughout Mongolia. In 2003, the middle region of the southern Mongolia had the highest sensitivity to desertification, while sensitivity in 2008 increased in the western area. Mongolia’s area with the highest ESAI range increased approximately five times, indicating rapid desertification occurring throughout Mongolia from 2003 to 2008.
Recommended Citation
Eun Jung Lee, Dongfan Piao, Cholho Song, Jiwon Kim, Chul-Hee Lim, Eunji Kim, Jooyeon Moon, Menas Kafatos, Munkhnsan Lamchin, Seong Woo Jeon & Woo-Kyun Lee (2019) Assessing environmentally sensitive land to desertification using MEDALUS method in Mongolia, Forest Science and Technology, 15:4, 210-220, https://doi.org/10.1080/21580103.2019.1667880
Peer Reviewed
1
Copyright
The authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Included in
Environmental Health and Protection Commons, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment Commons, Environmental Monitoring Commons, Other Environmental Sciences Commons, Other Geography Commons, Physical and Environmental Geography Commons, Remote Sensing Commons
Comments
This article was originally published in Forest Science and Technology, volume 14, issue 4, in 2019. https://doi.org/10.1080/21580103.2019.1667880