Status of Desertification in South India – Assessment, Mapping and Change Detection Analysis

Desertification is the transformation of productive land into a non-productive one due to poor resource management, and unfavourable biophysical and economical factors. Periodical assessment of desertification status is imperative for a suitable comprehensive and combating plan. In the present study, desertification status maps of Andhra Pradesh (AP), Karnataka and Telangana in South India have been prepared using remote sensing data for two time-frames (2003– 2005 and 2011–2013) and change detection analysis has been carried out. The results reveal that 14.35%, 36.24% and 31.40% of the total geographical area in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana were affected by desertification processes respectively, in 2011–2013. Among the desertification processes, vegetal degradation contributes 7.27% of total area in AP, followed by water erosion (4.93%) and waterlogging (0.83%), whereas in Karnataka water erosion (26.29%) is dominant followed by vegetal degradation (8.93%) and salinization (0.45%). Change detection analysis shows that desertification processes of AP and Karnataka have increased by 0.19% and 0.05% respectively, whereas in Telangana it has decreased by about 0.52% from 2003 to 2005 data. The present database will help the scientists, planners and stakeholders to prepare appropriate land reclamation measures to control the increasing trend of desertification.