A GIS based approach for assessing water body change in a mountain wetland: Case of Dayet Awwa, Morocco

Abstract

According to the definition derived from the International Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar), wetlands are areas that cover a wide range of habitat types, including floodplains, marshes, streams, estuaries and offshore coastal areas. These natural habitats provide a variety of ecosystem services, for instance, they contribute to mitigate the impacts of climate change. Nevertheless, one of the most critical issues of our time is that mountain wetlands are particularly threatened by many changes, which have a profound impact on their ecosystem services. Hence, the main goal of this work in the Middle Atlas (Morocco), using a GIS based approach is to emphasize the threat to wetlands and their ecosystem services. In this study, Landsat satellite imagery is used to calculate the NDWI (Normalized Difference Water Index) for the lake dayet Awwa. The calculation results show that the surface area of the lake has decreased significantly between the years 1985 and 2018. This decline can be explained by natural and anthropogenic factors.