Desertification Susceptibility Assessment Using Expert-Based Approach in Al-Khidhir District, Southern Iraq

Abstract

Desertification is a serious threat to environment, agriculture, and public health all over the world. Iraq is concerned about desertification, particularly in the southern regions. As a result, this project will use geospatial methodologies to measure desertification susceptibility in Al-Khidhir, Al-Muthanna. The assessment was based on Landsat 5 TM data from 1998, Landsat 7 ETM+ data from 2008, and Landsat 8 OLI data from 2018. A Multicriteria Decision-Making (MCDM) technique based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was developed to assess the spatial distribution of desertification in the research area and the likelihood that it will occur soon. An examination of the geographical distribution of desertification in Al-Khidhir in 1998 indicated that desertification was most prevalent in the southern region, accounting for 25.9% of the total. Desertification spread to neighboring areas and increased (50.8%) in the research region’s north in 2008. The findings suggested that using satellite photos, such as Landsat, can be extremely effective for assessing desertification.