Monitoring of Land Degradation and Desertification in the South of Jabal Al Akhdar Mountain in North East Libya

Abstract

Over the last few decades, global warming and human activities have led to changes and deterioration in natural vegetation across the world. Land degradation in arid, semi-arid areas led to the emergence of desertification especially areas that are located along the desert margins. The Al Jabal Al Akhdar Mountains (The green Mountain) in the north east Libya is one of those areas that have experienced changes in vegetation cover. This region has environmental and economic importance in providing habitat for wildlife and services for local communities and cities in the Libyan Desert. This research will investigate natural vegetation dynamics in the Al Jabal Al Akhdar region using remote sensing techniques in an attempt to monitoring the desertification over the last 42 years to determine the factors that have caused this problem. The overall aim of this paper was to evaluate the factors which have affected vegetation cover change in the Al Jabal Al Akhdar region over the last 42 years.