Integrative technologies for assessing the extent and cause of degradation in arid community rangelands

LWR/1998/017: Integrative technologies for assessing the extent and cause of degradation in arid community rangelands

India

CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, Australia

Dr Margaret Friedel
Phone: 08 8950 7140
Fax: 08 8950 7187
Email: Margaret.Friedel@csiro.au

• Central Arid Zone Research Institute, India

$372,807

01/07/2000 - 31/12/2003

01/01/2004 - 30/06/2004

Dr Ian Willett

Degradation of, and increasing desertification of, semi-arid and arid regions are growing problems throughout much of the world, including India. Detecting the extent of either is often difficult, with productivity declines the main indicator. But productivity is also closely linked to rainfall levels. The variability of rainfall can mask degradation with falling productivity trends sometimes a result of rainfall rather than degradation. A better understanding of the patterns of degradation will help ensure it is recognised early enough to act o it. Once degradation has occurred it is either too expensive to undo, or if too far advances, impossible to reverse, leading to a higher likelihood of desertification.

The project aimed to apply and adapt Australian-developed techniques for assessing land degradation to the Indian desert environment, using remotely-sensed data;
to gather ground-based survey data on socio-economic factors, the natural resource base and animal production for interpreting the results of remotely sensed analyses;
to develop means of information exchange with village communities in order to explain land degradation; and
to develop capacity with Indian colleagues for their independent use of all methodologies.

Remote sensing technologies were adapted for Indian conditions, with archived and contemporary satellite images linked to a geographic information system (GIS) of mapped infrastructure and land types. A vegetation cover index was developed by characterising the reflectance of cover components in the field and testing on the archived images. Evidence was sought for the existence of gradients of use in cover, and whether these were persistent.

Biophysical data was acquired to verify the existence of the remotely sensed gradients and to confirm or amend the land type classification. Socio-economists and livestock experts established a relationship with local communities before gathering survey data to account for the impact on the land of the local socio-economic system.

Knowledge of degradation was developed to be shared in a language easily understood by local land users, but decision-makers were instead targeted after determining the products developed were more suitable to them. The philosophy adopted by the project was "once people can tell if they are degrading land, and can be involved in decision-making about prevention, they are more likely to take action to reduce degradation".

The development of remote sensing applications allowed a clearer picture of degradation of land in Indian conditions to emerge. A robust index of vegetation cover was developed to allow the responses of vegetation to rainfall, and degradation, to be determined. Satellite data was used in this development. A Geographic Information System (GIS) was established for trial in the Jodhpur region. This incorporated a range of information including the vegetation cover index, land use, infrastructure and resilience of vegetation to degradation (measured by vegetative responses in the 2001 and 2003 seasons). Livestock, social and economic data from four villages were also included. As a result a series of interpretative tools to determine the extent of human impacts on common grazing lands were generated. Working with villagers facilitated collection and analysis of data to verify remote sensing developments on-the-ground. Data collected from 100 households was incorporated into the GIS to give a clearer picture of how the remotely sensed and ground assessed degradation patterns correlated but no causal relationships were suggested.

Working with local Block Development Officers products were tested with community farmers to explain technical remote sensing outputs, though the level of complexity suggested another target group be approached. Connections were built with administrators and policy makers initially through workshops presenting the remote sensing tools.

The potential to implement these tools in programs of agencies working in land management was endorsed. Capacity building at CAZRI will be a key to further dissemination and following up on this endorsement. A fully equipped image processing facility was established at CAZRI with training of Indian scientists in a range of remote sensing and ground mapping techniques. CAZRI, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry's national grassland mapping activities and an NGO, Maru Gochar Yojna involved in community development programs, are all applying new ground sampling techniques introduced through the project.

Participating villagers have also benefited, after receiving veterinary advice and prescriptions and saplings of forage species, offered by the project team as a means of building trust.