AN ASSESSMENT OF LAND USE COVER CHANGE AND VEGETATION TREND ANALYSIS USING WEB-BASED GIS IN SELECTED REGIONS (SYRIA AND IRAQ) OF EUPHRATES-TIGRIS RIVER BASIN

Abstract

It is crucial to determine and monitor land use/land cover changes, land degradation, and recovery areas for resource planning, including supporting ecosystem functions and services and ensuring food supply and security. Open Foris Collect Earth (CE) is a new, open-source, and user-friendly software tool for land monitoring developed by FAO and Google. The CE offers free access to multiple freely available archives of very high spatial and temporal resolution imagery. In this study, the CE software was used to monitor LULCC on the branches of the Euphrates-Tigris River within the border of Iraq and Syria between 2000 and 2015. The results indicated that cropland was the predominant land cover type by occupying more than 48% of the study area within the study period, with the largest cropland source coming from irrigated agricultural areas (98%). Also, the total greening (land improvement) and desertification (land degradation) in the study area within 2000-2015 were 1.73% (194 439 ha) and 0.66% (74 466 ha), respectively. All greening areas, observed in agricultural areas, have been detected in irrigated agricultural areas for both countries. Obtained results from this study could provide support for Sustainable Land Management (SLM) and Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) processes in the region.