| Land degradation is considered one of the most severe global problems worldwide.Desertification is a form of land degradation,by which fertile land becomes desert.Desertification includes land degradation in arid,semi-arid and dry sub humid areas resulting from various factors,including climatic variations and human activities(UNCCD,1994).According to this definition,over 90 percent of the total amount of territory in Mongolia is vulnerability for desertification as a result of climate change,land use and human activities.Land degradation is increasing in severity and extent in many parts of Mongolia,with more than 72% of total area of grasslands undergoing degradation which mainly caused by overgrazing.In Mongolia,land degradation and desertification processes result from both human activities and climatic variability.Overgrazing has long been considered the primary cause of degradation in Mongolia,but it is now thought that rainfall variability and long-term drought are more important determinants.Many scientists agreed that land degradation is caused by multiple forces,including extreme weather conditions particularly drought,and human activities that overgrazing in Mongolia.It is important to integrate both climatic variability and human activities due to interpret land degradation as spatial level.A large number of studies have been carried out using different methods of remote sensing and geographic information system(GIS)to determine land degradation risk.GIS and remote sensing have an important role in linkage and analysis of solid base line data on natural resources(soils,physiography,climate,vegetation,land use,etc.)and on socio-economic aspects,in particular for detection(direct or indirect),extrapolation and interpretation,area calculation,and monitoring.Furthermore,GIS is appropriate for identifying and mapping land degradation risks and planning strategies for sustainable land management.The aims of this study are to:(1)formulate and develop vulnerability indicators and criteria(2)produce the degradation maps of the study area using remote sensing and GIS techniques,(3)assess the risk of land degradation depending on GIS spatial analysis.It will be possible to improve rangeland management,to make planning,and will be able to plan and implement environmental protection measures.These include Understand the risks and their potential impacts,identify risk factors;Providing information to decision makers;Understand the risks and support to make the right choice of measures;Supporting the prioritization of issues,reduce of risks and vulnerabilities to environmental and human factors,identify ways to mitigate adverse effects and adapt,are essential to use in production.The study area is Arkhangai province which is situated in the central part of the Khangai mountain range and its territory comprises mountains,steppe and plains as covers 55,313.82km~2.It ranks first in the country in terms of the number of sheep,cattle and horses,and third in the country in terms of the total number of livestock that lead to risk for overgrazing and land degradation which is reason for research object selection.The research was undertaken on the basis of climatic data(air temperature,precipitation)on growing season that derived from Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology and information about carrying capacity of rangeland,roads using remotely sensed data.All that data used GIS spatial analysis methods(interpolation,buffering,density,reclassify,weighted overlay)and multi-criteria analysis using Arc Map 10.4.1 to produce spatial distribution of climatic and degradation risk maps which classified by high risk,moderate risk and low risk.The risk factors affecting rangeland degradation in Arkhangai province were identified as environmental(drought impact,surface water supply,rangeland recovery class),human(winter and spring camp density,autogenic impact,rangeland irrigation,rangeland carrying capacity),governance factors(legal environment,rangeland management,conflict resolution)were considered with the concept of sustainable development and the AHP method was used to determine the impact of the factors,and the risk assessment was performed and made mapping using the Arc GIS10.4.1 software of the Geographic Information System.As a result of the research,the following conclusions were reached.These include:As this is the first time that a rangeland degradation risk assessment has been conducted in Mongolia,the assessment methodology has been rated as low risk(3),medium risk(2)and high risk(1)based on international experience.A selection of more than 40 indicators of land degradation assessment was made and the first attempt was made to evaluate the rangeland of Arkhangai province on 11 indicators related to 3 main areas towards sustainable development(environmental,social economichuman,governance).Arkhangai province’s rangeland was assessed for each of the assessment indicators and the risk of rangeland degradation was assessed as medium risk.It was evaluated as high risk in terms of social and economic-human factors,high risk in terms of environmental factors,and medium risk in terms of governance.As a result of mapping the distribution of indicators using the Geographic Information System,70.56 percent of the total territory of Arkhangai province is assessed as low risk,29.1 percent as medium risk,and 0.34 percent as high risk.However,the map shows that there is a medium risk area in all soums.This indicates that there is a risk of rangeland degradation in each soum.According to the integrated rangeland degradation risk assessment,Arkhangai province is rated at 1.59 points and medium risk,which indicates that the risk of rangeland degradation due to human activities is increasing due to insufficient implementation of the legal environment and planning policy in rangeland relations.In recent years,the rapid increase in the number of livestock in Arkhangai province has increased the risk of rangeland degradation,and unregulated pasture use,the environment and the condition of pastures.According to the livestock growth trend in Arkhangai province until 2030,this situation is likely to continue.In the future,it is necessary to develop criteria for land degradation risk assessment covering not only the rangeland,but the land unified fund and to do it regularly over time.It should be used by relevant organizations in their land policy-making,legal environment improvement,land planning,monitoring,and monitoring the implementation of sustainable development policies. |
