Land suitability map of agricultural areas in Khorezm region

Abstract

An attempt was made to assess the land condition while taking into consideration environmental and socio-economical parameters that could be drivers of ongoing land degradation processes. Many of these variables have spatial and temporal characteristics and can therefore be monitored through GIS-based tools thus contributing valuable information for assessing land degradation risk. By using an appropriate set of information such as spatial variability of water availability, ground water table depth and its salinity, soil type and its salinity, drainage density, distance and density of population, the land status can be described. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a multi-indicator base approach with the integration of GIS and remote sensing techniques and in turn select the most relevant indicators for assessing land suitability or degradation processes.