Evaluation and Comparison of ICD and ESAs Models for Desertification Zonation in Mehran plain, Ilam

Desertification is equivalent to land degradation causing reduced living and non-living organisms, especially in arid and semi arid ecosystems due to natural, human, and climate change factors. The present study was aimed to assess ICD and ESAs desertification models in Mehran plain, Ilam. Therefore , different desertification criteria and indices of both models were collected according to area characteristics and field observation in seven specified land units. In this research, four different indices including vegetation cover, soil characteristics, water and climate as the most important criteria in this region were selected and used for desertification intensity zoning. The results indicated that ICD method classified desertification intensity into two classes including moderate class (64.92%) and high class (35.07%) and ESAs method classified desertification intensities in 4 classes including fragile A (5.55%), fragile B (14.65%), fragile C (42.5%) and critical A (37.2%). According to the results, due to high adaptation to current condition of the area, flexibility in selecting the criteria and indices, application of GIS and using geometric average of indices for desertification intensity classification, ESAs method could be recommended as a suitable method for this region and similar regions.