Monitoring of Desertification Trend Based On Analysis of Water and Climate Criterion (Southeastern Coastal Deserts of Iran)

Nowadays, desertification is one of the important ecological crises affecting the world. We require a proper understanding of causes and processes of desertification to control the serious phenomenon in the global and regional scales. In comprehensive management, the monitoring content is systematic collection and storage of data from activities and strategies that provide assessment and report about the overall condition of the study area. In this study, using AHP and GIS techniques, the desertification process was assessed by IMDPA model in 7864.5 ha of Zarabad region in the southeastern Iran. The results of analysis showed that desertification benchmarks and indicators in the three periods had a nonlinear trend of desertification process in the region so that the numerical value is equal to 2.73 in the period 2001-2004 but In the period 2004-2007 the figure has decreased that is show decreasing trend of desertification in recent years and the main reason for the improvement was climatic parameters such as rainfall. The numerical value in the period 2007-2010 is 2.55 shows an increasing trend of desertification. As the result show that climate benchmark is dominant over three periods and classified in high grade. Among the indicators studied, Transou aridity index and annual precipitation index had the maximum effect with the values of 3.81 and 3.4 while sodium absorption ratio value ​​was 1.17 with the least impact on desertification. Among two water quality indices in the area, the electrical conductivity has greater influence than sodium absorption ratio that it directly related to the increased exploitation of groundwater and increased salinity in the studied region.