Assessing the effect of socio-human activities on land degradation in the coasts of the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman

Land degradation due to its impact on agricultural production, environment, security and quality of life in the 21st century has been raised as a global issue. It provides evidence such as biodiversity loss and climate pollution. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of socio-human factors on land degradation in the coasts of Bushehr, Hormozgan and Sistan and Baluchestan provinces. For this purpose, during the period 1988-2019, Landsat satellite data including OLI, ETM+ and TM sensors and population census information were used. To prepare the land use map, first geometric and radiometric corrections were made. Then, the supervised classification method and the maximum probability algorithm were used. In order to determine the role of effective variables, multivariate regression analysis method was used. SAVI and SI1 were considered as dependent variables, use of man-made areas and population density were also considered as independent variables. Based on the results of the change detection, the land use class of man-made areas and the population variable are associated with an increase of 2.7 and 2.3 times, respectively. Population density in the study period has increased from 96 to 194 people per square kilometer. According to the results of regression analysis, the use of man-made areas was selected as a more influential variable on the SAVI and SI1 indices. On the other hand, indicates the impact of socio-human factors on the process of land degradation by 37%, that the socio-human variables are an important factor and part of the process of land degradation. Therefore, the findings of this study will enable the adoption of fundamental decisions in the formulation of management policies for planners and managers in the field of natural resources and the environment for the sustainability and evaluation of coastal areas.