ABSTRACT
This chapter details the use of Landsat data in completing region-wide resource information, and illustrates uses of Landsat and other information to define levels of susceptibility to desertification. Remote sensing has been acknowledged as a valuable tool in recognizing several so-called indicators of desertification. However, knowledge of a particular region's resources is incumbent to any program(s) of systematically identifying indicators of desertification. Reduction in productivity or degradation of arid-lands environments had been termed desertification or, in a somewhat more restricted sense, desertizatio. Causes, controls and impacts of desertification have been outlined in great detail elsewhere. The major causes of desertification are thought to be overgrazing, lack of erosion control, and improper water management. Desertification is a world-wide problem, but its manifestations are multiform in nature and appearance. The ultimate effect of desertification or desertization is a reduction of potential productivity of arid lands. Multidate indicators of desertification were shown on Landsat imagery for regions of Mauritania and Senegal.
