Environmental Risks of Desertification in Erbil Governorate Using Remote Sensing Techniques and Geographic Information Systems RS & GIS

Abstract

The research is based on the classification and analysis of space visualizations with the aim of detecting the change in the areas of desertification phenomena in the study area, as visualizations captured in 2021 and 2022 for the Landsat 8 ETM satellite were used with a spatial resolution of 30 meters and consisting of seven spectral bands, and a map of these risks was designed using the layer weighting method using one of the functions of the (GIS) (OVERLAY) program (all layers entered into the risk map were converted to (Raster) format, for the purpose of analyzing and interpreting them more accurately) and their weighting weights that were subjected to hierarchical analytical statistical tests according to the importance of each layer using the (AHP Online System - AHP-OS) system to build a desertification risk map for the region. The study shows that the variation in the degrees of desertification risks reflects the nature of the region in terms of the movement and direction of the phenomena and the extent of the change that occurred in the last change in vegetation cover and soil degradation, which gives it negative effects that do not serve the current reality, as the areas with medium desertification risks reached (38.720%) of the total area of ​​the governorate, while the areas with severe risks reached (15.695%) of the total area of ​​the province. The research revealed the ability of (GIS) to reach a map that is compatible with the current reality of the environmental risks of desertification in Erbil province, which confirms the importance of these technologies in identifying the nature of the negative effects that the environment is exposed to.