Adaptation of MEDALUS method for the analysis depicting desertification in Oued Labiod valley (Eastern Algeria)
Rabah Bouhata, Aida Bensekhria
Abstract
The development of arid and semi-arid climatic mountain areas is strongly affected by land conservation and the fight against land degradation, which is the consequence of a set of several processes. In this study, we apply the Mediterranean Desertification and Land Use (MEDALUS) method integrated with the GIS tools, on a mountain area of Oued Labiod valley, located in the southern foothills of the Aures basin in the eastern part of Algeria. The mapping of the vulnerability to desertification of this region was developed by crossing four thematic layers obtained from geometric means of four other quality indices mainly from the environment and man actions; these indices are related to the climate quality (CQI), soil quality (SQI), the vegetation cover quality (VQI), and the Management System and Human Influence quality (MQI). The results show that areas of high vulnerability account for 45, 69% of the total area, and are generally located to the south where vegetation cover is almost absent and human activity and socialization are rapid. Relatively threatened areas come in second position and occupy 33.3% of the total area, but few years later, they could suffer the consequences of desertification in case of poor management influence. Finally, the low-risk areas only represent 21.1% of the total area; these later are less threatened by desertification due to their good geographical position and their land occupation by a rich forest vegetation cover. The results provide a document on the widespread of priority zones and allowed to make an integrated management of this mountainous area.