Evaluating the current desertification condition using water and climate criteria (Case study: Jazmurian basin)

Over the past few decades, there have been many global efforts to combating and mitigating desertification, and one of the most important actions is the United Nations Convention on the combating desertification. The present study aimed to assess the severity of desertification and identify the most important factors affecting land degradation in the Jazmurian basin. In this study, the IMDPA model was used to assess the desertification severity. Due to the time and cost limitations, two criteria for water and climate were selected. At first, by determining the geometric mean of the indices and then the criteria, the total desertification was calculated and the quantitative value of the indices and criteria and the final desertification were divided into four classes: low, moderate, severe and very severe. Then, using GIS, the desertification intensity map of the area was drawn up in the study periods. The results showed that in the study area, the water criterion was dominant and classified with a weighted mean of 3.2 in the sever class. Subsequently, the climate criterion with a weighted mean of 2.4 was in the next rank. The results indicated that the most important desertification indices in the study area were groundwater drop, electric conductivity of water, precipitation, TRANSO Drought Index, Drought Continuity Index and SPI index.