Monitoring of land condition on the occupied Palestinian territory (2000-2010)

The UNCCD definition of desertification applies to most areas in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), but the degrees of desertified and threatened areas are not well or exactly defined due to the lack of data and records to measure and monitor land degradation and desertification. The Palestinian Environment Quality Authority has formed a national strategy in 2012, in order to prevent, halt and where possible, reverses the effect and impacts of desertification and land degradation in the OPT, by the preparation of studies, data and maps related to mitigation and combating desertification and land degradation. Therefore the main objective of the thesis is to develop a diagnostic of land condition based on land trends (degrading, improving, static and fluctuating) in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) during the period 2000-2010, based on the effects of inter-annual variation of aridity and those of time in the plant biomass, in order to provide the different Palestinian users with records and maps about land degradation, which helps to combat desertification and degradation. The Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) with a total area 6,023 km2 is located in South-West Asia and consists of two physically separated land masses: the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The West Bank (5,661 km2) region is considered as ideal benchmark for the monitoring model presented in this thesis, because it is an area with very limited natural resources; it combines a set of land degradation syndromes that spread over wide climate gradients. The results show that the current status of the environment in the OPT is in critical state due to the geographic, socio-economic and political situations that imposes additional pressure on the natural resources. Almost all types of soil degradation are taking place in the West Bank, and the causes can be divided into: anthropogenic (man-made) and non-anthropogenic (natural). The amount of land under active degradation processes is 16% of the West Bank area (876 km2). This shows one of the highest proportions in regards to other regions that were tested by the same methodology. In general the ongoing degradation occurred in multiple and a scattered plots throughout the West Bank region. The land condition is not homogeneously distributed between the West Bank agro-ecological zones and between the Oslo II classified areas (A, B, C). Jordan Valley and Semi-coastal zones are most affected by land degradation; Jordan valley as a result of the extensive overgrazing, while in the Semi-coastal as a result the Israeli Occupation represented by the Segregation Wall and Settlements, which led to the problem of urbanization for the Palestinian built-up areas using the available land. Area A is most affected by land degradation due to the Israeli Occupation which played a great role in forcing the Palestinian built-up area expansion in areas A and B. Area B was associated with the fluctuating trend while area C was associated with static and improving trends, because in area C the utilization of land by the Palestinians is restricted by the Israeli military orders, thus causing an overload of available space within Palestinian controlled areas (A, B).