Climate Change, Land Degradation and Sustainability: Insight towards Innovative Solutions from Indian Perspective | Chapter 5 | Current Research on Geography, Earth Science and Environment Vol. 1

 Climate change in India is characterised by a 0.7 °C temperature rise, uneven distribution of rainfall, extreme weather events, reduced snowfall, and rapidly intensifying high-frequency cyclones along both coasts. These changes lead to various types of land degradation in different parts of the country, including soil erosion, desertification, prolonged waterlogging, and salt accumulation, which increases soil acidity. The most significant environmental issue in India is soil erosion, driven by both water and wind. Approximately 37 million hectares of agricultural land are affected by water erosion, which depletes the topsoil and impacts agricultural productivity. Additionally, coastal areas are experiencing saltwater intrusion, soil salinity, and waterlogging, which are growing concerns in areas reliant on irrigation. Agrochemical use and microplastic contamination are also emerging challenges contributing to land degradation. To address these land degradation issues, India has implemented watershed conservation programs, government schemes, and sustainable land management practices. These include the use of organic inputs for erosion control, controlled grazing, biofertilizers, and other measures to mitigate land degradation. To combat climate change, the country is focusing on protecting carbon sinks by sequestering carbon in soil to improve biomass, halting deforestation, regulating forest biomes, and following restoration and conservation practices. Protecting biodiversity, supporting local communities, and recharging groundwater are also essential actions. A comprehensive approach, including effective policy implementation, farmer education, and addressing soil and land degradation issues, is crucial to overcoming these challenges.

 

Author (s) Details

Dhanapriya M
Birla Institute of Technology (BIT), Mesra, Ranchi – 835215, India.

 

Gowtham S
Agriculture-ecosystem Modelling Division, National Remote Sensing Center, ISRO, Balanagar, Hyderabad, 500032, India.

 

Vigneshwari R
Department of Soil and Water Conservation Engineering, College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Junagadh Agricultural University, Junagadh, Gujarat, India.

 

 

Please see the book here:- https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/crgese/v1/5649

Evaluation of Spatial Expansion of Rift Valley Lakes Using Satellite Data: A Brief Study | Chapter 5 | Geography, Earth Science and Environment: Research Highlights Vol. 9

Assessing and studying lake expansion can reveal important information about climate change and regional responses, normally a lake recedes during the dry season and floods during the wet season. In the recent years Lake Nakuru has had variations between dry and wet seasons water levels, suspected that it is caused by increasing watershed land conversion to intensive crop production and urbanization, both reduce the capacity of soils to absorb water; recharge ground water and thus increase seasonal flooding. The present work assessed the expansion and fluctuation of Lake Nakuru in Kenya by using satellite data and information. This study was carried out in Lake Nakuru area in Nakuru County using two methods. In the first method, data was obtained from the USGS website whereby Landsat 7 and 8 images were used, though images collected after May 31, 2003, had data gaps when the SLC failed, the images had about 78% of their pixels missing. In the second method shapefiles were used, to find out how the lake surface area had changed, it was done by using different methods.  Surface water magnitude was measured from optical sensors, such as Landsat. ENVI software was used to process and analyze data from the satellite images. The data was then used to create shapefile to get the area of the lake only. The shapefiles were classified using both Supervised and Unsupervised classification, and the area of the lake was obtained in hectares. The obtained area in hectares was recorded in a table and graphs were plotted to show the trend of the lake in the years 1972-2019. Furthermore, correlation was done by assuming the area of the shapefile before any classification is more accurate, therefore it was compared with the other results obtained by using different methods. Maximum like-lihood gave the best correlation values. For R2 it gave 0.8627 and R was 0.9312. The perfect correlation coefficient is 1, the graphs for correlation gave 0.91 for NDVI, 0.83 for K-MEANS, 0.93 for Maximum Likelihood and 0.92 for Spectral Angle Mapper.  In conclusion, the change was seen using line graph and that the Lake Nakuru area is expanding from the years 2010 to 2018.

 

Author (s) Details

 

Rose Yang Mulama
Department of Physics, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya.

 

Jephter Ongige Ondieki
School of Aerospace Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome, Roma, Italy.

 

Please see the book here:- https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/geserh/v9/4942

Dynamic Erosion and Sediment Yield Model Analysis in a Typical Watershed of Hilly and Gully Region, Chinese Loess Plateau | Chapter 7 | Novel Perspectives of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences Vol. 4

 The Purpose concerning this study are to (i) cultivate and update a annually distributed model of area for water draining erosion and debris yield and (ii) assess spatiotemporal changes in deterioration and sediment yield in the Majiagou River area for water draining before and after projects to return farmland. In addition to debasing soil fertility and raw materials, soil erosion still contributes to the sedimentation of waterway channels. A distributed-active model of sediment yield established the Chinese Soil Loss equation (CSLE) was grown and modified to judge the effects of hydrological determinants and human activities on deterioration and sediment yield middle from two points 1995 and 2013. This was done in order to uncover the spatiotemporal evolution of deterioration and sediment yield before and after retracing farmland in a conventional watershed of a mountainous and gully domain (Chinese Loess Plateau). Results could offer a hard scientific base for the management of watersheds, land use preparation, and multi-scale dynamic displaying of erosion and powder yield. The modified model has traits of simple treasure, high veracity, wide feasibility and easy expansion, and maybe applied to call erosion and silt yield in the study area, 2) soil deterioration gradations are closely had connection with the spatial dispersion of rainfall erosiveness and land use patterns, the current soil and water conservation measures are not adept for high precipitation intensities, 3) the average sediment yield rate before and following in position or time model modification in current 5 years (apart from 2013) is 4574.62 Mg/km2 and 1696.1 Mg/km2, respectively, diminishing by about 35.4% and 78.2% when compared to the early governance (1995-1998). However, the earlier-in-a-century storm in July 2013 is the key determinant in the highest likely sediment yield. The undulating and gully domain of the Chinese Loess Plateau may benefit from the results as an persuasive and scientific base for planning the preservation of soil and water and ecological construction.

Author(s) Details:

Lei Wu,
Key Laboratory of Agricultural Soil and Water Engineering in Arid and Semiarid Areas of Ministry of Education, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, P.R. China, State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, P.R. China and College of Water Resources and Architectural Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, P.R. China.

Xia Liu,
Construction Department, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, P.R. China.

Xiaoyi Ma,
Key Laboratory of Agricultural Soil and Water Engineering in Arid and Semiarid Areas of Ministry of Education, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, P.R. China and College of Water Resources and Architectural Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, P.R. China.

Please see the link here: https://stm.bookpi.org/NPGEES-V4/article/view/9646

Study on Land Use Activities and Their Effects on Soil Erosion on the Slopes of Kajulu Hills, Kisumu County, Kenya | Chapter 3 | Modern Advances in Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences Vol. 4

 Soil erosion is a natural occurrence, but human activities speed it up ten to forty times faster than natural events. Because soils build at a slower rate than they are destroyed, it calls for mitigation measures to reduce the consequences of erosion. In Kenya's upland habitat, the Kajulu hills, a research was undertaken on land use activities and their impacts on soil erosion. The study evaluated the efficiency of the residents' mitigation strategies for reducing the effects of erosion on the hill slopes. The study used a sample size of 295 families out of 1600 that engaged in various mitigating actions. Using the collector ditch methodology, the researchers gathered data on the amount of soil (kg) lost from agricultural lands. Frequency distribution tables and the Man U-test were used to examine the data. The results showed that agricultural land without mitigating measures lost twice as much soil (1.198 kg/m2) as plots with cut off ditches (0.615 kg/m2) and vegetative strips (0.904 kg/m2) with Man U=7. Because it was based on one rainy season, these findings were higher than the global estimate of soil erosion in arable mountainous terrain, which ranges between 1.3-40.kg/m2/year (13-40T/Ha/year). The data revealed that the farmers' soil erosion mitigation methods, such as cut-off ditches and vegetative strips, were effective with Man U=7 under the cut-off ditches and vegetative strips.

Author(s) Details

J. Otieno
Department of Geography and Social Sciences, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology, P.O.Box 210-40601, Bondo, Kenya.

A. C. Otieno
Department of Geography and Social Sciences, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology, P.O.Box 210-40601, Bondo, Kenya.

K. W. Tonui
Department of Geography and Social Sciences, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology, P.O.Box 210-40601, Bondo, Kenya.

View Book :- https://stm.bookpi.org/MAGEES-4/article/view/1049

Comparing Gully Length and Average Gully Width Relationships on Two Geological Sediments of Varying Vulnerability to Erosion in the North Central Nigeria: A Recent Study | Chapter 8 |Recent Advances in Science and Technology Research Vol. 1

Gully erosion is an environmental problem that confronts the international community. This study was undertaken to investigate the relationships between gully length and average gully width on two geological sediments of varying resistance to erosion. Thirty-seven and five gully samples formed respectively on two homogenous geological sediments (the Ajalli Sandstones (AS) and the Upper Coal Measures (UCM)) underlying the Idah-Ankpa Plateau of the North Central Nigeria were measured and their lengths (L) and average widths (W) were subjected to correlation analyses and the sample bivariate regression to examine and compare their relationships on the two formations.  Results show that on the highly erodible AS, L is positively, poorly, and not significantly correlated with W (R = 0.201, R2 = 0.040), whereas the correlation is stronger, significant, but negative at the 0.05 level on the UCM (R = -0.930, R2 = 0.865). The regression equations show that L is a poor predictor of W on the AS (W1 = 6.387 + 0.03L1, R2 = 0.040), and a very good predictor of the parameter (W) on the UCM (W2=18.135 – 0.033L2, R2 = 0.865), which appears as a negative value. And the valid range of gully lengths for the prediction of the average width on the AS can be ranked as 0 = L < ∞  (infinity), whereas the ranking is of the form 0 ≤ L ≤ 549.55 m on the UCM.  The study suggests that the correlation of W with L becomes stronger, negative and significant as the resistance to erosion of the geological sediments increases. It also suggests that the predictability of W using L as a tool improves and transforms to a negative value as the resistance to erosion of the formation increases. 

Author(s) Details

Dr. Louis A. Oparaku
Department of Agricultural and Environmental Engineering, Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria.

View Book: - http://bp.bookpi.org/index.php/bpi/catalog/book/175