Can degrading land be reclaimed?
Land degradation is the temporary or permanent loss of ecosystem function and productivity from which the land cannot recover unaided (Bai et al.,2008). Degradation occurs slowly and cumulatively and can exacerbate climate change and threaten agricultural productivity, water quality, among other effects. In India, it is officially estimated that about 44 %1 of the land area is degraded (which is higher than the global average of 30 percent) which is expected to worsen with rising demand for food. Although different policies and programs have been initiated by the government to tackle this enigma 2, discernible results are sparse. Analysis of the causes of land degradation is very important to design suitable policies to subdue the degradation problem. Moreover, if the factors causing degradation can be identified in advance the land can be revived before the conditions worsen
Land degradation is caused by the direct interference of human activities or extreme natural events (floods, droughts etc) in land-atmosphere interactions(LA-I). In spite of their importance, the representation or modeling of these interactions in the existing weather and climate models are constrained because of the involvement of a complex set of process that is difficult to be monitored. Agro-hydrological parameters are the variables that vary with land-atmosphere interactions yet will retain the memory of the anomalies happened in past. Agro-hydrological (A-H) parameters (such as soil moisture, evapotranspiration, and NDVI) due to its inherent memory can hence be used in modeling L-AI to monitor land-degradation.
Satyukt Analytics, Pvt Ltd an expert in microwave remote sensing is capable of addressing the issue of land-degradation from its roots by modeling land-atmospheric interactions with the help of Agro-hydrologic parameters and machine learning. Monitoring land-degradation may help decision-makers and stakeholders to take appropriate steps or formulate policies to eradicate or reduce the impacts of anthropogenic activities on the quality of land.
