مظاهر التصحر في ناحية حمرين وانعكاساته البيئية

Abstract

The world faces the threat of desertification and the resulting degradation of the ecosystem and biodiversity, affecting arid, semi-arid, and sub-humid regions, with negative impacts on economic, social, and political aspects. This study aims to identify the manifestations of desertification and its most significant environmental repercussions in the study area.

The study shows that human factors are the primary cause of desertification spread and increased severity in the study area, with misuse of agricultural lands, overgrazing, and unplanned urban expansion being the foremost. Climatic characteristics play a role in exacerbating this phenomenon and increasing its intensity. The study also revealed another manifestation of desertification resulting from increased soil susceptibility to erosion, and it also shows increased erosion in most districts of the study area.

It was also found that the study area suffers from manifestations of desertification, primarily soil salinization and erosion. The soil in the study area suffers from a deterioration in its physical and chemical properties, which negatively reflected in the emergence and spread of desertification manifestations in the study area, in addition to the variation in soil texture between mixed medium-textured soil, fine-textured clayey soil, and coarse salty sandy soil, which played an important role in soil salinization and erosion. Changes in land use were also observed, especially in urban areas, and changes in vegetation cover density between the districts of the study area.

It became clear that the study area suffers from severe and very severe desertification. The most striking features of these two types were the shrinking of vegetation cover area, the increase in barren and saline land area, and the expansion of urban areas, which necessitates adopting all necessary measures to combat desertification.