Monitoring of Land Use-Land Cover Changes and Assessment of Soil Degradation Using Landsat TM and OLI Data in Zarzis Arid Region

Abstract

Land Use/Land Cover Change (LUCC) is recognized as a crucial driver of environmental change on all spatio-temporal scales. Zarzis region is reputed for its olive groves, vital for its socioeconomic development and because of severe climatic factors, it has a vulnerable ecosystem. Our study focuses on the monitoring of land use dynamics underpinning climate change and on the spatiotemporal assessment of the vigor of olive groves. Analysis of Landsat 5 TM image acquired in 2007 and Landsat 8 OLI image acquired in 2014 was performed under IDRISI software, by a remote sensing-based Land Change Modeler (LCM) method. Our results have shown a clear improvement in the vigor of the olive trees, mainly attributed to an increase in rainfall during the years 2010 and 2012. We have identified areas where land degradation has been attenuated both with Tabias, as a soil and water harvesting technique and with alley cropping between olive trees, as a promising recent agronomic practice. This analytical study is relevant for sustainable development.