Recent Advances in Remote Sensing and Geoinformation Processing for Land Degradation Assessment

Land degradation and desertification are amongst the most severe threats to human welfare and the environment as they affect the livelihoods of some 2 billion people in the world’s drylands and they are directly connected to pressing global environmental problems such as the loss of biological diversity or global climate change. Strategies to combat these processes and mitigate their effects at the land-management and policy level require spatially explicit up-to-date information which can be provided based on remote sensing data and using geoinformation processing techniques.Recent Advances in Remote Sensing and Geoinformation Processing for Land Degradation Assessment introduces the current state of the art in this field and provides an overview of both conceptual and technological advances of the recent past. With a specific focus on desertification and land degradation the volume covers the assessment of related biophysical indicators as well as complementary qualitative information at different spatial and temporal scales. It is shown how remote sensing data may be utilized in the context of assessing and monitoring affected ecosystems and how this information may be assimilated into integrated interpretation and modelling concepts. In addition different case studies are provided to demonstrate the implementation of these methods in the frame of different local settings.The volume will be of interest to scientists and students working at the interface of ecosystem services land degradation/desertification spatial ecology remote sensing and spatial modelling as well as to land managers and policy makers.