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Spatial Shift of Aridity and Its Impact on Land Use of Syria

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  • Mohammad Rajab Houmsi

    (School of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Johor Bahru 81310, Malaysia)

  • Mohammed Sanusi Shiru

    (School of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Johor Bahru 81310, Malaysia
    Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, Federal University Dutse, Dutse P.M.B. 7156, Nigeria)

  • Mohamed Salem Nashwan

    (School of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Johor Bahru 81310, Malaysia
    Construction and Building Engineering Department, College of Engineering and Technology, Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport (AASTMT), Cairo 2033, Elhorria, Egypt)

  • Kamal Ahmed

    (School of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Johor Bahru 81310, Malaysia)

  • Ghaith Falah Ziarh

    (School of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Johor Bahru 81310, Malaysia)

  • Shamsuddin Shahid

    (School of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Johor Bahru 81310, Malaysia)

  • Eun-Sung Chung

    (Faculty of Protection and Safety Engineering, Seoul National University of Science and Technology, 232 Gongneung-ro, Nowon-gu, Seoul 01811, Korea)

  • Sungkon Kim

    (Faculty of Protection and Safety Engineering, Seoul National University of Science and Technology, 232 Gongneung-ro, Nowon-gu, Seoul 01811, Korea)

Abstract

Expansion of arid lands due to climate change, particularly in water stressed regions of the world can have severe implications on the economy and people’s livelihoods. The spatiotemporal trends in aridity, the shift of land from lower to higher arid classes and the effect of this shift on different land uses in Syria have been evaluated in this study for the period 1951–2010 using high-resolution monthly climate data of the Terrestrial Hydrology Research Group of Princeton University. The trends in rainfall, temperature and potential evapotranspiration were also evaluated to understand the causes of aridity shifts. The results revealed an expansion of aridity in Syria during 1951–1980 compared to 1981–2010. About 6.21% of semi-arid land was observed to shift to arid class and 5.91% dry-subhumid land to semi-arid land between the two periods. Analysis of results revealed that the decrease in rainfall is the major cause of increasing aridity in Syria. About 28.3% of agriculture land located in the north and the northwest was found to shift from humid to dry-subhumid or dry-subhumid to semi-arid. Analysis of results revealed that the shifting of drylands mostly occurred in the northern agricultural areas of Syria. The land productivity and irrigation needs can be severely affected by increasing aridity which may affect food security and the economy of the country.

Suggested Citation

  • Mohammad Rajab Houmsi & Mohammed Sanusi Shiru & Mohamed Salem Nashwan & Kamal Ahmed & Ghaith Falah Ziarh & Shamsuddin Shahid & Eun-Sung Chung & Sungkon Kim, 2019. "Spatial Shift of Aridity and Its Impact on Land Use of Syria," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(24), pages 1-18, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:24:p:7047-:d:296012
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    Cited by:

    1. Mohamed Ali Mohamed & Julian Anders & Christoph Schneider, 2020. "Monitoring of Changes in Land Use/Land Cover in Syria from 2010 to 2018 Using Multitemporal Landsat Imagery and GIS," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-31, July.
    2. Mohammed Magdy Hamed & Najeebullah Khan & Mohd Khairul Idlan Muhammad & Shamsuddin Shahid, 2022. "Ranking of Empirical Evapotranspiration Models in Different Climate Zones of Pakistan," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-18, November.

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