Impacts of land use/land cover dynamics on desertification in gum Arabic belt, Ennuhud locality, West Kordofan State, Sudan

Desertification is a challenging issue in sub-Sahara Africa and Arab world. It is results from destruction of natural resources, agricultural lands and their political and social disturbances. Monitoring of desertification and land degradation is a very important task in the context of global climatic change and worldwide desertification dynamic. Ennuhud locality is one of the key areas for gum production in Sudan, besides other land use activities. However, the locality is characterised by its vulnerability to desertification. This paper presents results of application of remote sensing techniques in land use/land cover analysis in areas vulnerable to desertification in Ennuhud locality, West Kordofan State. It is also highlights the role of the gum Arabic belts as a natural barrier against desertification since the Acacia senegal tree is considered as a tolerant tree species in harsh environment. The data is based on collection of 254 control point with the aid of GPS and Land sat satellites imagery for 2014, 2002 and 1994. The total area covered within the locality was 117188.6 ha. Other data were obtained from secondary sources. The result of LULC classification showed five classes: Hashab stands, grass/bush land, mixed woody vegetation, Bareland/ agriculture and residential area. The overall increase in Hashab stands was 7%, with grass/ bush land showing an increase of about 6%, mixed woody trees also showed an increase of about 6% and residential area increased by 1.6% while the area of baobab trees/citrus gardens and the area of Bareland/agriculture diminished by 17.6% and 3%, respectively. The Accuracy of the classification was performed in terms of producer and user accuracy in addition to Kappa statistic. The study also included mapping of LULC status and resourcesbase using remote sensing technology and consequently monitoring the deterioration and desertification in gum Arabic belt on large scale. It is concluded that that the reduction in forest land and the increase in bare land/agriculture gives a sign of desertification. The different transformation in land use systems resulted in an instability of the resource use.