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A LANDUSE CHANGE AND LAND DEGRADATION STUDY IN SPAIN AND GREECE 
USING REMOTE SENSING AND GIS 
E. Symeonakis *, S. Koukoulas 5 A. Calvo-Cases?, E. Arnau-Rosalen and I. Makris ^ 
* Departamento de Geografía, Universidad de Valencia, Av. Blasco Ibáfiez 28, Valencia 46010, Spain - 
(elias.symeonakis, adolfo.calvo)@uv.es, mareando@vodafone.es 
? Dept. of Geography, University of the Aegean, Mytilene 81100, Greece - skouk@geo.aegean.gr 
Commission VII, WG VII/4 
KEY WORDS: Remote Sensing, GIS, Land Cover, Land Use, Change Detection, Classification, Hydrology, Soil 
ABSTRACT: 
The relationship between landuse/landcover (LULC) changes and land degradation in two Mediterranean sites is investigated using 
remotely sensed and ancillary data. The areas of study, the Xaló river catchment in the north of the Alicante province in southeast 
Spain and the Aegean island of Lesbos, Greece, have both been subjected to changes in LULC, such as abandonment, overgrazing, 
forest fires and tourist development. Landsat MSS data dating back to the 1970s were used for the mapping of historic landuse/cover 
types whereas Landsat TM and ETM+ data were employed for the analysis of their recent state. A soil erosion model was then used 
within a GIS in order to study the susceptibility of the areas affected by changes to overland flow and rainsplash erosion. The model 
consists of four parameters, namely soil erodibility, slope, vegetation cover and overland flow. The results show increased 
susceptibility to runoff and erosion mostly for those areas were forest fires, urbanization, and/or overgrazing were the main causes of 
change and suggest that mitigation measures should be taken for the prevention of further degradation. The readily implemented 
methodology proposed, based on modest data requirements, is a useful tool for catchment to regional scale LULC change and land 
degradation studies. 
1. INTRODUCTION 
Over the last ten years, a lot of attention has been drawn on the 
issue of landuse and landcover (LULC) changes and the direct 
or indirect relationship these changes might have with the 
observed land degradation in the Mediterranean region (Brandt 
and Thornes, 1996; Drake and Vafeidis, 2004; Thornes, 1996). 
Such changes are the result of practices such as the relocation 
of people to the coastal border, farm and grazing abandonment 
inland, the explosion of tourism-related activities, and the 
intensification of agriculture, among others. Accurate LULC 
mapping over large areas has become necessary in order to 
monitor these changes and has received a considerable boost 
from the advent of multispectral satellite data. Such data have 
become operationally available since the early 1970s and have 
paved the way for LULC and vegetation cover studies due to 
their suitable spectral, spatial and temporal resolution, thus 
providing scientists with a useful tool to study LULC changes 
and their relationship with land degradation processes. 
There is a well-established tendency for water runoff to 
increase with land degradation (Symeonakis and Drake, 2004; 
UNEP, 1990; Rubio and Bochet, 1998; Krugmann, 1996; 
Sharma, 1996; Kosmas et al. 1999). Overgrazing, for example, 
leads to trampling and compaction of the soil which reduces the 
infiltration and thus increases the amount that leaves as runoff. 
Deforestation also leads to increased overland flow since it 
removes the vegetation which probably affects rates of runoff 
more than any other single factor. The rate of runoff is therefore 
a useful indicator of the land degradation and desertification 
process and was estimated in the present study with the use of 
the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) model (SCS, 1972). 
The importance of soil erosion in land degradation and 
desertification over the Mediterranean area has also been 
widely recognized since it appears to be the end result of almost 
553 
all such processes (Brandt and Thornes, 1996; Kosmas et al., 
1999; Symeonakis and Drake, 2004). Drought, the natural or 
human induced reduction in vegetation cover, poor agricultural 
practices leading to soil aggregate breakdown and soil organic 
matter losses, poor irrigation practices leading to salinisation, 
all lead to an increase in soil erosion rates and ultimately 
desertification. Erosion therefore seems to be the single most 
important indicator of the land degradation and desertification 
processes and was estimated here with the use of the Thornes 
model (Thornes 1985, 1989). 
The main aim of this research was therefore to study the 
interrelationship between LULC change and land degradation 
over two different Mediterranean sites using remotely-sensed 
data. Specific objectives included the investigation of the 
feasibility of the combination of remotely-sensed data in land 
degradation studies, the estimation of LULC changes, overland 
flow and sheetwash soil erosion, and to suggest a 
methodological framework that provides a tool for the appraisal 
of the impact of changes in land degradation. 
2. THE STUDY AREAS 
One of the two study sites is the catchment of the Xaló river in 
the North of the Alicante province in Southeast Spain (Figure 
1). It covers an area of approximately 30200 ha, is characterised 
by a complex topography which ranges from 0 to 1365m above 
sea level, diverse microclimatic conditions with irregular and 
intense rainfalls and soils mainly falling under the Cambisols 
and Regosols types. As previous studies have shown (Belda 
1997, Symeonakis et al., 2003; Symeonakis et al., in press; 
Viedma 1999, Viedma and Meliá, 1999), the area has been 
subjected to a number of landuse/cover changes during the 20th 
century, such as a number of forest fires, tourist development