Land degradation is reduction in productivity of land resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities. Desertification is land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas. There is an urgent need to stop and reverse the process of land degradation. Sustainable management of soil, water and biodiversity are required for protecting the land from further degradation.
There are global efforts to combat desertification. India is signatory to the United Nations Convention on Combating Desertification (UNCCD) and is committed to achieve the land degradation neutral status by 2030. The Convention addresses specifically the issue of Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought (DLDD). Desertification Cell at Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEF&CC), Government of India, New Delhi represents India in UNCCD and has established a multi-institutional mechanism for India's reporting to UNCCD related to implementation of Indian programmes for combating desertification and land degradation. One of the key requirement is inventory and monitoring desertification and land degradation of the country using satellite data in Geographical Information System (GIS) environment for providing baseline data to be used for prioritizing areas, carrying out desertification vulnerability and risk assessment and preparing action plans for combating desertification and land degradation.