| dc.description.abstract | Land degradation and desertification is a serious global issue facing arid ecosystems. Problems of land degradation in Kuwait deserts have accelerated throughout the world, leading to loss of vegetation cover and topsoil fertility, increasing the intensity of desertification. Environmental disasters had occurred as a result of the Iraq’s unlawful invasion and the occupation of Kuwait in 1991 impacted multiple ecosystems by through oil spills and military activities. Therefore, the Kuwaiti government selected six future protected areas, which are damaged and will be managed under a restoration plan. Umm Nigga, which is considered one of these future protected areas, was selected as a study area for our research. The northern portion of Umm Nigga, containing both coastal and desert ecosystems, falls within the boundaries of the De-Militarized Zone (DMZ) adjacent to Iraq, and has been fenced off to restrict public access since 1994. The central objective of this research is was to assess and design a conceptual framework for restoration planning. The specific objectives of this research were to: (1) utilize remote sensing, field assessment, and GIS spatial data to develop a site history for restoration planning, (2) utilize GIS and remote sensing to compare soil erosion models by water including MPSIAC, EMP, and RUSLE, and (3) assess the soil condition at the site by conducting soil and vegetation sampling, and to determine suitable locations for re-vegetation using GIS.
Results showed that vegetation cover increased in the unfenced damaged site after the 1991 Gulf War from 2% in 1988 to 37% in 1998, but then it decreased to 23% in 2013. In the DMZ (fenced site), the vegetation cover also increased from 0% in 1988 to 40% in 1998, but it continued increasing through 2013 to 64%. We conclude that overgrazing and destructive camping are the major source of disturbance in the damaged areas. Our results also showed that the MPSIAC and EMP models were similar in spatial distribution of erosion, though the MPSIAC had more variability. However, the RUSLE presented unrealistic results. We then identified the amount of soil loss between coastal and desert areas, and fenced and unfenced sites for each model. In the MPSIAC and EMP models, soil loss was different between fenced and unfenced sites at the desert areas, which was higher at the unfenced due to the low vegetation cover. The overall results implied that vegetation cover played an important role in reducing soil erosion. According to the soil sampling and vegetation assessment in the field, we found that the vegetation in the coastal ecosystem site was not damaged, due to difficulty of access by people and grazing animals. However, in the desert ecosystem site, phosphors, potassium, and organic matter were higher at the reference area, and correlated with the higher vegetation cover. We conclude that soil remediation and re-vegetation may not be necessary to restore the damaged sites, given that damaged sites still contain concentration of nutrients which is likely sufficient to support native desert plant growth. Therefore, we believe that fencing alone will likely release the ecosystem in Umm Nigga from the former disturbance and allow recovery. However, if natural recovery does not begin within a few years, then re-vegetation should take place as a secondary option. | en |
