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Post‐tsunami land degradation on a South Asian island: Implications for conservation priorities by Ayyam Velmurugan; Sirisha Adamala; Palanivel Swarnam is a Environmental Science article available to read on EtoBox.

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## Abstract In recent decades, land degradation has accelerated due to an increase in unsustainable human activities. In a case‐study of the Andaman Islands, located in the South Asian region, changes in land degradation types, soil erosion, and the effect of conservation measures for pre‐ (2000) and post‐2004 tsunami periods (2006, 2019) were recorded using temporal remote sensing data (LANDSAT, RESOURCESAT, CARTOSAT), field observations and a GIS‐based revised universal soil loss equation (RUSLE). The results showed that erosion, leaching, acidification, salinization, and drainage congestion were the major land degradation processes that could be traced to post‐tsunami human activities (R^2^ = 0.634). The study revealed significant forest cover loss during 2006–2019 (3.76%) compared to 2000–2006 (0.61%), while it revealed increased areas under settlement (14 km^2^) and mining (22 km^2^). The annual crop area exhibited a 0.42% loss, whereas the plantation crop area increased by 0.46%, indicating the abandonment of annual crops that resulted in an increased fallow area (21 km^2^) during the post‐tsunami period. As a consequence, degraded land increased by 2.5% of the total geograph

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Author

Ayyam Velmurugan; Sirisha Adamala; Palanivel Swarnam

Publisher

Wiley

Published

2021

Language

EN

Field

Environmental Science (Physical Sciences)