Monitoring the Spatiotemporal Evolution of the Green Dam in Djelfa Province, Algeria

Green walls and green dams are increasingly being considered as part of many national international desertification initiatives. This paper studies the spatiotemporal evolution dam in Moudjbara region (Djelfa Province, Algeria), from 1972 to 2019, by using Landsat imagery, Land Change Modeler, OpenLand package. The future pine plantations, for year 2029, was also forecasted, based on an anthropogenic scenario (i.e., pressure is main driver destruction). Our findings revealed that project successful a few years, but, after that, plantations deteriorated significantly, due forest harvesting, livestock overgrazing, proliferation caterpillar processionary, which destroyed most reforestation. change modeler predicted huge degradation if deforestation continues at same rate, will disappear during next decades. Being aware this threat, Algerian authorities now planning reforest more than 1.2 million ha under latest rural renewal policy, introducing new principles related sustainable development, fighting desertification, climate adaptation. We strongly recommend moving away singular tree planting focus, diversifying control methods.