The indicator software for assessing desertification risk is an expert system designed to provide an estimation of land desertification risk through the selection of appropriate degradation processes and corresponding indicators.
The derived system can be used in a wide range of local physical and socio-economic conditions for assessing the effectiveness of the various land management practices in land uses and landscapes prone to desertification. Specifically, the developed tool can be used for:
· The analysis of a wide range of alternatives for land management practices for reducing land desertification risk.
· The evaluation and selection of the most important indicators through which desertification risk may be assessed in a variety of locales worldwide.
· The development of a consensus among various groups (politicians, managers, experts, etc.) in assessing desertification risks.
Choosing the menu application of the DRAST software, the user starts a DRI estimation session. As in the standalone version of the tool, to assess desertification risk, the user is prompted to select from various processes or causes of land degradation (Figure 6). Similarly, a new window is shown with the list of relevant indicators. The number of the included indicators depends on the selected process or cause.
Figure 6. Interface to select degradation type/types-processes.
After inputting, the values for all the indicators, the DRI and all the indicators’ classes are produced (Figure 7). The user maintains the option to go back and change any of the previously inputted indicators’ value per process. The web-based tool gives only a quick and handy assessment of the efficiency of various management practices to combat desertification.
Figure 7. Interface with the calculated desertification risk index and the corresponding classes.
