Zaied et al. (2026) Water Harvesting Techniques for Assessing Land Degradation Using MEDALUS Approach and GIS Analysis: Jeffara Region, Southern Tunisia

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: Land
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-02-14
• Authors: Mongi Ben Zaied, Mohamed Elarbi Brick, Aymen Sawassi, Fethi Abdelli, Rym Hadded, Roula Khadra, Mohamed Ouessar
• DOI: 10.3390/land15020324

Research Groups

Not explicitly mentioned in the paper.

Short Summary

This study assessed land degradation sensitivity in Southern Tunisia, finding nearly the entire region critically sensitive, and demonstrated that traditional water harvesting techniques (WHTs) significantly reduce this sensitivity from 99% to 77.3%.

Objective

• To investigate land degradation sensitivity in Southern Tunisia's Jeffara region and examine the effectiveness of water harvesting techniques (WHTs) as countermeasures.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Jeffara region, Southern Tunisia.
• Temporal Scale: Not explicitly mentioned, but involves a baseline scenario and a modeled scenario for WHT impact.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Modified MEDALUS framework for Land Degradation Sensitivity Index calculation; GIS environment for combining thematic quality indices.
• Data sources: Thematic quality indices derived from normalized indicators (climate, soil, vegetation, management); Field observations for model validation.

Main Results

• Under the baseline scenario, approximately 99% of the study area was classified as critically sensitive to land degradation.
• Key contributing factors to degradation include extreme aridity, limited vegetation cover, significant soil erosion, and human pressures.
• The most severely degraded areas are found in mountainous zones, desert plains, and mining areas, while olive orchards showed moderate sensitivity due to drought tolerance and deep root systems.
• Implementation of traditional WHTs (Jessour and Tabias) was modeled to reduce the proportion of critically sensitive land from 99% to 77.3%, indicating a measurable improvement.
• WHTs offer environmental benefits such as enhanced soil moisture and stabilized agricultural yields, but their spatial expansion remains limited.

Contributions

• Provides a quantitative assessment of land degradation sensitivity across the Jeffara region in Southern Tunisia using a modified MEDALUS framework.
• Offers a modeled evaluation of the effectiveness of traditional water harvesting techniques in mitigating land degradation, quantifying their potential impact.
• Identifies specific land uses and geographical zones with varying degrees of degradation sensitivity, highlighting the protective role of certain agricultural practices like olive cultivation.

Funding

Not explicitly mentioned in the paper.

Citation

@article{Zaied2026Water,
  author = {Zaied, Mongi Ben and Brick, Mohamed Elarbi and Sawassi, Aymen and Abdelli, Fethi and Hadded, Rym and Khadra, Roula and Ouessar, Mohamed},
  title = {Water Harvesting Techniques for Assessing Land Degradation Using MEDALUS Approach and GIS Analysis: Jeffara Region, Southern Tunisia},
  journal = {Land},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.3390/land15020324},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.3390/land15020324}
}