ABSTACT
Egypt is one of the territories that have been suffering from
desertification and its unfavourable impact on socio-economy, food
security, and gregarious stability. Thus, one of the main activities of
Desert Research Centre is combating desertification in Egypt by
assessing the sensitivity of the ecosystems to desertification and
degradation vulnerability of land for resources conservation. Therefore,
this paper aimed at appraising the environmental sensitivity to
desertification in relation to land productivity of some soils at west Edfu,
Egypt using the Desertification Sensitivity Index (DSI). The research
area lies between 24º54'00" to 24º57'00"N and 32º43'30" to 32º49'30"E;
85 km2. The results showed that the studied area was characterized by
moderate soil quality with weak vegetation and hyper-arid climatic
quality indices. Based on DSI, the investigated site could be identified as
a sensitive area to desertification; with average and poor land
productivity classes of grades III, and IV, respectively. The evaluated
area is requiring particular soil management practices for best
agricultural use and combating desertification.