Natural Resources Deterioration in MENA Region

Part I. Land Deterioration- Geological and Hydrological Status.- Chapter 1. Remote Sensing Techniques for Investigating Natural Resources Deterioration: Application on Agricultural Degradation in Sultanate Oman (Yaseen A. Al-Mulla).- Chapter 2. Spectral Angle Mapper Approach (SAM) for Land Degradation Mapping: A Case Study of the Oued Lahdar Watershed in the Pre-Rif Region (Morocco) (Brahim Benzougagh).- Chapter 3. Remotely sensed data and GIS for long-term monitoring of the Ghout oases degradation in the region of Oued Souf (Northeastern Algerian Sahara) (Nouar Boulghobra).- Chapter 4. Tectonic and Erosion in the Zagros Fold-and-Thrust Belt (ZFTB) (Ahmed K. Obaid).- Chapter 5. Characterization of Post-Uprising Impacts on Landcover and Land Use: Al Waseta Al Wasita-Satish - Area Northeast Libya Case Study (Salah Hamad).- Chapter 6. Construction Industry Role in Natural Resources Depletion and How to Reduce It (Bayan Salim Obaid Al-Numan).- Part II. Soil Erosion.- Chapter 7. Assessing Soil Erosion Vulnerability Using RUSLE Model in the Semi-Arid Haouz Plain, Marrakech, Morocco: Investigating the Combined Effects of Land Cover Dynamics, Socio-Spatial Mutations, and Climate Change (Youssef Bammou).- Chapter 8. GIS-based Erosion Potential Method (EPM) for Soil Degradation Evaluation: A Case Study the Northeast of Morocco (Mohammed El Brahimi).- Chapter 9. Predicting Soil Erosion Using RUSLE model in Duhok Governorate, Kurdistan Region of Iraq (Azade Mehri).- Part III. Drifting Sands, Sand/Dust Storms, and Desertification.- Chapter 10. Spatiotemporal Variability of Aerosol Optical Depth Over the Arabian Peninsula Using MODIS Data (Abdelgadir Abuelgasim).- Chapter 11. The Carrying Loads Composition of Storms Over Iraq (Moutaz A. Al-Dabbas).- Chapter 12. Monitoring Drifting Sand Using Spectral Index and Landsat TM/OLI Datasets in Bahr An-Najaf Area, IRAQ (Ghadeer F. Al-Kasoob).- Chapter 13. Assessment ofthe

Ayad M. Fadhil Al-Quraishi is a professor of Applied Remote Sensing & GIS at the Petroleum and Mining Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Tishk International University (TIU), Erbil, Iraq. He obtained his Ph.D. Eng. in 2004 in Geodetection and IT from the China University of Geosciences (CUG), Wuhan, China. He supervised and examined 60 postgraduate students (Ph.D. & M.Sc.) in Iraqi and International Universities during his 44 years of university teaching. Prof. Al-Quraishi published over 80 research papers in national/international journals and conferences, edited four volumes for Springer, and contributed 14 chapters. He served as a peer reviewer in 62 international journals, and numerous journals awarded him the title of the best peer reviewer. In addition, his study on drought in Iraqi Kurdistan was chosen as one of the best-published papers on the 2012 World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought. Prof. Al-Quraishi was a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at Michigan State University (MSU), USA, in 2011 and a Visiting Professor at the University of Alabama, the United States, in 2022. Furthermore, at 42 international conferences, workshops, and symposiums, he served as a scientific committee member, keynote speaker, reviewer, and participant. In addition, he participated in international scientific projects with international universities in the USA and Europe. In addition, Prof. Al-Quraishi is a member of several international professional scientific organizations. Moreover, he worked as a guest editor for two MDPI journals, Remote Sensing and Water, as well as the Journal of Applied Remote Sensing, SPIE. Prof. Al-Quraishi also serves on the editorial boards of several major scientific journals. Since 2016, he has served as the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society's (IEEE-GRSS) ambassador in Iraq.

 

Yaseen Taha Mustafa is a distinguished professor of Applied Remote Sensing and GIS at the College of Science,