Land Degradation/Desertification Vulnerability Index: A case study on West Khasi Hills District, Meghalaya, India

Though desertification theoretically belongs to arid, semi-arid and dry sub humid regions of the world but the process of desertification due to continuous land degradation can occur or symptomized in any climatic region.  The study area comes under North eastern part of India that falls under tropical monsoonal climatic region. According to 2011 census the district has population density 73 persons per sq.km. The total geographical area of district is 5241 sq.km. Based on 2011-2013 remotely sensed data and ground verification about 2781.59 sq.km of geographical area identified as area under desertification/land degradation, which is more than 50 percent of the total geographical area. This high rate of land degradation process is making the land very much susceptible to converting it to dry land. Thus it is pertinent to evaluate the desertification vulnerability index for the district to prepare a combating plan. The study also tries to examine the continuous and direct dependability of population on land by evaluating socio economic index.