BAHIR DAR UNIVERSITY

Faculty of social science

Department of Geography and Environmental studies
Program MSc in Geo-Information science
Seminar paper

Tittle: Evaluating Soil and Water Conservation Practice

By:
AGEGNEHU BELAY ID: BDU1501360

Submitted To: Mesfin Antneh (Dr.)

MARCH, 2024
BAHIR DAR, ETHIOPIA
Abstract
Soil and water conservation practices are essential for maintaining the health of
ecosystems and ensuring the sustainable use of natural resources. The effectiveness of
these practices in mitigating soil erosion, preserving water quality, promoting biodiversity,
and enhancing ecosystem resilience is assessed based on existing research and case
studies. Soil resources are fundamental to life on Earth and are crucial to sustainable
development. The utilization of improved crop varieties, agroforestry practices, soil and
water conservation practices, irrigation practices, and adjusting planting dates are the
most important adaptation strategies by smallholder farmers. Soil moisture, land surface
temperature, and vegetation health are basic Variables that Used to Evaluate and Monitor
soil and water conservation Practice. The use of remote sensing indices in evaluating soil
and water conservation practices offers a non-invasive, cost-effective, and scalable method
for monitoring land management strategies. Overall, evaluation underscores the critical
role of these practices in protecting the environment and ensuring sustainable land
management practices for the benefit of present and future generations.

Key Terms: Practice, Soil, Soil and Water Conservation, Management

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Table of Contents
Abstract ............................................................................................................................................... i
CHAPTER ONE ................................................................................................................................. 1
1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1
CHAPTER TWO ................................................................................................................................ 3
2. Review of Related Literature ...................................................................................................... 3
2.1. The Impact of Climate Change on Developing Country .................................................... 3
2.1. Adaptation and Mitigation Measures of Climate Change .................................................. 4
2.2. Soil and Water Conservation Practice ................................................................................ 4
2.3. Role of Soil and Water Conservation Practice for Environment ........................................ 5
2.4. Evaluation and Monitoring Systems of Soil and Water Conservation Practice ................. 6
2.4.1. Traditional Methods ................................................................................................... 6
2.4.2. Remote Sensing Methods ........................................................................................... 7
2.5. Watershed ........................................................................................................................... 7
2.6. The Basic Variables that Used to Evaluate and Monitor SWC Practice ............................ 8
2.7.1. Soil moisture ..................................................................................................................... 8
2.6.2. Land Surface Temperature ....................................................................................... 11
2.6.3. Vegetation Health Indices ........................................................................................ 12
3. Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 14
References ........................................................................................................................................ 15

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 CHAPTER ONE
1. Introduction

Climate change is a global phenomenon that refers to long-term shifts in temperature,

precipitation, and other atmospheric conditions in the world (Alexander, L. V., 2016).
Those changes are typically pushed by human activities, along with the burning of fossil
fuels, deforestation, and industrial approaches, which release greenhouse gases into the
environment. The build-up of these gases, inclusive of carbon dioxide and methane, traps
warmth and leads to a warming effect known as the greenhouse impact (Mikhaylov,
A.et.al, 2020).

Climate change can adjust precipitation patterns, leading to changes in the quantity,
frequency, and depth of rainfall (Westra, S., 2014). This, in flip, impacts soil moisture
levels. Areas experiencing changes in precipitation have observe variations in soil moisture
content material, due to this temperatures being rising and might flourishing evaporation
rates. Higher temperatures can result in improved water loss from the soil, doubtlessly
imposing drier conditions and impacting soil moisture (Berg, A., & Sheffield, J., 2018). As
a result, changes in soil moisture can impact plants health and distribution due to the fact
its affect the growth and survival of positive plant species, influencing surroundings
dynamics. Controlled soil moisture is one of the most essential environmental elements
affecting crop manufacturing and food security inside the semi-arid zones of East and
Southern Africa (ESA) (FOA, 2019).

As Ethiopia located in East Africa the things are similar. Land degradation is one of the
socio- economic and environmental demanding situations in Ethiopia, which is as a result
of inappropriate agricultural exercise, steepness of the farm land, undulated topography,
erratic rainfall, low plants cover, severe water erosion and poor land management
(Awulachew, 2010).

If soils are managed poorly or used through unsustainable practices, soil carbon may be
launched into the environment in the form of carbon dioxide, due to this Soil natural
carbon (SNC) loss happens while natural carbon stored in the soil is transformed into
carbon dioxide (CO2) or methane (CH4), each of which are greenhouse gases which might
be eventually lost from the soil, or through bodily lack of carbon by means of erosion,

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which can make a contribution to weather change, due to the fact 1417 Pg of Carbon is
stored inside the first meter of soil global (Meena, R. et.al, 2020). Also the means of high
degrees of runoff, and encouraged partly by means of irrelevant cultivation practices
among smallholders and a lack of plant cover over the soil.

Soil and water conservation practices create situations that can be conducive to study plant
condition and suitability (Ryan, J. G., 2010). Those practices manage various factors, such
as soil fertility, erosion management, water availability, biodiversity, and contributing to
the general resilience and energy of plant communities. In maximum part of the area,
plants and soil moisture have a direct impact. As a result, higher plant cover was observed
in regions with better soil moisture; and decreased vegetation cover was observed in areas
with lower soil moisture (Roy, P., et al., 2023).

Anthropogenic activity is anticipated to be notably impacted by climate trade, both

immediately and indirectly, through effects on crops, soils, cattle, and pests (Skendžić, S.,
et al., 2021). Even though climate change is a slow process that takes a long time and
involves only modest variations in temperature and precipitation, it however, has an impact
on many soil strategies, specifically ones which are linked to soil fertility. The number of
expected consequences of climate change on soils are changes in soil moisture situations,
in addition to increase in soil temperature and CO2 levels (Berg, A., & Sheffield, J. 2018).

In Ethiopia, the use of natural resources is under excessive pressure due to ever increasing
population growth, poor farming, and mismanagement of resources (Bililign, 2010). The
payment of soil and water resource degradation is discovered to be at an earlier and higher
rate (Wassie, S. B., 2020). Most Ethiopian farmers are dependent on a subsistence-oriented
agricultural system, i.e., cultivating on sloppy and marginal lands to which soil removal is
exceptionally susceptible (Belay, K., &Abebaw, D., 2004). Several studies on SWC have
been carried out in the United States, with the bulk of them taking place in arid regions
(Bojago et al., 2023). In spite of the fact that the practices have been implemented in
several watersheds of the Amhera regions, the problem of soil erosion remains the largest
weakness, and the efficiency of the land control measures taken inside the location has
now not been fully observed. Because of farmers' loss of statistics about the effect of
structural land management on soil enhancement and erosion manipulation, the systems
created had been subjected to destruction, upkeep problems, and failure.

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 CHAPTER TWO
2. Review of Related Literature

Climate change is the difficulty of our time, and we are at a defining moment. From
shifting weather patterns that threaten food manufacturing, to rising sea levels that increase
the risk of catastrophic flooding, the impacts of climate change are global in scope and
unparalleled in scale (Valavanidis, A., 2022).

Globally, climate change has become an abstract drawback to be mentioned at

international conferences or debated within the media. Its association with everyday reality
has implications for people’s livelihoods and lives (Pyhälä, A., et al., 2016). It’s an
amendment that's knowledgeable both through the slow semi-permanent method in
ecological conditions and through extreme climate events (Adem A. and Guta A.,
2011).Climate change is the long-term change of temperature and typical weather patterns
in a place. Climate change could refer to a particular location or the planet as a whole.
Climate change may cause weather patterns to be less predictable (Deressa TT. et al.,
2009).

2.1. The Impact of Climate Change on Developing Country

Developing countries are most vulnerable to climate change. Climate change will have an
impact on all countries around the globe. Developing countries are much more vulnerable
to climate change than the developed world (Chinowsky, P., et al., 2011). Climate change
aggravates the effects of population growth, poverty, and rapid urbanization.

Climate change is likely to reduce economic growth in developing countries; significant

investments in climate change adaptation are necessary (Millner, A., & Dietz, S., 2015).
Climate change is likely to have a significant impact on the economies of developing
countries. Without adaptation and mitigation, the losses are estimated to be up to 20% of
GDP (Bowen, A., Cochrane, S., & Fankhauser, S., 2012). To minimize the impacts of
climate change, adaptation in developing countries is urgently needed. Reliable estimates
of adaptation costs are still unavailable, but they are likely to run into the billions of dollars
per year (Burke, M., & Emerick, K., 2016). Climate change is also likely to affect the
attainment of several of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

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Therefore, Ethiopia is developing countries more affected by climate change and more
focused on adaptation method using different methods like Afforestation, Reforestation,
and soil and water conservation.

2.1. Adaptation and Mitigation Measures of Climate Change

The utilization of improved crop varieties, agroforestry practices, soil and water
conservation practices, irrigation practices, and adjusting planting dates are the most
important adaptation strategies by smallholder farmers (Akinnagbe, O. M., & Irohibe, I. J.,
2014). However, adaptation decisions are location-specific and influenced by key drivers
such as socioeconomic, environmental, and institutional factors.

Approximately 95% of the food production in the semi-arid region depends on rain-fed
agriculture, which is highly vulnerable to droughts and erratic rainfall (FOA, 2016). This
has triggered Ethiopia's current national adaptation plan to consider combating climate
challenges as a crucial development priority.

Consequently, integrated watershed management was carried out through various projects
and programs, namely the Sustainable Land Management Program (SLMP) and the
Productive Safety Nets Program (PSNP). The programs were implemented on a campaign
basis with little integration and without a comprehensive view of rural landscapes
(Nigussie, G., & Moges, et al., 2019). Consequently, adverse climate change impacts have
continued to be a critical challenge for the sustainability of agriculture in Ethiopia (Adego
et al., 2018).

2.2. Soil and Water Conservation Practice

Soil resources are fundamental to life on Earth and are crucial to sustainable development
(Amundson, R., et al., 2015). The pedosphere is the integral connection interface of the
other Earth's spheres (i.e., the lithosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere)
(Singh, B., & Schulze, D. G., 2015). Soil carries the growth and innovation of life with the
provision, supporting, regulating, and cultural services (FOA & ITPS, 2015; White, 2013),
and thus it has critical relevance to global issues such as food and water security,
biodiversity protection, terrestrial ecosystem services, climate regulation, and human
health (Keesstra, S., et al., 2016). Soil degradation is becoming increasingly severe,

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intensifying the contradiction among population, resources, and the environment, and has
aroused global concern.

The term ‘soil degradation’ is a vague term suggesting that a change in the soil quality
status results in a diminished capacity of the ecosystem to provide goods and services. Soil
degradation is not only a dynamic and complex process (including past, present, and future
degradation processes) but also the typical manifestation of land degradation (Hatfield, J.
L., & Dold, C., 2018). Soil degradation is the loss of soil productivity quantitatively or
qualitatively through various processes like erosion, acidification, salinization, nutrient
depletion, and deterioration of soil physical properties; of which soil erosion is the most
contributing process to unsustainable agricultural productivity in most developing
countries (Zhang, J., & Zhang, J., 2020).

Soil conservation practices involve managing soil erosion and its counterpart process of
sedimentation, reducing its negative impacts and exploiting the new opportunities it
creates. Young (1989) defined soil conservation as a combination of controlling erosion
and maintaining soil fertility.

Inadequate soil moisture directly and/or indirectly destroys the soil ecosystem's structure,
reduces soil biodiversity, declines soil productivity (the capacity of a soil to produce a
certain yield of agricultural crops or other plants), and causes soil desertification,
acidification and compaction (Brady &Weil., 2008). Hence, remote sensing of soil
moisture can help improve our understanding of soil degradation.

Soil and water conservation practice which is asset of practice to prevent and mitigate land
degradation, conserve or safely drain soil and water, and maintain or improve soil fertility.

2.3. Role of Soil and Water Conservation Practice for

Environment

Soil and water conservation practices are a mechanism for reducing the soil loss and risk of
production that has been adopted by the farmers. Accordingly, the adopted soil and water
conservation practices were capable of improving soil physicochemical properties and
enhancing soil productive capacity.

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Conservation is defined as the management of a resource in such a way as to assure that it
will continue to provide maximum benefit to humans over the long run (Mathewos, 2020).
This implies that maintaining viable species populations is necessary to sustain ecological
processes and be responsive to short- and long-term environmental changes. The concept
varies with the type of resource, whether it is renewable or non-renewable. Therefore, for
renewable resources, conservation does not mean reducing the exploitation of the resources
below the rate of replacement. On the other hand, for non-renewable resources,
conservation is the activity of maintaining an adequate supply of these resources well into
the future.

Soil and water conservation practices are important for the environment because they can
enhance the productivity and sustainability of land resources, reduce soil erosion and run-
off, increase soil organic matter and nutrients, and support biodiversity and ecosystem
service. Soil and water conservation practices can also help mitigate the effects of climate
change by improving soil moisture, carbon sequestration, and resilience to drought and
flooding.

2.4. Evaluation and Monitoring Systems of Soil and Water

Conservation Practice

2.4.1. Traditional Methods

Based on the field soil investigation, we can collect some basic information, such as the
spatiotemporal evolution patterns, current development level, and causes of soil
degradation, which are crucial for related studies. However, there are still some limitations
in practical applications because traditional field-based analyses are slow, discontinuous,
and expensive. In addition, some investigations are constrained by topography and vehicle
accessibility (Lobell, 2010). Therefore, repeated acquisitions of soil information are
tedious, especially on a large scale. With the further development of soil degradation-
related studies, accurate, high-resolution, and up-to-date soil information is becoming
urgent and essential. Effectively assessing soil status (especially for soil degradation) is a
great challenge for general pedologists (Shoshany, M., et al., 2022).

In traditional evaluating and monitoring of soil and water conservation practices by

measuring the practice, simply counting and asking of local peoples. Therefore, traditional

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method is laborious and time-consuming and does not get serious data. By using remote
sensing technology, we can measure and evaluate soil and water conservation practice.

2.4.2. Remote Sensing Methods

Since the 1960s, earth observation technology has proliferated, offering unprecedented
data and approaches for detecting useful information for various land applications (Liang
& Wang, 2019). Under the banner of earth observation development, RS technology
provides an alternative perspective for soil degradation assessments (White, 2013).
Compared with field investigation, remote sensing (RS) technology can serve as an
effective alternative, particularly on a large scale. With recent advances in earth
observation and imaging technology, remotely sensed satellite imagery with high
spatiotemporal and spectral resolution is more accessible than ever before Additionally,
there are different ways to classify RS-based data, such as the energy type (passive or
active sensors), the platform (ground-, air-, or space-borne), the region of the spectrum
(optical, thermal infrared, and microwave), and the spectral bands (panchromatic, multi-
spectral, and hyperspectral) (Ivushkin et al., 2019; Li, Leng, et al., 2021). Compared to
conventional field soil investigation, RS presents a series of superiorities: wide view field,
high efficiency, low cost, real-time information acquisition, and periodic surface coverage.
Given the spatial and temporal advantages of remotely sensed images, RS has played an
increasingly important role in soil degradation studies over the last decades Recent
advances in algorithm development and the rise of cloud-based computing and storage
capacity have greatly enhanced the application potential of remote sensing for soil
degradation studies. With all of these improvements, there have been an increasing number
of studies on the subject of soil degradation monitoring and impacts (Wang, J., & Zhen, J.,
et al., 2023).

2.5. Watershed
The watershed is an area of land that serves as a catchment for water. From the watershed,
the surface water then enters a common outlet in the form of either a body of water, such
as a lake, stream, or wetland, or it infiltrates into the groundwater. It is simply an area that
drains surface water from high elevation to low elevation. Watershed analysis is a

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technique essential in the management, conservation, and planning of the earth’s natural
resources (Pande, C. B., Moharir, K. N., & Khadri, S. F. R., 2021).

Traditionally, the watershed is created manually from topographic maps by locating the
water divide. In ArcGIS, the watershed can be delineated using spatial analyst extensions
and hydrology tools for water delineation.

In the past, the concept of watershed management was primarily focused on the control of
resources in medium- or large-scale river valleys in order to slow down excessively rapid
runoff, inordinate soil erosion, and high rates of reservoir siltation, together with
deleterious blast flooding in river courses And nowadays, the central goal of watershed
development or management seems to be to take action to conserve water and soil in order
to enhance ecosystems and satisfy human demands (Tadesse, 2016). Therefore, the
effective and efficient management of biodiversity and the improvement of rural people’s
standard of living are crucial for the success of watershed management. Catchments may
be divided up into sub-watersheds (30-50 km2), mini-watersheds (10-30 km2), micro-
watersheds (5-10 km2), and implementation areas (500-5000 ha), based on the size of the
hydrological unit (Wani, et al., 2011). Thus, for efficient resource management and
sustainability of environmental services, micro watersheds or limited watershed areas are
recommended.

Community participation in the form of micro-watershed management is a facet of

community-based watershed development or management. It helps to maximize livelihood
and human development through the use and conservation of land, water, and vegetation at
household and micro-watershed levels. Effective resource conservation and improved rural
livelihoods have been accomplished as results of integrated and/or community-based
watershed development (Assefa, D., et al., 2017).

2.6. The Basic Variables that Used to Evaluate and Monitor SWC
Practice
2.7.1. Soil moisture
Soil moisture directly affects soil nutrition, gas, and heat conditions. Soil moisture content
influences soil temperature and aeration. Soil temperature and aeration dynamics are lower at high

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soil moisture contents, and vice versa. Soil moisture is closely related to soil degradation (Lal,
2015).

More importantly, the most valuable application of RS relating soil moisture to soil
degradation is the opportunity of monitoring time series, which allows estimating the near-
surface soil moisture state and inferring drought conditions and evaporation. The most
important types of sensors are optical sensors. Optical sensors are very important. Still, all
of them are only capable of monitoring surface soil moisture. The soil moisture retrieval
methods based on different RS datasets have their own features and advantages Optical
RS, as a relatively mature technology, can collect geo-information with high spatial
resolution. However, optical RS data are more used in medium-scale regional studies
because clouds easily decline the imagery quality and affect its temporal resolution.

Soil moisture, especially moisture content, plays a very important role in the management
of water and soil resources (Dobriyal, P., & Qureshi, A., 2012). Soil moisture also plays an
important role in the natural cycle of water, especially in the distribution of rainfall in the
form of surface runoff and surface penetration, which is an important process after
hydrological and geomorphological processes (Chen, X., Zhang, Z., 2009). Retrieving soil
moisture data is important in various applications such as hydrology, climatology, soil
sciences, ecology, and the exchange of energy and water flows. Precise soil moisture is a
key factor in these studies. Remote sensing techniques for soil moisture estimation include
the use of visible, thermal infrared, and active/passive microwave data, each has its own
advantages and disadvantages. However, optical remote sensing is an effective technique
for estimating soil moisture. This method requires the estimation of surface temperature
and vegetation index for soil moisture calculation (Wang and Qu, 2009).

Surface vegetation and land surface temperature (LST) have a complex dependence on soil
moisture. (Carlson et al., 1994, and Gillies et al., 997) showed that combining these two
indicators can be used to estimate soil moisture with acceptable accuracy. Soil moisture
changes have considerable effects on the thermal properties of the soil. In other words,
daily temperature variations are highly correlated with soil moisture content. (Wang, L., &
Qu,J. J., 2009).Combined soil moisture content with LST and NDVI indices, which were
derived from land surface temperature and vegetation indices, respectively. The results
showed a high correlation with ground-based observations.

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In the fields of remote sensing and agriculture, estimating soil moisture using derived
remote sensing indices has generated interest. Several studies have looked at estimating
soil moisture levels and tracking variations in soil moisture content using several remote
sensing indices.

A soil moisture observation measurement has been assumed to be important for hydrology
research and many other scientific fields (Zan et al., 2018). The most classic way to
measure soil moisture is the gravimetric method. But this method is not appropriate for
monitoring soil moisture. Then the development of frequency domain reflectometry
sensors (FDR) and time domain reflectometry (TDR) sensors made fast, reliable, and
automated soil moisture monitoring possible (Skierucha et al., 2010). Even though these
dielectric sensors are convenient for measuring soil moisture, this method also has
limitations for monitoring spatial soil moisture data. To overcome this problem, remote
sensing technology to measure soil moisture on the ground was required. At first, a passive
microwave sensor was developed and set up on the satellite. The characteristics of passive
microwave sensor data are dense temporal resolution and coarse spatial resolution. And
also, the data from passive microwave sensors is largely affected by vegetation and
weather conditions (Das, N. N., & Entekhabi et al., 2019). Passive microwave sensors
proved their reliability in many studies; however, the coarse resolution of the data was
pointed out as the biggest limit for the application of satellite-based soil moisture data. For
that reason, high-resolution soil moisture data is required.

Sentinel data has a very high resolution (10 m–1 km), which is achieved using an active
microwave sensor. And some verification has been reported that a satellite-based SAR
sensor is available to estimate soil moisture content on the ground surface (Wang, L., &
Qu, J. J., 2009). According to the theory, the backscattering value of the SAR sensor is
closely related to the dielectric constant. Water in the soil increases the dielectric constant
of the soil, which results in a strong reaction of the backscattering signal (Moran et al.,
2000). But the backscattering signal is also affected by vegetation and surface roughness.
This obviously appears in the mountainous areas, which have thick vegetation and bumpy
surface. So the many studies using SAR data to observe soil moisture are done on bare soil
area or sparsely vegetated area.

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 2.6.2. Land Surface Temperature
Land surface temperature is also highly variable in space, mainly due to soil properties;
topography, agricultural practices, and land cover heterogeneity. Space-borne
optical/thermal sensors can help retrieve high-resolution surface parameters. Several
studies (Lobell & Asner 2002, Fensholt and Sandholt 2003, Yue et al. 2019) found that
soil and plant water content greatly influence the reflection in the shortwave infrared
(SWIR) part of the spectrum. The SWIR, combined with the near-infrared (NIR)
reflectance, which is affected by internal leaf structure and leaf dry matter content but not
by water content, will enhance the LST retrieval from reflectance. The NDSWIR is a
satellite-derived index constructed from the NIR and SWIR channels. The NDSWIR
product is dimensionless and varies between -1 and +1. Sentinel-2-based NDSWIR
composite is produced daily using a weighted backward Gaussian. Subsequently, the
Sentinel-2-based NDSWIR composite is integrated into the downscaling framework when
attributing the weight of a brightness temperature per pixel within the footprint (in addition
to the 2D Gaussian distribution). The output format is similar to the output of the
downscaling algorithm without Sentinel-2 input.

LST and evapotranspiration are usually calculated based on satellite images that have a
thermal band. Landsat 8 and Terra (MODIS sensor) are among the satellites that have
thermal bands and are freely available. Landsat 8 has nine spectral bands with a spatial
resolution of 15– 30 m and two thermal bands with a spatial resolution of 100 m. The
relatively long revisit time of Landsat 8 (16 days) is one of its main drawbacks because in
many cases, LST data are needed at shorter intervals. MODIS sensors installed on the
Aqua and Terra satellites have 36 bands. MODIS has thermal bands with a spatial
resolution of 1000 m and a daily revisit period (Gao, F., & Hilker, et al., 2015). The coarse
spatial resolution of these images is a limitation for their use for agricultural water
management, especially in areas where most farms are small. Considering the mentioned
limitations of Landsat 8 and MODIS images, attempts have been made to estimate LST
and evapotranspiration using satellite images without thermal bands but with appropriate
spatial and temporal resolutions (Calera et al., 2017; Vanino et al., 2018). Sentinel -2 has
13 spectral bands with a spatial resolution of 10–60 m. The satellite has no thermal band
and takes images every 5 days (Rauf & Pasra, 2020). The spectral bands of the Sentinel - 2

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and Landsat 8 satellites are very similar (Li, J., & Roy, D. P., 2017). The time difference
between the imaging of these satellites is half an hour (Claverie et al., 2018). Since
Sentinel -2 does not have a thermal band, it is not possible to directly estimate the LST
based on its images.

(G Yin, C. L., 2020) proposed a method for calculating LST using spectral bands. They
obtained the relationship between LST and spectral bands of Landsat 8 in regions with
high spatial resolution. Then, LST was estimated with the spatial resolution of spectral
bands. They used Landsat 8 thermal bands and drone data to calculate LST. (Filgueiras et
al. 2019) used different algorithms to investigate the relationship between LST and
spectral bands of Sentinel 2. They concluded that the LST could be accurately estimated
using the Sentinel 2 spectral bands. (Guzinski and Nieto, 2019) showed that the accuracy
of LST estimation using spectral bands is higher than that using latent heat, sensible heat,
ground heat and evapotranspiration.

These are some of the indices that indirectly estimate LST by using Sentinel-2. There are
also other methods that use multiple bands, regression models, or machine learning
algorithms to estimate LST from Sentinel-2 data. However, these methods require more
complex processing and calibration, and they may not be applicable to all regions or
conditions. I hope this information was helpful.

2.6.3. Vegetation Health Indices

Foliar chemistry is the most advanced tool available for studying forest health. Since
numerous biochemical activities, including photosynthesis, respiration, and litter
decomposition, is related to the foliar chemistry of trees, estimates of the foliar chemistry
of canopies offer a better understanding of how forest ecosystems function. Numerous
observables related to forest health, including nitrogen concentrations and carbon
concentrations, have been studied thanks to the utilisation of high-spectral-resolution data
(Daughtry et al., 2001) and leaf pigments (Gitelson et al., 2002).

Disadvantage of remote sensing in forest health assessment mainly arise from quality and
interpretation issues. The quality of modern remote sensing instruments has improved
remarkably, however, unfortunately the advancement in algorithm development and
verification are not at the same level. Algorithms used to retrieve end-user products such as

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chlorophyll content have to be validated using field measurements. Algorithms are used
worldwide, but the field measurements used in their validation often covers only some
specific area. Therefore it is not unusual that algorithms fail to produce reliable results at
certain climate zone or geographic location.

Many vegetation indices have been developed to assess vegetation condition. Among
them, the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), which was proposed by (Rouse
et al., 1973), is a numerical indicator that uses the visible and near-infrared bands of the
electromagnetic spectrum to analyze whether the target area contains live green vegetation
or not. Healthy vegetation absorbs most of the visible light that falls on it, thereby
reflecting a large portion of the NIR. The NDVI value falls between -1 and +1, where
increasing positive values indicate increasing green vegetation and a vegetative value
indicates non-vegetated surface features such as water, barren land, ice, snow, or a cloud.

Many vegetation indices have been developed to assess vegetation conditions. Among
them, the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), which was proposed by (Rouse
et al., 1973), is a numerical indicator that uses the visible and near-infrared bands of the
electromagnetic spectrum to analyse whether the target area contains live green vegetation
or not. Healthy vegetation absorbs most of the visible light that falls on it, thereby
reflecting a large portion of the NIR.

Sentinel-2 is able to acquire images through 13 spectral bands. Through the main bands
(the visible and infrared), it acquires images with a spatial resolution of up to 10 meters,
unlike Landsat-8, which reaches only a 30 meter resolution. Sentinel-2 is also able to
acquire images with a spatial resolution of 20 meters through a series of spectral bands in
the near infrared (Band 5, Band 6, Band 7, and Band 8a). These bands are very useful,
especially for the study of agriculture and vegetation. Through their use, it is possible to
generate a series of indexes, for instance, related to the presence of chlorophyll (which has
a very strong response in the infrared), useful for the discrimination and classification of
the type of covering present on a territory.

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3. Conclusion
In conclusion, the evaluation of soil and water conservation practices using remote sensing
indices offers a valuable and efficient approach to monitoring the effectiveness of these
practices in mitigating soil erosion and preserving water resources. By analyzing changes
in vegetation health and cover, as well as soil moisture levels, researchers can assess the
impact of conservation measures such as terracing, contour plowing, and cover cropping
on soil stability and water retention.

Remote sensing indices such as Normalizes Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Soil
adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), and Normalized
Difference Water Index (NDWI) provide important insights into the health of vegetation
and soil moisture content, which are key indicators of soil erosion control and water
conservation. The ability to track these indices over time allows for the identification of
areas at risk of degradation and the assessment of the success of conservation efforts.

The use of remote sensing indices in evaluating soil and water conservation practices
offers a non-invasive, cost-effective, and scalable method for monitoring land management
strategies. This information can inform decision-making processes to improve
conservation strategies, promote sustainable land use practices, and ensure the long-term
health of ecosystems. By leveraging remote sensing technology, we can better protect our
natural resources and support the resilience of our landscapes for future generations. By
implementing these soil and water conservation practices, we can protect the environment,
conserve natural resources, and promote sustainable land management practices for the
benefit of current and future generations.

Overall, evaluation underscores the critical role of these practices in protecting the
environment and ensuring sustainable land management practices for the benefit of present
and future generations.

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