Ludepa, a joint project of Germany and Argentina to fight against desertificaron in Patagonia

Abstract

Desertification affects seriously most of Patagonia. To assess the extent of this process we studied LANDSAT MSS images of about three million hectares of the Central District of Santa Cruz province (Argentina). Landscape units were digitized from screen. Subsets of the LANDSAT image were obtained for each landscape unit and classification was performed. Ground check included estimation of water and wind erosión and vegetation degradation. About 75% of the area is affected seriously by desertification. Susceptibility and altematives for sustainable use of each landscape unit are discussed. Most of the affected area should be protected and sheep grazing excluded.