Four steps are distinguished, for each of which LDD will appoint a staff member as
the coordinator:
1. Inventory of the relevant environmental properties, following a concept of early
warning or prediction of land degradation hazards (e.g., erosion, landslides,
flooding), and collection, processing and analysis of environmental observations.
2. Establishing preset thresholds on the observed parameters for ranking purposes.
Use will be made of an expert system and indigenous knowledge.
3. Integrating the variables in a GIS environment to develop models. Research
should show the right type of inference engine for a decision support system to
be applied.
4. Implementing the results in the form of scenarios (land-use planning). To follow
the National Plan, 107 pilot Tambons (communes) will be proposed by LDD.
The above four steps can be further detailed as follows:
A preliminary land degradation map of the whole watershed will be prepared at
reconnaissance level, indicating the major degradation types. This may include the
preparation of geopedological and land use or cover maps.
• Pilot areas will be selected for detailed study, preferably at subwatershed level.
The number of pilot areas may vary, depending upon the type of problem.
• In the pilot areas a detailed land degradation assessment will be carried out.
Minimum data sets on climate, soil, land cover and land use will be collected and
the effects of land management and socio-economic factors on land degradation
will be assessed. In addition, wishes and preferences with respect to land uses
expressed by the end users (farmers) will be collected through interviews.
• Indigeneous knowledge will be studied in the area under study and in similar
adjacent areas.
• Relevant databases, e.g. for soils, land use, socio-economic data, will be set up,
with the possibility of spatial linkage between socio-economic and land use
system data (Funnpheng et al. 1994).
• A set of relevant research questions to be answered by thorough scientific analysis
will be identified.
• Land degradation features in the pilot areas will be mapped and quantified and
land degradation hazards will be assessed.
• An erosion model will be applied in a GIS environment; preferably a model with a
more solid physical basis than the empirical Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE),
which would needs several adaptations in the parameters (Shrestha 1997).
• The model results will be validated with actual data, such as the Chiangmai and
Nam Nao soil erosion data.
• A land degradation hazard map will be generated for the whole watershed,
following a modified version of the GLASOD approach and a decision tree model
(Shrestha et al. 2004) to identify the degree, areal extent, main processes and causal
factors of land degradation.
• Land use plans will be prepared following the six-pillar sustainability model,
with a focus on social acceptability, that is, taking into account the end users’
preferences.