Monitoring the Environmental Changes in Damascus GHOTA between 1989 and 2001 using Remote Sensing Techniques and Geographic Information System (GIS)

This study was conducted to evaluate the present situation of GHOT and to monitor the land use and environmental changes between 1989 and 2001. The research work depended on interpreting multi-temporal satellite images and using geographic information system (GIS), the changes of land use in the area were described. The areas of these different land use types were calculated and a map was prepared for the present land use. Depending on this map the areas of urban expansion, polluted area and degraded areas were defined. Results showed that the main factor that led to land use changes in the area is due to the imbalance in the ecosystem; where the available water resources in Damascus basin are less than the required water for the huge number of population in the basin. The ecosystem imbalance problems encompass the wrong environmental practices and breaking of environmental regulations. The most dangerous practices are: the ground water over depletion, fresh water pollution, cement mass expansion in the orchards and soil fertility decrease. Suggestions and recommendations were concluded and distributed to different governmental bodies involved in the problem, like urban planning, water resources, agriculture, land use and environmental bodies