Combined use of satellite remote sensing and gis to support land-use planning and management of At-Tif- al-Faza Coastal area, Red Sea, Yemen

الملخص EN

The objective of this study is to support sound planning and sustainable development of the At-Tif to AlFaza coastal area along Red Sea, Yemen.

This area is characterized by its unique coastal ecosystems and rich benthic habitats for example coral reef, sea grasses and algae.

Multidate landsat imagery acquired by Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) and other preceding sensors (MSS and TM) during the period from 1972 to 2009 were used as a source of information for mapping and extraction of different thematic geo-environmental information on the study area.

A field survey was conducted in August 2010 to gather information on study area and to verify some existing remotely sensed elements.

Results obtained from remote sensing analysis and ground surveys were used to build an environment database and GIS layers for the study area.

These layers and other gathered information on geology, grain-size distribution of the coastal sediments, bathymetry and possible natural hazard, were used to build an environmental sensitivity model for the study area An environmental sensitivity index was prepared, this sensitivity was classified into the high, medium and low environmental sensitivity on the basis of sensitivity to anthropogenic activities.

The medium and low environmental sensitivity, land use land cover, shoreline Slope and DEM have been used for the delineation of the suitable sites for potential sustainable development.

The best suitable sites for the sustainable ecotourism development were determined in the north of At-Tif village, AlFaz and At-Tif spit.