استخدامات الأرض في حوضة العراد (حوض بردى)‎

Abstract EN

Different areas in Damascus countryside have undergone serious land use changes.

This is because of direct and indirect relations with the capital Damascus.

These changes occurred because of demographic, economic, tourism and cadastral changes.

Arrad Sub-basin is one of Barada river sub-basins which is close to Damascus.

The lower, central and upper parts of Arrad sub-basin are 15 to 35 km North West of Damascus.

The function and land use of large areas of this sub-basin have changed dramatically from agriculture and grazing purposes to urban, tourism commercial and industrial purposes.

This research aims: 1- to define the natural and human factors related to the land use, 2- to analyze the current land use situation in this subbasin through thematic land use maps production (level one and two of land use classification) scale 1/25000.

Produced maps from satellite images visual interpretation showed that, in the human uses, the urban is the dominant land use type (63%) followed by the agricultural uses (24%).

The urban increment in the subbasin related to lands business in the area, increment in tourism and entertainment establishments and increment in commercial and industrial establishments.

The noticeable geographical feature in this sub-basin is that the natural components uses are changing to human uses.

This is a negative indicator from the geographical and environmental point of view if the basin is not managed in a correct way.