Under the guardianship of Prof. Dr. Hasan Shakir Majdi, Dean of Al-Mustaqbal University College, and within the constant efforts to achieve the requirements of Sustainable Development Goals of the UNDP, the Department of Building & Construction Technical Engineering organized a scientific seminar on Thursday 17th June 2021, at 09:00 p.m. via Free Conference Call Platform, entitled
“Detection & Observation of Dunes in Babylon Governorate through the use of Remote Sensing and GIS Technology”
The lecturer of the seminar was the academic Dr. Mohammed Latif Hussein.
It has been noticed that sand encroachment in the area that has been selected for the study, and during specific periods, is witnessing a rapid increase, moving from Northwest to Southeast as per the direction of wind.
The study aims to achieve the following objectives:
1. Mapping and following up the rate of dunes movement as well as their growth and direction in the Governorate.
2. Drawing the attention to the fact that Dunes movement is threatening all aspects of life, including housing, transportability, local plants, and herding lands. In addition, this phenomenon is endangering the health of humans along with animals, and meanwhile affecting air quality.
Accordingly, these dunes shall be stabilized through the use of normal methods, such as covering them with drought-resistant vegetation, or spraying them with asphalt materials so as to reduce their impact on populated areas as well as herding and farming lands.
At the end of the seminar, some concepts have been discussed and replying to questions and inquiries raised by the participants.