Due to changes in human existence, a variety of environmental issues have gotten worse in Iraq over the past few decades, with desertification being one of them. As a result, a geographic database with both spatial and non-spatial data has been developed for the study area. The attributes of the non-spatial data are generally produced from on-the-ground observations made during field surveys, as well as by utilizing the data and publications that are currently available. The geographic data consists of thematic maps produced from topographic and remote sensing data. The current study's spatial data was integrated with thematic maps made from Landsat and OLI, utilizing Arc GIS's new version 10.8 categorization, to assess the factors that influence desertification. Its components include the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), the Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI), the Salinity Index (SI), the Eolin Mapping Index (EMI), In the current work, a systematic study was done to assess the environmental sensitivity to desertification in of Dhi Qar province, southern region of Iraq, using integrated approach of GIS and remote sensing A methodology for evaluating the sensitivity areas to desertification in the study area has been developed in the present work using MEDALUS model in GIS. Conceptually, the model is based on the relationship between a number of parameters that are directly related to desertification including Soil Quality Index (SQI), Climate Quality Index (CQI) Vegetation quality index (VQI) and Manage Quality Index (MQI ( The resulting Environmental Sensitivity areas to desertification map shows the entire research region is classified into five zones according to their propensity for desertification: extremely high, high, moderate, and low. The results demonstrated that sensitivity areas to desertification is most prevalent in the north and west of the study region due to the prevalence of sand dunes and salt, whereas as move closer to the city center due to rainfall, plentiful vegetation, and water, desertification diminishes.
