Assessing morphological landscape carrying capacity for coastal areas in Kuwait

Abstract

An evaluation study on intrinsic carrying capacity was carried out explicitly and implicitly for morphological landscape for coastal interface. Multiple data layers were used to create a carrying capacity layer which was adjusted using sensitive y factors to support determination of setback distances from the coastline. <span style="mso-font-kerning:.5pt;mso-ansi-language:EN-IN;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold">From the percentage of area covered by each carrying capacity classes within each 1 km buffer zone, continued till 10 km from coastline shows the increasing trend of carrying capacity when the distance increases. 20% increase can be seen compared to the first buffer zone (Buffer zone at 1km) and the last buffer zone (Buffer zone at 10 km). But 60% of the land is under “Low” to “No carrying capacity classes”. It was observed that the ecological sensitivity was more near the coastline and kept reducing when the distance increases for the coastline. In the 1 km buffer zone nearly 80% area were considered as highly sensitive area whereas in the 10 km buffer zone only 60% area were coming under medium to high sensitivity classes. Within 3 km buffer distance from coastline, nearly 65% to 75% area was occupied by medium to high ecological sensitivity classes. <span style="mso-font-kerning:.5pt;mso-ansi-language:EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-weight:bold">

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