გვალვების უარყოფითი ეკოლოგიური და ეკონომიკური ზეგავლენის შეფასების სირთულეები საქართველოში Article Swipe
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· 2025
· Open Access
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· DOI: https://doi.org/10.36073/1512-0902-2025-136-109-119
· OA: W4413080144
Drought is one of the main challenges of climate risks in Georgia, the intensity and spread of which have increased significantly in recent decades due to climate change. The aim of the study is to assess the ecological and economic impact of drought and identify irrigated lands using drought (SPI, SPEI, EDI) and vegetation indices (NDVI, NDMI). The data analysis is based on climate information for 1991-2020, obtained from meteorological stations of the National Environment Agency and visualizations based on SENTINEL2 satellite data. The study revealed that the correlation of drought indices with vegetation indices in Eastern Georgia is low, especially in natural landscapes, which is due to the variability of temperature and precipitation in the region. In contrast to the humid climatic conditions of Western Georgia, in Eastern Georgia there is a tendency for the correlation of SPI and SPEI indices to decrease with increasing rainfall periods. It was also revealed that NDVI and NDMI indices are more sensitive in the case of areas covered with agrarian, annual crops, which indicates a high response of these crops to drought. An important finding was that a significant part of officially non-irrigated plots can actually be considered irrigated based on the high correlation of the indices. In particular, 48.3% of non-irrigated plots in Telavi Municipality have NDVI/NDMI indices in high agreement with irrigated areas, which may indicate informal irrigation practices. At the same time, 43.2% of the indices show a sharp decrease, which puts them in a state of high drought sensitivity. The research made it possible to assess the efficiency of irrigation systems and identify informal irrigation, which is an important basis for better management of water resources and sustainable development of agriculture.
