Monitoring of sustainable land management using remotely sensed vegetation cover, NSW, 2010-2021

This dataset provides maps and data that identify the sustainability of land management over NSW over the period 2010 to 2021. It is based on a new method for monitoring sustainable land management using widely available remotely sensed data: MODIS fractional vegetation cover data. The method relies on maintaining sufficient vegetation cover to prevent hillslope water erosion beyond tolerable soil erosion targets. The targets were based on long-term natural erosion rates plus a small constant and are spatially and temporally variable. Results were initially generated for individual months then were amalgamated into yearly sustainable land management indices (SLMI), presented as raster maps (100 m spatial resolution). These results were further stratified by land uses and natural resource management regions, revealing useful data and trends. Data on rainfall patterns over the preceding 12 months (relative rainfall index, RRI) can aid interpretation of the results. The method and sample results were presented in an international journal paper: Gray et al. (2023). Monitoring of sustainable land management using remotely sensed vegetation cover and variable tolerable soil erosion targets across New South Wales, Australia. https://doi.org/10.1111/sum.12876