## 4 Results
The evolution analysis of the built area in Al Baha region indicates a great increase during the study period (2017-2021) (Figures 7, 8b and 9b). The maps of Figure 8b indicate a small increase in built areas at the scale of the study area of 2.02 km\({}^{2}\). In 2018/2019, a very remarkable decrease in the built area of Alaqiq and Baljurish district by 2.98 km\({}^{2}\) (from 135.80 to 101.97 km\({}^{2}\)) and 5.94 km\({}^{2}\) (from 104.9 to 129.86 km\({}^{2}\)) (Figures 8b and 9b). This decrease may be a result of the demolition of buildings and fragile villages and planned reconstruction in the future for the sake of economic visions. Figure 7: Change in area (km\({}^{2}\)) of each class of land cover of Al Baha region. According to Figure 7, a great increase in built area in Al Baha region from the year 2019 to 2021 or between 2017 and 2021 was estimated at 144 km\({}^{2}\) (from 516.5 to 661.07 km\({}^{2}\)). For example, Qelwah district has known an increase by 160% (from 16.97 to 44.16 km\({}^{2}\)), followed by Elmelkhuah by 93% (from 24.25 to 44.87 km\({}^{2}\)) (Figures 8b and 9b). Moreover, at Alaqiq, Alatawlah, Baljurish, ELBahah, and Elmandaq, an increase of built area was observed between 16 and 32%. Figure 8: _Cont._  
Figure 8: Change in area of (**a**) water bodies/river; (**b**) built area and road; (**c**) desert rangeland; (**d**) bare ground/rocky mountain; (**e**) crops; (**f**) trees and (**g**) flooded vegetation. In the year 2017/2018, the desert rangeland was estimated at approximately 9812.3 km\({}^{2}\) at scale of Al Baha region, with a small increase in the next year by 43 km\({}^{2}\), which reached 9856.32 km\({}^{2}\) (Figures 7, 8c and 9c). After 2018-2019, the desert rangeland has augmented approximately by 213 km\({}^{2}\), with a total growth of 256 km\({}^{2}\) (Figures 7, 8c and 9c). This increase in 2019/2020 was observed in Alaqiq, Alatawlah, Baljurish, Elmelkhwah, and Qelwah by 50.69, 55.25, 25.46, 40.92, and 103.66 km\({}^{2}\), respectively (Figure 8c). Conversely, ELBahah has known a diminution on desert rangeland with 17.91 km\({}^{2}\) from 2017/2018 (Figures 7, 8c and 9c). In 2019/2020, the area of desert rangeland was 10,068.59 km\({}^{2}\), and it decreased to 10,048.98 km\({}^{2}\) by 20 km\({}^{2}\) in 2020-2021. In the 2021-2022, the area of desert rangeland also has been declined from 10048.98 km\({}^{2}\) to 9972.92 km\({}^{2}\) by 76 km\({}^{2}\), which indicates a decrease in desert rangeland by 160.5 km\({}^{2}\) between 2017 and 2021 (Figures 7, 8c and 9c). Figure 9: The change in area (km\({}^{2}\)) of each class by district for the years 2018–2019, 2019–2020, 2020–2021, and 2021–2022 compared to the year 2017–2018 (for example, the change area of 2018–2019 = the area of 2018–2019—the area of 2017–2018). The analysis of the obtained results revealed that the area of bare ground/rocky mountain in 2017/2018 was 759.6 km\({}^{2}\). After one year (2018/2019), the area bare ground/rocky mountains has decreased by 42.63 (from 759.6 to 716.99 km\({}^{2}\)) (Figures 7, 8d and 9d). The year 2019/2020 was known as an exceptional and remarkable year where the bare ground/rocky mountain area has been decreased significantly by 326.68 km\({}^{2}\) from 716.99 km\({}^{2}\) (2018/2019) to 432.95 km\({}^{2}\) (2019/2020), where the total area continued declining to 394.52 km\({}^{2}\) for 2020/2021 (Figures 7, 8d and 9d). On the other hand, the bare ground/rocky mountain area augmented by 44.23 km\({}^{2}\) in 2021/2022 from 394.52 km\({}^{2}\) to 438.74 km\({}^{2}\). Overall, the bare ground/rocky mountain area has decreased by approximately 40% at scale of Al Baha region in the 2017-2021 period (Figures 7, 8d and 9d). Moreover, at the scale of the district of Al Baha region as Qelwah, Elmelkhwah, Elmandaq Baljurish and Alaqiq, the bare ground/rocky mountain area has been reduced by 80.61, 68.23, 56.26, 36.57 and 23.28%, where the year 2019/2020 is the most impacted year (Figures 7, 8d and 9d). The crop area was estimated at 10.39 km\({}^{2}\) in the 2017/2018 year.