Gully erosion is a serious obstacle in India’s land degradation neutrality mission

India is famous for her badlands. These vast, intensely degraded landscapes occur extensively across Central and Western India, wherein they have had several adverse effects on both environment and society. However, accurate information on their current spatial extents, as well as the spatial distribution and severity of gully erosion elsewhere in the country was hitherto lacking. Considering that India has planned to effectively halt land degradation by 2030 in line with the agenda of the United Nations, and as precise spatial data is indispensable in planning and implementing land management interventions, we have created an exhaustive spatial inventory of gully erosion features in India by recording their location, extents and current management status from high-resolution satellite imagery available on Google Earth Pro. Through this first of its kind mapping endeavour and attendant spatial analysis, we have recorded the presence of gully landforms in 19 of India’s 28 states and the National Capital Region of Delhi and have estimated the total gullied area in the country between 7,451 and 8,157 km². According to our results, states occupying 38% of Indian territory (viz., Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh) are affected by 92% of the total gullied area of the country. We have noted a clear east-west divide in terms of the relative dominance of the mapped gully erosion features, with badlands being common in Western India and gully systems being the dominant gully feature in the east. A similar observation has interestingly also been made as regards gully management, with the major proportion of unmanaged gully erosion features occurring in Eastern India. Ultimately, we have identified 77 districts across India where urgent rehabilitative intervention is required, more than 70% of which are in Eastern and Southern India where unmanaged (active) gullies are common. That contemporary gully erosion in Eastern India poses a more serious land management challenge than that of the vast badlands of Central and Western India is a truly unexpected finding of our analysis. Our mapped data and analytical results shall be integral to efforts aiming to ameliorate the land degradation caused by gully erosion across India by supporting policymaking and planning at the governmental level and serving as useful guidance for land managers and practitioners on the ground.