Assessment of Land Use/ Land Cover Change Using GIS and Remote Sensing Techniques: A Case Study of Dendi District, Oromiya Regional State, Ethiopia

This study was conducted to assess change in land use/ land cover in Dendi District, Oromiya regional sate Ethiopia.  To conduct this study three periods of land sat images (Landsat4-5TM1984, Landsat7ETM+2000 and Landsat 8OLI/TIRS 2017) was used. In addition, field observation, focus group discussion and key informant were employed. Google Earth and global position system (GPS) have been used for ground verification.   Data was analyzed by using Arcgis10.1, ERDAS imagie9.3 and Microsoft excels 2007 software. The result revealed in study period there is continuous expansion of cultivated land, which increases with rate of 570.6 hectare per year at the expanse of grassland bush/shrub land and forest areas. While forestland, bush/shrub land ,grassland and water reduce with rate of 93.5 hectare per year, 156.1 hectare per year ,318.5 hectare per year and 2.5 hectare per year respectively.  This implies that in study area there loss of vegetation because of expansion of cultivated land. This study recommends applying appropriate land management practices to reverse the undesirable land use/ land cover change in the District. Keywords: Dendi District, Ethiopia, Land use/ land cover, GIS & Remote sensing

Land Use/Land Cover Dynamics in Upper Ribb Watershed, Lake Tana Sub Basin, Ethiopia

Population growth causes land and water resources degradation in the Ethiopian highlands by changing the land use and land cover of the area. Land use/land cover change has been one of the factors responsible for altering the hydrologic response of watersheds. Various water resources projects planning and implementation will require knowledge of the extent of these changes on catchment hydrology. This study assesses the land use and land cover dynamics in Upper Ribb watershed. The land use land cover change analyses for three different years of 1973, 1995 and 2016 were performed using ERDAS Imagine 2014. An accuracy assessment was done for the 2016 land use and land cover classification and the Kappa coefficient, K= 0.92 which indicates the perfect classification. During  this  study  most  parts  of the bush/shrub  land  were  changed  to  grazing and cultivated land. The overall 43 years period (1973 – 2016) study shows that there was a dramatic increase of cultivated lands with 29.947%.  On the other hand bush/shrub lands were decreased by 34.195% for this study period. Keywords: Upper Ribb watershed, ERDAS Imagine, Land use/cover, dynamics. DOI: 10.7176/JEES/10-2-01 Publication date: February 29th 202

Urban Forest Change Detection in Endayesus Area, Tigray, Ethiopia

Urban forests are one of the crucial ecosystems for sustainability, by which they provide carbon sequestration, microclimate regulation, recreation and other ecosystem services. To attain the benefits and ensure the livability of urban areas communities and governments have been putting efforts to increase coverage of urban forests. Based on that, this paper aimed to detect forest cover change and contribution of forestry practices in enhancing forest cover of Endayesus urban forest area. Aerial photos were obtained from Ethiopian mapping agency and planning office of Mekele city. Other data were collected from randomly selected 196 sample households and purposively selected 20 officials using questionnaire and interview checklists. Descriptive statistics, SPSS and GIS software were used for analysis and generating figurative and spatial outputs. The study confirmed forest cover in Endayesus increased by 1387.43% from 1965 to 2009. However, existence of bare and bush land use types exist substantially. Exclosing the catchment, plantations, public education and tree management activities contributed in improving forest cover of the area. There should have to be land cover/use plan prepared in a way to maximize the benefits of urban forests within the area based on established multiple criteria. In addition, further research is needed in modeling the possible damage to Mekele city under vegetated and non-vegetated scenarios of Endayesus area in different climatic conditions. Keywords: urban forest cover, vegetation cover and urban forestry activities DOI: 10.7176/JRDM/83-01 Publication date:March 31st 202

Spatio-temporal land use/cover dynamics and its implication for sustainable land use in Wanka watershed, northwestern highlands of Ethiopia

Long-term land use and land cover (LULC) dynamics information is essential to understand the trends and make necessary land management interventions, such as in the highlands of Ethiopia. This study analyzed six decades of LULC dynamics of Wanka watershed, Northwestern Ethiopian highlands. Two sets of aerial photographs (1957 and 2017), SPOT 5 and sentinel satellite imageries were analyzed. In addition, key informant interviews, focus group discussions and field observations were used to identify the drivers and impact of LULC change. It was found that cultivated and rural settlement land (CRSL), bare land, and urban built up area have been continuously expanded at the expenses of mainly forest and shrub lands. Over the entire study period (1957–2017) while the bare land and CRSL have increased by about 59% and 20% respectively, forest and shrub lands have declined by 59% and 57% respectively. Urban built up area has also expanded. The impact of popula- tion pressure and expansion of CRSL land were considerable. The trend of LULC dynamics in the study watershed implies adverse impact on the quality and quantity of the land resource. Hence, appropriate land use planning and strategies that reduce expansion of cultivated land need to be practiced

Land use land cover change detection in Gibe Sheleko National Park, Southwestern Ethiopia

Purpose. The main aim of the study was to assess land use land cover change detection (LULCC) from 1990 to 2016 in case of Gibe Sheleko National Park (GSNP), Southwestern Ethiopia. Methodology / approach. Multi-temporal Landsat images and topographic map were acquired in 2016. Field observation using GPS was carried out to generate the ground truth points for image classification and accuracy assessment from December 2016 to June 2017. A total 200 GPS points were purposively collected. The data were analysis by using ERDAS IMGINE 2010 and ArcGIS 10.3.1 software. Supervised classification was carried out to identify the overall land use land cover class. Results. Forest land was rapidly declined with average of 478.5 ha/year for the last 27 years. This revealed that over 66.8 % of forest was diminished from 1990 to 2016 due to anthropogenic factors in the study area. Bush & shrub land was upraised from 12600 ha (31.5 %) to 20600 ha (51.5 %) from 1990 to 2016. Grazing land and bare land was also showed an increment of 3500 ha and 2240 ha with average increment of 134.6 ha/year and 86.5 ha/year respectively from 1990 to 2016. This indicated as most forest land was changed in to bush & shrub land due to human induced factors. Hence, it brings negative effects on the wildlife conservation and socio-economic development. Originality / scientific novelty. This study is orginal research finding by employ above indicated methedology and stated the last 27 years land use land cover change of Gibe Sheleko National Park for fist time. It also discovered that the rate of land use land cover change in the study area for the past 27 years. Practical value / implications. The main results of the study of land cover change can be used to ensure planning to be sustainable and integrated management of the natural resources. Participatory management practice should be implemented in the study area to regenerate the changed land use type

Impact of Land Use/Land Cover Change on Reservoir Sedimentation: The Case of Ribb Dam Reservoir, Lake Tana Sub Basin, Ethiopia

The land and water resources of the Lake Tana Sub Basin basin is in danger due to soil erosion, sediment transport, land degradation and storage capacity reduction. There is a need for sediment transport research of this basin that can improve catchment’s management programs. This study assesses the impact of land use and land cover change effects on reservoir sedimentation using SWAT model in Upper Ribb watershed. The land use and land cover change analyses for three different years of 1973, 1995 and 2016 were performed using ERDAS Imagine 2014 which was in turn used for estimation of sediment yield. In this study the bush/shrub land were changed to grazing and cultivated land. An increase of cultivated land by 29.947% over 43 years (1973 – 2016) period resulted in an increase of sediment yield by 343.25 t/km2/year respectively. Model calibration and validation for sediment yield were done at Abo Bahir. The performance of the model was also checked at this station. Both the  monthly calibration and  validation  results  showed  good  match between  measured  and  simulated  sediment yield data  with  the  coefficient  of determination  (R2)  of  0.857, Nash-Sutcliffe  efficiency  (NSE)  0.832  for  the calibration,  and  R2 of 0.834  and NSE  of 0.796 of  the  validation  period. Spatial sediment distribution was done using the calibrated and validated sediment yield results of 2016 land use. High potential source areas were found at north-eastern part of the watershed which was a combined result of highly cultivated land, steep slope and erosive soil (Eutric Leptosols). Therefore, these critical sub- watersheds should preserve from further exposing of soil erosion through either forest resource development or uncultivated the steeply slope areas. And also the increasing/expanding bushes/shrub land should also be encouraged in the watershed first by applying for those most erosion prone sub watersheds. Keywords: Upper Ribb watershed, SWAT, sediment yield, spatial sediment distribution. DOI: 10.7176/CER/12-5-01 Publication date:May 31st 202

The Effect of Land Use Land Cover Change on Land Degradation in the Highlands of Ethiopia

Land use and land cover change through inappropriate agricultural practices and high human and livestock population pressure have led to severe land degradation in the Ethiopian highlands. This has led to further degradation such as biodiversity loss, deforestation, soil erosion and soil quality. Agricultural and economic growth in Ethiopia is constrained by the deteriorating natural resource base, especially in the highlands where 80% of the population lives. This threat stems from the depletion and degradation of the vegetation cover of the country. Loss of biodiversity is associated with land use/land cover changes that are related to a range of biophysical and socio-economic drivers. The implications of these changes suggest that the land use/cover changes have skewed to the rampant conversion of areas once covered with vegetation to cultivation without adequate use of soil and water conservation and rehabilitation practices. Understanding of the driving forces of land use and land cover change (LULC C) is essential for effective sustainable land resource management. Change in LULC can also negatively affect the potential use of an area and may ultimately lead to land degradation.  Improving the understanding of land use and land cover dynamics can help in projecting future changes in land use and land cover and to instigate more appropriate policy interventions for achieving better land management. Keywords: Deforestation, Ethiopia, land degradation, land use, soil quality

What restrains Ethiopian NGOs to participate in the development of policies for natural resource management?

By law, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Ethiopia are severely restricted in their activities towards policy development. In this study we explore to what extent these restrictions have affected NGOs in Natural Resource Management in the Oromia regional state of Ethiopia. We quantitatively analyzed 106 semi-structured questionnaires, in order to assess 1) the general characteristics of these NGO, 2) the role of NGOs in natural resource management, 3) the factors that constrain their activities, especially in relation to the proclamation, and 4) the cooperation between NGOs as well as other stakeholders. Results indicate that NGOs are mainly involved in policy implementation, including afforestation, forest management, and soil and water conservation. We find that a more active role in agenda setting and policy formulation is hampered by the 2009 proclamation, which explicitly restricts the role of Ethiopian Residence Charities/Societies (ERCS) and Foreign Charities (FC). Consistently, NGOs, as well as their donors, often avoid involvement in policy development, in fear of potential collusion with the government. In addition, NGOs listed legal and administrative barriers, poor networking and cooperation among NGOs, lack of capacity, lack of information, and a lack of clear role on policy issues as constraints for influencing policies for natural resource management. The extent to which these factors affect NGOs is dependent on their type and the source of their funding

Effect of Land Use/Cover Changes on Ecological Landscapes of the Four Lakes of Central Rift Valley Ethiopia

The objective of this study was to analyze land use land cover (LULC) changes in the landscape of Central Rift Valley over a period of 30 years (1985–2015). Satellite images of Landsat5 TM (1985), (1995) and Landsat8 OLI (2015) were used. All images were classified using supervised classification technique with ERDAS-13. Change analysis was carried out using post classification comparison in GIS-10.3.1. Twelve LULCCs were successfully captured and the classification result revealed that intensive cultivated land (44.52%), mixed cultivation (18.31%), and woodlands (11.13%), open water (7.99%), large scale farming (7.50%) was dominant LULC types in 1985. In 2015, mixed cultivation (35.90%), large scale farming (14.87%), intensive cultivation (13.99%), open woodland (8.37%) and irrigated land (6.94 %) were the major LULC types followed by others. The change result shows that a rapid increase in irrigable land, large scale farming, and mixed cultivation 8.37%, 14.87%, and 35.90 % occurred between the 1985 and 2015 study period, respectively. Similarly, open water/lake decreased by 2.31%, during the 1985 and 2015 study periods. More specifically, Lake Abijata showed a progressive decline by 25.6%. Analysis of the 30-year change revealed that about 80.79% of the land showed major changes in LULC. Based on the DPSIR framework of analysis, an integrated land use and development planning and policy reform are suggested to encourage the ongoing and planned ecosystem restoration, degraded land rehabilitation, and biodiversity conservation intervention in the Ethiopia Central Rift Valley areas. However, further detailed investigation may be need prior to any recommendation to address the drivers and consequences of land use and land cover changes in the area. Keywords: CRV, ERDAS, GIS; Image; Landsat TM /Oli, Lake, LULC, R