Drivers and Implications of Land Use and Land Cover Change in the Central Highlands of Ethiopia: Evidence from Remote Sensing and Socio-demographic Data Integration

This study explores the major drivers of Land-use/Land-cover (LULC) dynamics and the observed   environmental degradation as a response to these changes in the Modjo watershed, central Ethiopia. Data for this study were generated through household survey and supplemented with remotely sensed image interpretation. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and remote sensing-based image  processing. The findings of the study revealed that LULC dynamics together with a range of ecological changes are serious environmental problems in the study site. LULC changes are driven by a combination of proximate and underlying drivers such as economic, demographic, biophysical and institutional factors. Bareland expansion, increased surface runoff production and soil erosion are major environmental damages partly attributed to LULC dynamics in the study site. These environmental degradation processes have adverse impacts on local agricultural productivity, water resource availability and food security of communities. Thus, policy responses are needed for integrated natural resource management and livelihood sustainability in the study area.Key words: Ethiopia, Land Use and Land Cover Change, Modjo Watershed, Remote Sensin

Stakeholder linkages for sustainable land management in Dangila woreda, Amhara Region, Ethiopia

This paper presents stakeholder types involved in sustainable land management (SLM), their interests and interactions in Dangila woreda (district), Amhara Region, as a case study site. Data were collected from April to June 2011 and in October 2012 from a questionnaire survey of 201 rural households and 19 agricultural experts, through observation, and from formal and informal discussions. Results indicate that landholder and landless farmers, women, development agents (DAs), and Rural Kebele Administration (RKA) offices were major stakeholders involved in SLM activities in the study areas. These stakeholders were found having different interests regarding SLM issues. The linkages of farmers with DAs and RKA offices were observed to be strong but farmers’ participation in new technology selection was found to be low. Farmer interactions with Woreda, Zone and Region level experts were observed to be weak focused on top-down planning and upward reporting. Over 47% of experts interviewed in the woreda agriculture office were assigned to perform duties outside of their expertise profession and nearly 36% of them reported that their working environment was not very good and motivating. Greater than 94% of experts assessed indicated their incentives for work to be low. It is argued that enhancing farmer participation in SLM decisions and establishing good and motivating incentives and working environments could improve stakeholder interactions for SLM in the study areas.Key words: Stakeholders; farmer-expert linkages; resource management; Ethiopi

Agricultural Adaptation and Institutional Responses to Climate Change Vulnerability in Ethiopia

Climate change is a major development challenge to Ethiopia. Climate change is expected to adversely affect all economic sectors, eco-regions, and social groups. Agriculture is one of the most vulnerable sectors as it is highly dependent on rainfall. This report synthesises four case studies focusing on the impacts, vulnerabilities and local adaptation practices in Ethiopia‘s agricultural sector, including policy and institutional responses. The case studies were carried out in nine districts, representing the major agro-ecological and farming systems. The case studies use qualitative data generated through rapid appraisal methods, complimented with a review of relevant literature. The results show that there are changes in local climatic conditions, manifested through several indicators. These include increased temperatures, changes in rainfall amounts and patterns, and increased incidence of drought and flood events. Drought was a major problem in almost all sites, while floods affected localized areas in some of the sites. Informants attributed climate change to poor management of natural resources (forests and grazing lands), with rapid population growth as a key driver

The use of remote sensing to quantify wetland loss in the Choke Mountain range, Upper Blue Nile basin, Ethiopia

Wetlands provide multiple ecosystem services such as storing and regulating water flows and water quality, providing unique habitats to flora and fauna, and regulating micro-climatic conditions. Conversion of wetlands for agricultural use is a widespread practice in Ethiopia, particularly in the southwestern part where wetlands cover large areas. Although there are many studies on land cover and land use changes in this region, comprehensive studies on wetlands are still missing. Hence, extent and rate of wetland loss at regional scales is unknown. The objective of this paper is to quantify wetland dynamics and estimate wetland loss in the Choke Mountain range (area covering 17 443 km<sup>2</sup>) in the Upper Blue Nile basin, a key headwater region of the river Nile. Therefore, satellite remote sensing imagery of the period 1986–2005 were considered. To create images of surface reflectance that are radiometrically consistent, a combination of cross-calibration and atmospheric correction (Vogelman-DOS3) methods was used. A hybrid supervised/unsupervised classification approach was used to classify the images. Overall accuracies of 94.1% and 93.5% and Kappa Coefficients of 0.908 and 0.913 for the 1986 and 2005 imageries, respectively were obtained. The results showed that 607 km<sup>2</sup> of seasonal wetland with low moisture and 22.4 km<sup>2</sup> of open water are lost in the study area during the period 1986 to 2005. The current situation in the wetlands of Choke Mountain is characterized by further degradation which calls for wetland conservation and rehabilitation efforts through incorporating wetlands into watershed management plans

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Best Management Practices On Soil Erosion Reduction Using the SWAT Model: for the Case of Gumara Watershed, Abbay (Upper Blue Nile) Basin

This study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of best management practices (BMPs) to reduce soil erosion in Gumara watershed of the Abbay (Upper Blue Nile) Basin using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model. The model was calibrated (1995–2002) and validated (2003–2007) using the SWAT-CUP based on observed streamflow and sediment yield data at the watershed outlet. The study evaluated four individual BMP Scenarios; namely, filter strips (FS), stone/soil bunds (SSB), grassed waterways (GW) and reforestation of croplands (RC), and three blended BMP Scenarios, which combines individual BMPS of FS and RC (FS & RC), GW and RC (GW & RC), and SSB and GW (SSB & GW). Mean annual sediment yield at the baseline conditions was estimated at 19.7 t ha−1yr−1, which was reduced by 13.7, 30.5, 16.2 and 25.9% in the FS, SSB, GW, and RC Scenarios, respectively at the watershed scale. The highest reduction efficiency of 34% was achieved through the implementations of the SSB & GW Scenario. The GW & RC, and FS & RC Scenarios reduced the baseline sediment yield by 32% and 29.9%, respectively. The study therefore concluded that the combined Scenarios mainly SSB & GW, and GW & RC can be applied to reduce the high soil erosion in the Gumera watershed, and similar agro-ecological watersheds in Ethiopia. In cases where applying the combined scenarios is not possible, the SSB Scenario can yield significant soil erosion reduction

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 transformation assessment using the integration of remote sensing and GIS techniques: a case study of Al-Anbar Province, Iraq

Human activities and climate changes significantly affect our environment, altering hydrologic cycles. Several environmental, social, political, and economical factors contribute to land transformation as well as environmental changes. This study first identified the most critical factors that affect the environment in Al-Anbar city including population growth, urbanization expansion, bare land expansion, and reduction in vegetation cover. The combination of remote sensing data and fuzzy analytic hierarch process (Fuzzy AHP) enabled exploration of land transformations and environmental changes in the study area during 2001 to 2013 in terms of long and short-term changes. Results of land transformation showed that the major changes in water bodies increased radically (94 %) from the long-term change in 2001 to 2013 because of water policies. In addition, the urban class expanded in two short-term periods (2001–2007 and 2007–2013), representing net changes of 46 and 60 %, respectively. Finally, barren land showed 25 % reduction in the first period because of the huge expansion of water in the lake; a small percentage of growth gain was observed in the second period. Based on the land transformation results, the environmental degradation assessment showed that the study area generally had high level of environmental degradation. The degradation was mostly in the center and the north part of the study area. This study suggested for further studies to include other factors that also responsible for environmental degradation such as water quality and desertification threatening