Retrospective Analysis of Land Use Land Cover Dynamics Using GIS and Remote sensing in Central Highlands of Ethiopia

Abstract

Assessing and quantifying the current forest resources status underpins sustainable forest resources planning and management. To this end, this study was conducted to analyze the dynamics of land use cover change (LUCC) and explore their drivers at the central highlands of Dry Afromontane Chilimo-Gaji forest for the study period (1973-2015) under consideration. The result of the study indicated that landscape trends have occurred in Chilimo-Gaji forest over the last 43 years and five classes of LUCC namely shrub land, rural settlement, bare land and road, forest land and agricultural land were identified. The most commonly reported drivers of deforestation in the study area were expansion of agricultural land, rural settlements, population growth, insecurity of the tenure and rights over the land, timber production and fuel wood collection. Surprisingly, the increasing demand for agricultural land and human settlement for increasing human population underpinned by expansion of agricultural activities led to the clearing of forest land in the study area. The study reveals that the forest land cover type has lost 922.14 hectares (26.96 %) which were changed into other land cover types such as agriculture and settlement for the study period under consideration with an annually rate of 21.45 ha. However, deforestation rates showed declining trend between the time periods 2008-2015 as a result of introduction of Participatory Forest Management (PFM) schemes (1996) which involve the local community in management and sharing of the benefit obtained from the management. In order to promote sustainable forest resources management in the study area in the years to come, integrated land use planning and management and addressing key drivers of deforestation were recommended.

Land use/land cover dynamics, trade-offs and implications on tropical inland shallow lakes’ ecosystems’ management: Case of Lake Malombe, Malawi

“…Figure 3 shows that the lake catchment and lowland areas are characterized by dense cultivation, densely populated, and treeless dominated by shrub and grassland. The area under study was found that the bare/shrub/grassland increased from 1989 to 2019, which aligns with the findings of Daniel (2008), Tolessa et al (2017), and Siraj et al (2018). The increase in bare/shrub/grassland is attributed to the high rate of forest reserve conversion into bare land (plate 1a) as the demand for charcoal production and agricultural activities increases.…”

Land use and land cover change, and analysis of its drivers in Ojoje watershed, Southern Ethiopia

“…Between 1986 and 2020, the highest increase in the percentage of cropland (74%) has been noted, which is related to a rise in small-scale farming ( Table 5 ). Previous researches reported a 44%, 36.4%, and 65% rise in cultivated land by [ 91 , 92 ] respectively. When subsistence farming is not supported by modern technology, agricultural yield boosting can be attained by the addition of parcels of land under farming, and this is exactly seen in the current study area [ 90 , 93 , 94 , 95 ].…”

Population Structure and Regeneration Status of Woody Species in Kenech Forest, Southwest Ethiopia

“…Deforestation and degradation are the causes of forest cover loss in Ethiopia which has its origin in a cascade of events [12]. e Geometric population growth of Ethiopia resulted in rural demand for agricultural lands [13], which in turn led to the expansion of cultivated fields at the expense of the forest and other land use types such as grazing and shrub lands [14,15]. e Ethiopian vegetations, particularly the forest resources, are under severe pressure as a consequence of inhabitants need of more farm land for agriculture and grazing lands for their livestock.…”