Spatiotemporal analysis of urban growth on forest and agricultural land using geospatial techniques and Shannon entropy method in the satellite town of Ethiopia, the western fringe of Addis Ababa city

Abstract

Rapid conversion of conserved land and cropland to non-agricultural purposes is threatening the ecological areas and dominant agricultural activities that are the main sources of livelihood in urban fringe areas of Addis Ababa City. The combinations of government policy, socioeconomic, demographic dynamics, and biophysical triggers have driven such transformation. However, the recent fast urban expansion and infrastructural development could have accelerated the severity and rate at which urban growth impacts the ecosystem and fertile agricultural land. Yet, little attention is given about their impacts on forest and farming communities in the western fringe areas of Addis Ababa during the recent past. This study, therefore, aimed at quantifying and analyzing the trends of the urban growth and its impacts on flora and agricultural land in Sebeta-Awas town using an integrated GIS tool, remote sensing technique, and Shannon entropy method. Landsat TM of 1986, ETM+ of 2002, and OLI of 2019 were used to produce land use/land cover (LULC) classes. Object-based classification technique was carried out to generate the LULC and to measure the changes in the urban land-use class within the satellite town in the year 1986, 2002, and 2019. Shannon entropy method was applied to model study area’s urban sprawl, growth trend, and spatial change. Over the past three decades (1986–2019), Sebeta-Awas town has experienced severe urban sprawl following lack of proper development control and management. The annual urban growth rates of 1.2, 5.5, and ~15% for the periods of 1986, 2002, and 2019, respectively were obtained mainly at the expenses of agricultural land (25.48%) and forest land (16.6%), catalyzed urban sprawl which finally led to serious deforestation and reduction in rural farmland. The findings indicate that the average of entropy index increased from 0.02 in the year 1986 to 0.996 in the year 2019, indicating more dispersed urban growth to the outskirts, and spatially indicating anticlockwise shifting. In this regard, more than 90.2% of forest loss due to agricultural encroachment, built-up area expansion, and construction was widely observed in Sebeta and Alem Gena areas, of course, Northeast zone in this study. It is concluded that deforestation and continual evacuation of farming communities in the urban fringe areas due to rapid urban expansion in the name of investment and infrastructural development is expected to be worsened in the near future unless strong policy revision and management actions are undertaken.

Spatial modeling of soil loss as a response to land use-land cover change in Didessa sub-basin, the agricultural watershed of Ethiopia

“…In the African highlands of this agricultural watershed, however, high and intense soil erosion is one of the most distinctive characteristics. Studies highlight that high soil erosion from agricultural watersheds causes crop production losses [ [22] , [23] , [24] , [25] , [26] ]; (Thakuriah, 2023), sedimentation of reservoirs, resulting in severe economic losses to irrigation and hydroelectric projects [ [27] , [28] , [29] ]. As a result, a study confirmed that Africa lost 40% of agricultural productivity and covered an average of one-fifth of dam storage volumes with silt [ 30 ].…”

Spatial analysis of potential ecological sites in the northeastern parts of Ethiopia using multi-criteria decision-making models

“…Geographic Information System (GIS) has accelerated spatial aspects of ecotourism conservation through the identification and prioritization of potential ecotourism sites using the certain criteria for sustainable development at minimum cost and time (Ross and Wall 1999 ; Ullah and Hafiz, 2014 ; Deribew 2020 ). GIS integrates with multi-criteria decision making analysis (MCDMA) using analytic hierarchy process (AHP) based on the pair-wise comparison in ratio scale was found to be a phenomenal method to compare themes supported relative importance for the identifications of potential ecotourism zone (Saaty and Vargas 2001 ; Kumari et al 2010 ; Nino et al 2017 ).…”

Unpacking the Addis Ababan Exceptionalism—Living and Making Sense of Violent Protests in Ethiopia’s Capital

“…Rapid urban expansion has led to an increase of the urban area, encroaching into the surrounding rural areas a decrease of agricultural land and forest and the displacement of rural farming communities. The eviction of Oromo farmers from the capital's suburbs and surrounding towns has largely happened uncontrolled and favoured dispossession without compensation (Abate, 2019;Deribew, 2020;Zewdie et al, 2018).…”