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Background: Soil erosion is among the most challenging and continuous environmental problems in the highlands of Ethiopia. This study was conducted in the Geleda watershed of the Blue Nile basin in the northwestern highlands of Ethiopia to measure erosion rates and map out erosion risks for prioritization of conservation measures. The Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation model, which was adapted to the Ethiopian conditions, was used for this purpose.Results: Soil losses ranged from 0 in plain areas to 237 t ha −1 year −1 in the steep slope areas of the watershed with an average soil loss of 23.7 t ha −1 year −1. About 21.25% of the watershed area experienced soil losses above the tolerable limit of 11 t ha −1 year −1 . The total annual soil loss from the entire watershed area of 25,609 ha was about 157,022 tones. Conclusions:In the steep slope areas of the watershed, where the extension of cultivated land resulted in high soil losses, soil erosion is a serious problem and requires appropriate intervention with soil conservation measures.

Background: Land use/land cover (LU/LC) change is the challenging and continuous drivers of environment change. Understanding the rate and process of change is, therefore, basic for managing the environment. This study was intended to analyze the LU/LC changes from 1985 to 2015 periods, and predict the situation to 2030 and 2045 in the Andassa watershed of Blue Nile basin, Ethiopia. The hybrid classification technique for extracting thematic information from satellite images and CA-Markov model for prediction of LU/LC were employed. Results: Cultivated land was expanding from 62.7% in 1985 to 73.1% in 2000 and to 76.8% in 2015. The area of builtup also slightly increased (0.1-1.1%) between 1985 and 2015 periods. In contrast, forest, shrubland and grassland were reduced from 3.5 to 1.9%, 26.2 to 15.3% and 7.6 to 4.9% in 1985 and 2015 periods, respectively. The increase of cultivated land and built-up area, and the withdrawing of forest, shrubland and grassland were further continued in 2030 and 2045 periods. Conclusion: Significant amount of LU/LC conversions had occurred in the watershed from 1985 to 2015 periods, and expected to continue in 2030 and 2045 periods. Thus, appropriate interventions to revert the trends are very much critical.

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