Land Use and Land Cover Change in the Bale Mountain Eco-Region of Ethiopia during 1985 to 2015

Abstract

Anthropogenic factors are responsible for major land use and land cover changes (LULCC). Bale Mountain Eco-Region in Ethiopia is a biodiversity-rich ecosystem where such LULCC have occurred. The specific objectives of this study were to: (i) determine which LULC types gained or lost most as a result of the observed LULCC; (ii) identify the major drivers of the LULCC/deforestation; and (iii) assess the approximate amount of carbon stock removed as a result of deforestation during the study period. Remote sensing and GIS were used to analyze LULCC. Landsat images acquired in 1985, 1995, 2005, and 2015 were used. Additionally, data from the Central Statistics Agency on cropland expansion, and human and livestock population growth were analyzed and correlations were made. The results showed that forest lost 123,751 ha while farmland gained 292,294 ha. Farmland and urban settlement expansion were found to be major drivers of LULCC. Aboveground carbon stock removed from forest and shrubland was more than 24 million tons. In the future, allocation of land to different uses must be based on appropriate land use policies. Integrating biodiversity and ecosystem values for each land cover as per the UN Sustainable Development Goal (UN-SDG) 15.9 may be one of the mechanisms to limit unplanned expansion or invasion of one sector at the expense of another.

Spatiotemporal trends of urban land use/land cover and green infrastructure change in two Ethiopian cities: Bahir Dar and Hawassa

“…Though LULCC is not a recent phenomenon in Ethiopia (Hailemariam et al 2016), it is exacerbated by the scale, speed and long-term nature of urbanization and modernization (Msoffe et al 2011). Existing studies on LULCC in Ethiopia have focused on land degradation and associated consequences due to expansion of cultivation and deforestation (Taddese 2001;Feoli and Vuerich 2002;Amsalu et al 2007;Meshesha et al 2010;Tsegaye et al 2010).…”

“…The process of LULCC affects biodiversity, climate, soil, and air in particular, and the ecosystem, in general, and it has become the greatest environmental concern for human beings to date (Long et al 2007;Tsegaye et al 2010;Hailemariam et al 2016). LULCC is useful to understand environmental changes because it can provide a tool to assess ecosystem changes and their environmental implication at various temporal and spatial scales (Anderson et al 1976;Haregeweyn et al 2012).…”

Land Use and Land Cover Changes and Their Effects on the Landscape of Abaya-Chamo Basin, Southern Ethiopia

“…This, additionally driven by infrastructural development and a reduction of vector-borne diseases in the lowlands, has resulted in a reduction and extensive fragmentation of shrublands and natural grasslands located in the warm semi-arid lowland areas of the basin. Due to a higher rate of rural poverty and very few employment opportunities to absorb rural labor, population growth is often correlated with LULC changes in Ethiopia [61]. This is often the case in other countries in African [62,63].…”

Advances in quantifying soil organic carbon under different land uses in Ethiopia: a review and synthesis

“…Few studies in Ethiopia focused mainly on SOC distribution using GIS and RS (Vågen et al 2012(Vågen et al , 2013. However, majority of the studies involving RS and GIS focused basically on land use cover/ change (Asmamaw et al 2011;Kindu et al 2013;Hailemariam et al 2016;Demissie et al 2017;Birhane et al 2019), land suitability/capability for crop production (Kahsay et al 2018;Yohannes and Soromessa 2019), and erosion or soil loss modeling (Mellerowicz et al 1994;Israel 2011;Gebreyesus et al 2014;Woldemariam et al 2018). Integration of GIS and RS in SOC studies can increase our power of precise prediction in terms of SOC storage and dynamics under different land use types in modulable scenarios of changing climate.…”