Land use/cover dynamics and its drivers in Gelda catchment, Lake Tana watershed, Ethiopia

Résumé

The demand for meeting local food production has caused farmlands to expand at the cost of natural forests and grasslands in the Ethiopian highlands. However, empirical evidences on rate and patterns of LULC dynamics, and major driving forces in highlands of Ethiopia at catchment level were rare to contribute to design effective land management options. This study was to analyze the rate and patterns of LULC dynamics, and identify major driving forces in the Gelda catchment. Six different LULC maps derived from aerial photographs and Landsat images were produced, and comparisons were made. The results indicated that the study catchment has undergone significant LULC alterations and transformations since late 1950s. Farmlands and settlement were expanded by 57.7% while shrubs, forests and grasslands were declined by 18.6, 83.8 and 53.5% over the entire study period, respectively. The magnitude of initial grasslands and farmlands converted into degraded land seems small; however these can significantly cause an irreversible damage to the soil resources. The combinations of land reform of 1975, forest development and villagization program 1980s, civil war, frequent changes in political structure, and population pressure were the major driving forces of LULC change. Therefore, the GIS and remote sensing based change detection matrix analysis technique could provide useful baseline information to understand the spatiotemporal patterns of land use transitions caused by the major driving forces thereby sustainable land management planning is possible.

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