Asirat Teshome Tolosa

Department of Hydraulic and Water Resources Engineering, Debre Tabor University, Ethiopia

Correspondence to: [email protected]; [email protected]

Article Number: se-j-arjgis-2018.0101002; Volume 1(1), pp 10-24, December, 2018.

https://doi.org/10.47721/ARJGIS201801044

Abstract
Land use / land cover change (LULC) is influenced by human activities and natural processes. The increase in the population increased the demand for utilizing natural resources, which in turn resulted in land degradation.  Biodiversity losses, environmental pollution, and climatic changes are the negative consequences of Land Cover Change (LCC). This study aimed at detecting and analyzing LCC. The study was conducted in the highlands of South Wollo, Yewoll Watershed, Blue Nile Basin, Ethiopia. Three Landsat images (1986, 2000 and 2016) were used to analyze the LCC. Supervised classification using maximum likelihood algorism was used to analyze the LCC. In addition, socio-economic data were collected to support the satellite image analysis. The view of residents was used to develop a historical trend of land cover and to understand the knowledge and the perception of the residents in the watershed. Four land cover types (LCTs) were defined. These are Cropland, Forest, Grassland and Shrubland. The result showed that Cropland and Grassland increased from 41.6% and 15.4% in 1986 to 58.8% and 28.3% in 2016, respectively. However, shrub-land and Forest land declined from 32.3% and 10.6% in 1986 to 5.6% and 7.3% in 2016, respectively. The driver of change is the increase in human and livestock population in the study area. The socioeconomic survey analysis also indicated that forest is converted to cropland and shrub-lands were used for grazing. Generally, the results of the study were verified by field data collected and the judgment of the experts.

Keywords: Land use land covers, GIS, Landsat, Remote sensing, supervised classification

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Article Number: se-j-arjgis-2018.0101002