A Study on Land use and Land cover Dynamics: a Case Study of Konso Woreda, Ethiopia

Abstract

Few studies of land-use/land-cover change provide an integrated assessment of the driving forces and consequences of that change, particularly in Ethiopia. Our objectives were to determine to assess the land use/land cover dynamics and the associated implication in Konso woreda.This study uses a combination of remote sensing data, field observations and information from local people to analyze the patterns and dynamics of land-use/cover dynamics for 34 years from1976 to 2010 in Konso woreda. Supervised image classification was used to map land-use/cover classes. Based on the image analysis, six major land use/cover classes (forest, bush, grazing, and settlement, bare and agricultural land) were identified for the period 1976, 1986, 2003 and 2010. The area covered by agricultural land in the study area has undergone a change, but with differing magnitude and rates. An expansion was found during the first and second periods with annual rates of 7.39 and14.79% respectively, while a decline was revealed during the third period at annual rate of 1.56%. Despite the periodic variations in change of agricultural land, the overall rate of change during the whole period resulted in a net increase. Unlike the agricultural land, the forest land was diminishing in the first and second period (1976/ 1986and 986/2003) the study shows de-vegetation as population increased, while in the third period (2003 -2010) the forest cover showed recovery. The overall range of time from 1976-2010 indicated that the area covered by forest land, bush land and grass land shows a remarkable reduction by 6540.71 ha, 4144.14 ha and 2060.03 ha respectively .Despite, the area covered by settlement, agricultural land and bare land shows expansion at a rate of 6097.9ha, 5730.32 ha and 916.65 ha respectively. Population growth and the associated demand for land were the major driving forces for the observed land use/ land cover changes. The implication of this change includes soil degradation and biodiversity. Hence, landscape management practices, utilization of alternative energy sources and family planning are some of the appropriate interventions.