Land use-land cover dynamics in Boyo wetland using remote sensing and GIS for the period 1992-2022

Land use changes are one of the main factors contributing to the degradation of wetland ecosystems. The objective of this study was to describe land use and land cover (LULC) change in the Boyo Wetland from 1992-2022. We employed remote sensing and GIS to obtain data for this study. As the main data source, Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM), Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM+) and Operational Land Imager (OLI) images were used. We downloaded Landsat images from the USGS website that were cloud-free. A supervised maximum likelihood classifier algorithm was used for the classification process. Five LULCs are identified, which include farmland, built-up areas, bare land, grazing land, and wetland. For the duration of the research period, the rate of increase in the percent of farmland, built-up, and barren land was observed to be 18.24%, 9.48%, and 4.52%, respectively, while a decreasing pattern was observed in grazing land and wetland by - 19.44% and - 12.79%, respectively. The expansion of agriculture and built-up areas owing to population growth are the primary factors influencing change in the study area. Therefore, a rapid protective measure should be taken to rehabilitate the study wetland.