Geospatially-Based Land Use/Land Cover Dynamics Detection, Central Ethiopian Rift Valley

Land use and land cover (LULC) is a major concern of global environmental change, particularly the case, in developing countries. In the Central Ethiopian Rift Valley (CRV), unprecedented changes in LULC have been observed over the last decades. This study aims to scrutinize the dynamics of the CRV over a timespan of three decades (1984-2013). Satellite imageries were acquired from Multispectral Scanner System, Thematic Mapper, and Enhanced Thematic mapper for the years 1984, 1995, and 2013 respectively. The data were obtained from the United States Geological Survey and Ethiopian Geospatial Information Institute. In addition, Focus Group Discussions and Key Informants Interviews were undertaken to support analysis and interpretation of LULC anomalies, identify drivers, and associated impacts. Geospatial technologies were used to analyze the extent of LULC change across the study period. An object-oriented supervised classification and a change detection technique were applied to compartmentalize the change into six LULC classes. Results revealed that farmlands and built-up areas have shown continuous progressive expansion at the expense of bareland and forestland. Farmland and built-up area in 1984 were expanded from 33.3% and 2.6% to 40.6% and 8.2% in 2013, respectively. In contrast, forestland and bareland coverages in 1984 were dwindled from 11.7% and 17.7% to 4.2% and 10.1% in 2013, respectively. Comparatively, shrubland and waterbody were also slightly augmented by 1.9% and 0.2% from 1984 to 2013. Therefore, the result suggested that policymakers and development actors must take appropriate actions to minimize the progressive decline of forest cover in the milieu.