Impacts of watershed management on land use/cover changes and landscape greenness in Yezat Watershed, North West, Ethiopia

In Ethiopia, watershed management interventions have been implemented since the 1980s to curve land degradation and improve the agricultural productivity of smallholder farmers. However, little effort has been made to investigate the impacts of watershed management on land use/cover changes and landscape greenness. Thus, this study was conducted to assess the long-term impacts of watershed management on land use/cover changes and landscape greenness in the Yezat watershed. Landsat images for 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2021 were employed and analyzed to produce maps of the respective years using GIS and remote sensing techniques. Data from satellite images, coupled with field observation and the socio-economic survey, revealed an effective approach for analyzing the extent, rate, and spatial patterns of land use/cover changes. Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) was also employed to detect vegetation greenness. The results of the study show that between 1990 and 2021, the built-up area, plantation, natural forest, shrubland, and grasslands were increased by + 254 ha, + 712.3 ha, 196.3 ha, + 1070.8, and + 425.3 ha respectively due to watershed management interventions. Conversely, cultivated land was decreased with a rate of − 2658.7 ha, in the study area. However, the reverse is true between 1990 and 2000 due to large-scale land degradation. Besides, the result of the study also shows that a low landscape greenness value (− 0.11) was observed between 1990 and 2000, and a high landscape greenness value (+ 0.2) was observed between 1990 and 2021. The observed change in landscape greenness in the watershed was due to the change in shrubland (+ 1070.8 ha), grassland (+ 425.3 ha), plantation (+ 712.3 ha), and forestland (+ 196.3 ha) covers between 1990 and 2021 years. Such observed changes in land use land covers, landscape greenness, and cultivated land in the study watershed have important implications for the improvement of soil moisture, soil fertility, biodiversity, groundwater recharge, carbon sequestration, soil erosion land, crop yield, and ecosystem services.