Analyze of spatial extent and current condition of land use land cover dynamics for the period 1990–2020 Wayu-Tuka district, western Ethiopia

Abstract

LULC variation has increased in many parts of the world recent years. Analyzing LULC is valuable to ability to grasp for spatial extent, patterns and impacts of the dynamics. This research examines the magnitudes and trends of LULC dynamics of Wayu-Tuka District, Western Ethiopia for a period of 1990–2020. Data were acquired from Landsat images (i.e, TM from 1990 to 2000, ETM+ from 2010 and OLI 2020). LULC classes were classified (from Landsat images) to develop land use land cover change maps for the study area. Landsat images were grouped via supervised classification method and maximum likelihood classifier (MLC). Accuracy scores and kappa a coefficient was used to confirm the accuracy categorized for LULC classes. Forest, settlement area, cultivated area, water body, and bare land are the main land use land cover categories identified in the study area. At the study district, forest coverage decreased progressively within the past three decades (1990–2020) from 12.4% in 1990 to 2.6% in 2020. The settlements, cultivated lands and water bodies have been explained by a average rate of 0.41% per year and forest land has been reduced by 0.33% per year. The study identified the major drivers of land use/land cover dynamics such as expansion of agricultural land, extraction of fuel woodland, illegal settlements and illegal logging was the key factors of LULC changes in the field of the study. In expressions of historical and current LULC, the analysis indicated that in the three decades years’ viewpoint; changes in agriculture land expansion and expansion of settlement land have had a strong impact on the LULC dynamics. The few remaining forest area coverage of the District shall be completely vanished unless measures are taken to curb these declining trends. Therefore, relevant stakeholders should take integrated actions to rehabilitate degraded landscapes through afforestation and reforestation programmes.