Abstract
Land use/land cover change is a general term for the modification and conversion of the earth’s surface by human and natural factors. Land cover is the physical and biological cover of the surface. Land use covers the results of human activities for the exploitation of it. The objective of this study was to detect land cover/use changes in Andasa Watershed between the years 1995 to 2015. The study has used ArcGIS10.1 and ERDAS IMAGINE 2010, land sat images of 1995 and 2015 and socio-economic data to analyze land cover and landuse changes of Andasa watershed. The study has found that due to the population increase and improper agricultural activity forest and bush lands have declined whereas farm and bare lands expanded between the study years. Forest land and shrub land jointly decreased by 14349.23 hectare which is 23.87% of the total watershed area, whereas, cultivated land and bare land jointly increased by16010.32 hectare of land which is 26.63% of the total watershed area between the study periods, respectively. The rapid expansion of croplands and bare lands were entirely attributed to the alarming rate of depletion of forests, woods and shrubs. There is an urgent need to limit the population growth rate and implementing appropriate land use policy in the Andasa watershed. Key words: Andasa watershed, land use land cover, landsat image.
Highlights
Land use/land cover change is a general term for the modification and conversion of the earth‟s surface by human factors and natural events such as, flooding, fire, and climate fluctuations (Prakasam, 2010)
Andasa watershed is a collection of small seasonal streams and few perennial streams originated from hills of Adama Mountain
As clearly showed and illustrated in the result and discussion part, this study concluded that there was land cover change in the watershed because of demand for agriculture and settlement land for increasing population, problems related to land policy and lack of land security
Summary
Land use/land cover change is a general term for the modification and conversion of the earth‟s surface by human factors and natural events such as, flooding, fire, and climate fluctuations (Prakasam, 2010). Interpreting and conceptualizing the land cover/use changes contribute to complex dynamics of land cover, and is important for policy and planning actions (Knorr et al, 2011).
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