Abstract
The worldwide demand for food has been increasing due to the rapidly growing global population, and agricultural lands have increased in extent to produce more food crops. The pattern of cropland varies among different regions depending on the traditional knowledge of farmers and availability of uncultivated land. Satellite images can be used to map cropland in open areas but have limitations for detecting undergrowth inside forests. Classification results are often biased and need to be supplemented with field observations. Undercover cropland inside forests in the Bale Mountains of Ethiopia was assessed using field observed percentage cover of land use/land cover classes, and topographic and location parameters. The most influential factors were identified using Boosted Regression Trees and used to map undercover cropland area. Elevation, slope, easterly aspect, distance to settlements, and distance to national park were found to be the most influential factors determining undercover cropland area. When there is very high demand for growing food crops, constrained under restricted rights for clearing forest, cultivation could take place within forests as an undercover. Further research on the impact of undercover cropland on ecosystem services and challenges in sustainable management is thus essential.
Highlights
Cropland expansion is one of the major anthropogenic factors causing loss of major natural ecosystems around the globe [1, 2]
It is adjacent to the boundary of Bale Mountains National Park (BMNP), which is known for its enormous biodiversity and insitu conservation of highly endangered mammals, birds, plants, and amphibians endemic to Ethiopia [32,33,34,35]
Similar studies in mountainous areas demonstrated that elevation, slope and aspect are among the influential factors that need to be considered in mountain ecosystem conservation and habitat management [8, 56,57,58]
Summary
Cropland expansion is one of the major anthropogenic factors causing loss of major natural ecosystems around the globe [1, 2]. With the increasing global population and demand for food, cropland continues to expand and has resulted in 'land grabbing' (large-scale acquisitions of agricultural land) mostly in developing countries of the tropics [3,4,5]. Vast areas of land in sub-Saharan African countries such as Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya are leased to local and global investors for large scale agriculture [1, 6]. Local small-scale farmers are displaced when their land is needed for investment [7]. PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0130079 June 22, 2015
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
