Revista de ecosistemas y ecografía

Abstracto

Rate of Land Use/Land Cover Change and Cause of Deforestation, East Badawacho, Southern Ethiopia

Ergude Yishak and Aklilu Bajigo Madalcho

Deforestation and land degradation in Ethiopia has been fueled by increasing population, and the subsequent

extensive forest clearance for agricultural land use, and inappropriate forest management. This study was

conducted at Edola watershed in East Badawacho woreda with the aim to assess the rate of land use change and

causes of deforestation. To assess the extent of deforestation, GIS was employed based on time series Land sat

images of 1990, 2005 and 2019. ERDAS IMAGINE 2014 Software was used to analyze GIS data. Both qualitative

and quantitative data that were collected from primary and secondary data sources to see the link of socio

demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the study area to deforestation. A structured questionnaire was

used for quantitative data collected from 150 randomly selected households. Focus group discussion (FGD) and site

observation were also used for qualitative data. Forest cover was reduced from 731 to 423 ha (308 ha) and

grassland cover was reduced from 740 to 385 ha (355 ha) into other land use types, mostly cultivated land in the

last 30 years in the study area. This extent of land transformation into farmland was observed as a function of

population growth. Furthermore, sex, and educational status, access to land, and farming experience have shown

significant association with deforestation (p-value <0.05). The finding suggests that it is not possible to compromise

the current trend of forest loss to maintain a sustainable livelihood and resilient ecosystem. Hence, designing the

forest resource restoration programs and sustainable forest management schemes as part of watershed

management activities to reduce the adverse impact of deforestation on livelihood is needed.