scholarly journals EVALUATION OF THE IMPACTS OF LAND USE AND LAND COVER CHANGES USING EROSION ASSESSMENT MODEL AT TIKUR WUHA WATERSHED

Author(s):  
Tamirneh Kifle ◽  
Asnakew Deres ◽  
Assefa Birku ◽  
Tesfalem Aberham ◽  
Demke Mengist

Rapid increases in population, forest clearing   and   continuing search    for a farm   land   have induced pressure on natural resource.  In order to reverse such kind of problem assessing the level of problem and finding solution at watershed level is necessary. The studies of land use land cover changes and their effects on soil erosion and runoff patterns at the watershed level are essential in water resource planning and management. This study provides an approach to identify   the   effects   of   land   use land cover   changes   on runoff   and   sediment   in Tikur wuha watershed. The changes in land use land cover were associated with growing demand of wood for fire, charcoal, construction materials, household furniture, pulp and paper industries, and expansion of farming and grazing land. The study was conducted the impacts of land use land cover changes, to identify the main cause erosion, to assess soil loss rate in different slope classes, agricultural activities and its effect on land resource by using erosion assessment model. USLE is important to predict the annual soil loss by using different parameters. The necessary data were generated from mean annual rainfall, previous study of the area, erosivity factor, erodibilty factor, topographic factor (LS), the cropping management factor, erosion control factor, both primary and secondary data as well as key informants interview, field observation, by distribution of structural survey questionnaire and field measurement. The result of the analysis showed that the amount of soil loss at Tikur wuha watershed is about 5.58 ton/ ha/yr. The study finding suggest that understanding of some of the socio- economic, institutional and biophysical factors that determine land cover change of the area would contribute to advice appropriate strategies to achieve the desired change in SWC process and to alleviate damage land cover change in the study area. In selecting priority intervention areas in the rehabilitation of land use land cover, strategies should considered the socio-economic and specific land characteristics as well as farmers preference.  

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gemechu Shale Ogato ◽  
Amare Bantider ◽  
Davide Geneletti

Abstract Background: Land use/land cover change in urban watersheds of developing countries like Ethiopia is claimed to be a consequence of complex interaction of different actors, driving forces, and land itself. It is asserted to result in the degradation of natural vegetation and significant increases in impervious surfaces. The purpose of the study was to analyze spatio-teporal changes in land use/ land cover in Huluka watershed where Ambo town is situated and examine their drivers and effects with environmental implications.Results: The overall increase of urban built-up area, cultivated land, and bare land use/land cover type with 351%, 105%, and 41.9% respectively between the year 1979 and 2017 implies the increase in flooding disaster risk in the watershed as such land use/land cover types exacerbate the run-off conditions in the watershed. Infrastructural expansion, agricultural expansion, increased demand for fuel wood and wood for construction, local environmental factors, local biophysical drivers, and local Social events were identified as proximate drivers of land use/land cover changes in the study area. Demographic factors, economic factors, technological factors, policy and institutional factors and cultural factors were confirmed as the underlying drivers of land use/land cover change in the watershed. Increased flooding risk, increased soil erosion; increased sedimentation into the lake (Dendi lake) and rivers (Huluka, Awaro, Debis, Boji, Bolo, Aleltu, Karkaro, and Korke), decrease in soil fertility resulting from flooding risk, and change in climatic parameters (decrease in annual rainfall and increase in heat during dry season) were claimed as the negative effects of land use/land cover change in the study area.Conclusions: Practice of appropriate land use planning and management in the watershed, appropriate environmental impact assessment (EIA), and proper planning and management of socio-cultural, economic, and environmental development are of paramount importance to promote sustainable development in the watershed.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abreham Berta Aneseyee

Abstract Background: Information on soil loss and sediment export is essential to identify hotspots of soil erosion for conservation interventions in a given watershed. This study aims at investigating the dynamic of soil loss and sediment export associated with land use/land cover change and identifies soil loss hotspot areas in Winike watershed of Omo-gibe basin of Ethiopia. Spatial data collected from satellite images, topographic maps, meteorological and soil data were analyzed. Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) of sediment delivery ratio (SDR) model was used based on analysis of land use/land cover maps and RUSLE factors. Result: The results showed that total soil loss increased from 774.86 thousand tons in 1988 to 951.21 thousand tons in 2018 while the corresponding sediment export increased by 3.85 thousand tons in the same period. These were subsequently investigated in each land-use type. Cultivated fields generated the highest soil erosion rate, which increased by 10.02 t/ha/year in 1988 to 43.48 t/ha/year in 2018. This corresponds with the expansion of the cultivated area that increased from 44.95 thousand ha in 1988 to 59.79 thousand ha in 2018. This is logical as the correlation between soil loss and sediment delivery and expansion of cultivated area is highly significant (p<0.01). Sub-watershed six (SW-6) generated the highest soil loss (62.77 t/ha/year) and sediment export 16.69 t/ha/year, followed by Sub-watershed ten (SW-10) that are situated in the upland plateau. Conversely, the lower reaches of the watershed are under dense vegetation cover and experiencing less erosion. Conclusion: Overall, the changes in land use/land cover affect significantly the soil erosion and sediment export dynamism. This research is used to identify an area to prioritize the watershed for immediate management practices. Thus, land use policy measures need to be enforced to protect the hydropower generation dams at downstream and the ecosystem at the watershed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 383
Author(s):  
Min Jin ◽  
Ruyi Feng ◽  
Lizhe Wang ◽  
Jining Yan

Simulating and predicting the development and changes in urban land change can provide valuable references for the sustainable development of cities. However, the change process of urban land-use/land-cover is a complex process involving multiple factors and multiple relationships. This dilemma makes it very challenging to accurately simulate the results and to make predictions. In response to this problem, we started with the physical characteristics of the land-use/land-cover change process and constructed a diffusion equation to simulate and predict urban land-use/land-cover changes. The diffusion equation is used to describe the diffusion characteristics of the land-use/land-cover change process, which helps to understand the urban land-use/land-cover change process. The experimental results show that (1) the diffusion equation we constructed can simulate urban land-use/land-cover changes, (2) the simulation process of the model is not limited by the time interval of the time series data itself, and (3) the model only requires one parameter without other constraints.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alemu Beyene Woldesenbet ◽  
Sebsebe Demisew Wudmatas ◽  
Mekuria Argaw Denboba ◽  
Azage Gebreyohannes Gebremariam

Abstract Background Water erosion, upland degradation and deforestation are the key environmental problems in Meki river watershed where this study was conducted. This study assessed the land use land cover change (LULCC) over the last 30 years, examined the contribution of Enset-Based land use system (EBLUS) to manage soil erosion problem for sustainability of Lake Ziway and suggested appropriate management interventions for the watershed ERDAS imagine 2014, Geo-statistical interpolation and RUSLE model was devised for LULCC detection and analysis, for different spatial inputs and soil loss modeling respectively. Result Meki river watershed covers 2110.39056 km² of area which is dominantly covered by cultivated land use system (41.5%), Enset-Based land use system (EBLUS)(10.65%), Bush and Chat land use system (25.6%), Forest and plantations land use system (14.14%), built up (7.4%) and water bodies (0.75%). Severity class of High to severe range (18-125tha-1yr-1) recorded in the sub-watersheds irrespective of the land use systems and facing sever degradation problem that increase in soil loss in all land use systems from 1987 to 2017. The average soil loss of 30.5tha-1yr-1 and 31.905tha-1yr-1 recorded from Enset growing zones and non-Enset growing zones of the watershed respectively.Conclusion Enset-Based land use system (EBLUS) saves significant amount of soil despite the steepness of the slopes of the Enset growing zones of the watershed. Hence, expansion of EBLUS can contribute in sustaining Lake Ziway by reducing soil loss rate and sedimentation problem for ecological sustainability of the watershed. Therefore, separate land use policy and awareness creation are mandatory for such EBLUS expansion, integrated watershed management and conservation of the natural environment.


PeerJ ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. e6617 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesús A. Prieto-Amparán ◽  
Federico Villarreal-Guerrero ◽  
Martin Martínez-Salvador ◽  
Carlos Manjarrez-Domínguez ◽  
Griselda Vázquez-Quintero ◽  
...  

The loss of temperate forests of Mexico has continued in recent decades despite wide recognition of their importance to maintaining biodiversity. This study analyzes land use/land cover change scenarios, using satellite images from the Landsat sensor. Images corresponded to the years 1990, 2005 and 2017. The scenarios were applied for the temperate forests with the aim of getting a better understanding of the patterns in land use/land cover changes. The Support Vector Machine (SVM) multispectral classification technique served to determine the land use/land cover types, which were validated through the Kappa Index. For the simulation of land use/land cover dynamics, a model developed in Dinamica-EGO was used, which uses stochastic models of Markov Chains, Cellular Automata and Weight of Evidences. For the study, a stationary, an optimistic and a pessimistic scenario were proposed. The projections based on the three scenarios were simulated for the year 2050. Five types of land use/land cover were identified and evaluated. They were primary forest, secondary forest, human settlements, areas without vegetation and water bodies. Results from the land use/land cover change analysis show a substantial gain for the secondary forest. The surface area of the primary forest was reduced from 55.8% in 1990 to 37.7% in 2017. Moreover, the three projected scenarios estimate further losses of the surface are for the primary forest, especially under the stationary and pessimistic scenarios. This highlights the importance and probably urgent implementation of conservation and protection measures to preserve these ecosystems and their services. Based on the accuracy obtained and on the models generated, results from these methodologies can serve as a decision tool to contribute to the sustainable management of the natural resources of a region.


Author(s):  
Israel Petros Menbere ◽  

Conversion of natural habitat to other forms of land use is the main threat to protected areas and biodiversity globally. The continued trend of land use land cover change in protected areas resulted in loss of a large portion of biodiversity, overexploitation by humans, transformation of natural land to human settlement, etc. In Ethiopia, the causes for land use land cover change in many protected areas are farmland expansion, deforestation, unsustainable grazing and settlement expansion, and are leading to loss of biodiversity and negative impacts of ecosystem services. In addition, Ethiopia’s protected areas entertain escalating threats and land cover changes due to human population growth, competing claims from the surrounding communities, incompatible investment, lack of environmental law enforcement, absence of complete plan and timely update for protected areas, etc. These have affected protected areas in the country namely the Bale Mountains National Park, Chocke Mountains, Babile Elephant sanctuary, Abijata Shalla Lakes National Park, Awash National Park and others. The continued land use land cover changes are aggravating ecosystem, soil and water resources degradation in mountainous protected areas while they are leading to biodiversity destruction and loss of forest cover in lowland protected areas. In order to halt and reduce the impact of land cover change on biodiversity conservation, undertaking complete land use planning and continuous monitoring of protected areas was found to be important. Similarly, integrating protected areas into the surrounding landscapes and a broader framework of national plans, promoting income generation means for communities surrounding protected areas, promoting biodiversity conservation directly linked to poverty alleviation, involving local communities and stakeholders in land use planning and sustainable management of protected areas, enhancing sound management in vulnerable mountain protected areas and restoring abandoned lands located in and around protected areas are crucial in the proper land use planning and management of protected areas. In addition, enhancing awareness creation and promoting natural resource information of protected areas and enhancing scientific study on land use land cover change pattern of protected areas are vital to undertake effective land use planning and management of protected areas in Ethiopia.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alemu Beyene Woldesenbet ◽  
Sebsebe Demisew Wudmatas ◽  
Mekuria Argaw Denboba ◽  
Azage Gebreyohannes Gebremariam

Abstract Background Water erosion, upland degradation and deforestation are key environmental problems in the Meki river watershed. The study assessed the land use land cover change (LULCC) for 30 years and it examined the contribution of indigenous Enset-based land use system (EBLUS) to reduce soil erosion and prevent water bodies including Lake Ziway from sedimentation which was not considered in the former studies. GPS based data collected and satellite based LULC analysis using ERDAS Imagine 2014 performed to investigate existing farm management practices and land cover respectively. HEC-GEOHMS, Geo-statistical interpolation and RUSLE were applied to model watershed characteristics, spatial climate parameters and soil loss respectively. Result Meki river watershed (2110.4 km2 of area) is dominantly covered by cultivated LUS (41.5%), EBLUS (10.65%), Bush and Chat LUS (25.6%), Forest and plantations LUS (14.14%), built-up (7.4%) and water bodies (0.75%). Soil loss is increasing from 1987 to 2017 and a larger part of the watershed suffers a moderately severe to very severe risk (18 t ha−1 year−1 to > 80 t ha−1 year−1) in all sub-watersheds irrespective of the land use systems which shows the watershed is facing sever degradation problem. The mean soil loss of 30.5 t ha−1 year−13 and 31.905 t ha−1 year−1 are verified from Enset growing zones and non-Enset growing zones of the watershed respectively. Conclusion EBLUS saves significant amount of soil despite the steepness of the slopes of the Enset growing zones of the watershed. Hence, expansion of EBLUS can contribute in sustaining water bodies, including Lake Ziway by reducing soil loss rate and sedimentation problem for the ecological sustainability of the watershed. Therefore, separate land use policy and awareness creation are mandatory for such EBLUS expansion, sustainable watershed management interventions and conservation of the natural environment in the watershed based on its suitability and severity of erosion risk mapping.


2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 49-56
Author(s):  
Abrham Tezera Gessesse ◽  
Tilashwork Chanie ◽  
Tesfaye Feyisa ◽  
Abdlesemed Jemal

Land use, which is use of land by human for different purposes, is influenced by two broad sets of forces human needs (socio-economic) and environmental features and processes (biophysical). The study was carried out at Andit Tid watershed one of SCRP research unit founded in 1982, located on 390 43’E 9048’N.  This research has aimed to assess the trend and main driving force of land use and land cover change (LULCC) within the catchment / watershed during the last two decades and its impact on soil erosion. Structural questioner was used to collect social data from 8% of the total household. Landsat 5 and Landsat 8 Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM) and supervised image classification used to identify land use/ land cover change of the study area for 1994 and 2014 years, respectively. TESTMAIN and SPSS version 16 Statistical software’s were used for Soil loss calculation and social data analysis, respectively. The result indicates that, there is expansion of cultivated land by 11.33% (44.55ha) while reduction in natural shrub lands by 7.3 % (35.73ha). The main driving forces of land use land cover change are high number of family member, small land holding size and minimum asset own per household, lower educational level of the household, the household mainly occupied on agriculture and there is lack of animal feed.  This change forced farmers to collect cereal crops based on suitability area, sale livestock, use organic and inorganic fertilizer and use improved variety due to low crop productivity. The LULC change has an impact on decline soil fertility, cause serious soil erosion problem with in farmland/watershed. The result also indicated that soil loss reached 3655 ton per annum from the watershed. Therefore, proper handling and land use system need to be implemented, rainwater harvesting structures and soil and water conservation practice need to be encouraged in order reduce soil loss.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alemu Beyene Woldesenbet ◽  
Sebsebe Demisew Wudmatas ◽  
Mekuria Argaw Denboba ◽  
Azage Gebreyohannes Gebremariam

Abstract Background Water erosion, upland degradation and deforestation are key environmental problems in the Meki river watershed. The study assessed the land use land cover change (LULCC) for 30 years and it examined the contribution of indigenous Enset-Based land use system (EBLUS) to reduce soil erosion and prevent water bodies including Lake Ziway from sedimentation which was not considered in the former studies. GPS based data collected and satellite based LULC analysis using ERDAS Imagine 2014 performed to investigate existing farm management practices and land cover respectively. HEC-GEOHMS, Geo-statistical interpolation and RUSLE were applied to model watershed characteristics, spatial climate parameters and soil loss respectively. Result Meki river watershed (2110.4sq.km of area) is dominantly covered by cultivated LUS (41.5%), EBLUS (10.65%), Bush and Chat LUS (25.6%), Forest and plantations LUS (14.14%), built-up (7.4%) and water bodies (0.75%). Soil loss is increasing from 1987 to 2017 and a larger part of the watershed suffers a moderately severe to very severe risk (18 t ha-1yr-1 to >80 t ha-1yr-1) in all sub-watersheds irrespective of the land use systems which shows the watershed is facing sever degradation problem. The mean soil loss of 30.5 t ha-1yr-1 and 31.905 t ha-1yr-1 are verified from Enset growing zones and non-Enset growing zones of the watershed respectively. Conclusion EBLUS saves significant amount of soil despite the steepness of the slopes of the Enset growing zones of the watershed. Hence, expansion of EBLUS can contribute in sustaining water bodies, including Lake Ziway by reducing soil loss rate and sedimentation problem for the ecological sustainability of the watershed. Therefore, separate land use policy and awareness creation are mandatory for such EBLUS expansion, sustainable watershed management interventions and conservation of the natural environment in the watershed based on its suitability and severity of erosion risk mapping.


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