Analyses of Land Use/Land Cover Dynamics, Drivers and Socioeconomic Impacts In and Around Jimma Town, South West Ethiopia.

Abstract

Land use/land cover change is a common phenomenon in many parts of Ethiopia. Understanding the dynamics of land use/land cover change, its driving factors and impact helps the policy makers to understand the situation and put forward sustainable land uses. The objective of this study was to analyze LU/LC changes, its drivers and socioeconomic impacts in and around Jimma town, Ethiopia. A combination of GIS, remote sensing, and household survey methods were employed to carry out the study. Satellite images of different dates (1985, 1995, 2005 and 2013) were used to quantify land cover changes using maximum likelihood algorithm of supervised classification. A total number of 140 households and focus group were used for socioeconomic data. The results of the study showed that built up area shows increasing trend between; 1985 to 2013. In 1985, the built up area was account for 2.19%; nevertheless, it was 3.09 % in 1995, 6.24% in 2005 and 7.09 % in 2013. In general built up area was increased at the expense of grasslands and water bodies. Water bodies showed continuous declining from 0.06% in 1985, 0.04% in 1995, 0.037% in 2005 and 0.033% in 2013. Moreover, grassland continuously decreased from 10.37% in 1985, 7.62% in 1995, 4.823% in 2005 and 3.64% in 2013. Whereas, forestland shows decreasing trend between 1985 to 2005 (48.19% in 1985, 42.11% in 1995, 32.16% 2005) and then increased to 36.36% between 2005 to 2013. Settlement expansion due to population growth and immigration was identified as the most drivers of change. These changes resulted in change in household income sources, livestock asset, availability of forest product and fragmentation and loss of cultivated land. Based on these, it was concluded that there were significant land use land cover changes due to various socioeconomic factors that induced various socioeconomic impacts and it needs sustainable land use plan to set management options.