Abstract:
Rapid population growth and various anthropogenic factors like agricultural expansion, woody
forest product extraction and illegal settlement have caused the conversion of natural forest land
cover to other land use types which have a great implication on environment and socio-economy
of local households. The objective of the study is to analyze Belete-Gera forest cover changes, its
major drivers and socio economic implication of forest cover changes on local households. To
accomplish the objective of the study, Landsat images from 1985 TM, 2001 ETM+
, and 2015
ETM+
, and ERDAS and GIS technologies in combination with ground verification and socioeconomic survey were used. The five major land use land cover types of the study area are
closed forest, open forest, agriculture, settlement and wetland. Even though, closed forest is the
dominant land cover type in the study area, it decreased from time to time. In the first (1985-
2001) and second (2001-2015) 15 years, it decreased by 11.4% and 5.6%, respectively. Wetland
also decreased by 17.6% and 39.1%, respectively. In contrary, agricultural land was increased by
53.9% and 11.5%, and settlement increased by 19.5% and 10.9% in the first and second 15 years,
respectively. Open forest showed a very little change. Belete-Gera forest cover change was
driven mainly by anthropogenic factors like agricultural expansion, illegal settlement, woody
forest product extraction, free grazing, population growth, poor governance, law awareness and
accessibility. Agricultural land expansion is the main driving force of Belete-Gera forest which
accounted for 81-100%. Because of anthropogenic driving forces, in the past 30 years ago,
19,898.9ha (16.7%) of Belete-Gera forest was deforested and converted to other land use types.
Belete-Gera forest cover change affects the main land dependent incomes of the households
like cereal crops, pulse crops, NTFPs, livestock and others .Even though land dependent income
of the households increased , annual income per family size was decreased from time to time.
Therefore, in the past 30 years ago, great Belete-Gera forest cover changes were occurred, and
the forest is disappearing annually at the rate of 0.48%. The changes are driven by interlinked
direct (65%) and indirect (35%) anthropogenic factors. Belete-Gera forest cover change
influences agricultural crop productivity, agricultural inputs, woody and non woody uses of
forest products for subsistence purposes.
