Spatiotemporal analysis of deforestation in Kuyu woreda, north shewa, Oromia national regional state, Ethiopia

Abstract

The ever increasing demand of farmland, demand for fuel wood and charcoal coupled with population growth has accelerated the rate of forest reduction in recent years in Ethiopia. At present, an excessive and destructive exploitation of forest resources is a threat that exists at Kuyu Woreda. The overall objective of this study is to investigate the determinants and rate of spatiotemporal dynamics of deforestation in Kuyu Woreda, North Shewa Zone of Oromia National Regional State and gathering socioeconomic data using key informant interview and focus group discussion. The major data for this study were obtained from three series of LANDSAT images (1986 TM, 2000 ETM+ and 2016 ETM+), GPS based ground truth and socioeconomic data. The important activities performed for the study were delineation of study area, land use classification and change detection statistical analysis. The result of change detection analysis revealed that the cropland to be the most expanding land use type in the woreda. It increased from 24.9% (1986) to 47.8% (2016) at the rate of about 724.4ha per year. The area covered by grass land, bare land, forest cover land has been reduced by the annual average rate of 323.2 ha, 239.3ha and 203ha respectively. The problem of deforestation is directly linked with the activity of man such as population pressure, and the socio-economic factors. In order to hold back the problem of forest cover change and its impact, corrective measures had been suggested which can be implemented both in the short term and long term phase.