Impacts of watershed management on land use/cover changes and landscape greenness in Yezat Watershed, North West, Ethiopia. 2023

Zemenu Awoke Andualem, and Derege Tsegaye Meshesha, and Ebrahim Esa Hassen
Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia. zemenuawoke@yahoo.com.

In Ethiopia, watershed management interventions have been implemented since the 1980s to curve land degradation and improve the agricultural productivity of smallholder farmers. However, little effort has been made to investigate the impacts of watershed management on land use/cover changes and landscape greenness. Thus, this study was conducted to assess the long-term impacts of watershed management on land use/cover changes and landscape greenness in the Yezat watershed. Landsat images for 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2021 were employed and analyzed to produce maps of the respective years using GIS and remote sensing techniques. Data from satellite images, coupled with field observation and the socio-economic survey, revealed an effective approach for analyzing the extent, rate, and spatial patterns of land use/cover changes. Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) was also employed to detect vegetation greenness. The results of the study show that between 1990 and 2021, the built-up area, plantation, natural forest, shrubland, and grasslands were increased by + 254 ha, + 712.3 ha, 196.3 ha, + 1070.8, and + 425.3 ha respectively due to watershed management interventions. Conversely, cultivated land was decreased with a rate of - 2658.7 ha, in the study area. However, the reverse is true between 1990 and 2000 due to large-scale land degradation. Besides, the result of the study also shows that a low landscape greenness value (- 0.11) was observed between 1990 and 2000, and a high landscape greenness value (+ 0.2) was observed between 1990 and 2021. The observed change in landscape greenness in the watershed was due to the change in shrubland (+ 1070.8 ha), grassland (+ 425.3 ha), plantation (+ 712.3 ha), and forestland (+ 196.3 ha) covers between 1990 and 2021 years. Such observed changes in land use land covers, landscape greenness, and cultivated land in the study watershed have important implications for the improvement of soil moisture, soil fertility, biodiversity, groundwater recharge, carbon sequestration, soil erosion land, crop yield, and ecosystem services.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D003247 Conservation of Natural Resources The protection, preservation, restoration, and rational use of all resources in the total environment. Carrying Capacity,Deforestation,Desertification,Environmental Protection,Natural Resources Conservation,Protection, Environmental,Capacities, Carrying,Capacity, Carrying,Carrying Capacities,Conservation, Natural Resources
D004784 Environmental Monitoring The monitoring of the level of toxins, chemical pollutants, microbial contaminants, or other harmful substances in the environment (soil, air, and water), workplace, or in the bodies of people and animals present in that environment. Monitoring, Environmental,Environmental Surveillance,Surveillance, Environmental
D005002 Ethiopia An independent state in eastern Africa. Ethiopia is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered on the north and northeast by Eritrea, on the east by Djibouti and Somalia, on the south by Kenya, and on the west and southwest by Sudan. Its capital is Addis Ababa. Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
D012987 Soil The unconsolidated mineral or organic matter on the surface of the earth that serves as a natural medium for the growth of land plants. Peat,Humus,Soils
D017753 Ecosystem A functional system which includes the organisms of a natural community together with their environment. (McGraw Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 4th ed) Ecosystems,Biome,Ecologic System,Ecologic Systems,Ecological System,Habitat,Niche, Ecological,System, Ecological,Systems, Ecological,Biomes,Ecological Niche,Ecological Systems,Habitats,System, Ecologic,Systems, Ecologic
D065928 Forests An ecosystem dominated by trees and other woody vegetation. Forested Areas,Forestlands,Woodland,Area, Forested,Areas, Forested,Forest,Forested Area,Forestland,Woodlands

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