Applications of Geoinformatics Technology in Land Use Land Cover Change Detection using Multi-Temporal Satellite Images: the Case of Mariamdehan tabia, Tigray Region, Northern Ethiopia

Abstract

Land use and land cover change has become a central component in current strategies for managing natural resources and monitoring environmental changes. Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) are now providing new tools for advanced Natural Resource Management and managing environmental changes. This study examines the use of Geoinformatics tools (GIS, GPS and Remote Sensing) to analyze land use land cover change over 31 years using Multi-temporal satellite images in the Maryamdehan tabia.  Satellite image of the year 1984, 2005 and 2015 were collected from the USGS/glovis/ free satellite data provider website. Image classification was done using Arc Gis 10.2 environment and ground truthing was also taken using GPS tool for supervised image classification. Six main land use land cover classes were identified to see the changes among years. As a result, the total area of the tabia was  3646.49 hectare, from which  in 1984, 40.691% covered by forest area, 26.15% by grass land, 10.81% by farm land, in 2005, 52.41% by settlement, 25.04% by forest area, 11.71% by farm land, and in 2015, 35.14% was covered by forest land, 30.04% by Settlement, 14.74% by Farm land. Regarding soil and water conservation practices Questioner was developed and 90% of the farmers revealed that in 2015 due to the introduction of different soil and water conservation structures soil erosion problem significantly decreased on their farm lands. The main driving forces of the land use land cover changes in this tabia were increasing population number, expansion of agricultural activity, settlement, and plantation practices.

Currently 35% of the tabia covers by forest area, so this plays its own role in minimizing soil erosion, soil stability and as option in minimizing climate change impacts through carbon sequestration process.

Keywords: Geoinformatics Tools, RS, GIS, Land use land cover change.