The Impacts of Land Use Land Cover Dynamics on Land Management. The Case Study of Adama Zuria District, Oromia Region, Ethiopia

Abstract

The surface of the earth is undergoing rapid land-use/land-cover (LULC) changes due to various socio-economic activities and natural phenomena. The aim of this research paper was to assess the impacts of the Land Use/Land Cover Changes (LU/LCC) on land management over the period 1989-2017 in the Adama Zuria District. Due to rapid population growth: the expansion of the settlement, agricultural expansion, illegal transaction of the land and degradation of natural resources are the most visible socio-economic and land management problem in the study area. The analysis result of the study showed that in 1989 most of the study area had been covered by farmland and shrub land. In the period between1989 and 2017, cultivated land, plantation and settlement showed incremental changes by (+72.78), (+10.16) and (+48.95) km² respectively. While, shrub land and bare land decreased by (-89.65) and (-42.64) km², respectively. On the other hand, the socio-economic survey result reviled the above result, which showed that bare land and shrub land decreased, but, cultivated land, settlement and plantation increased in the specified time. Expansion of agricultural land, population growth and the associated demand for land were the major driving forces for the observed LU/LCC changes in the study area. The impacts of LU/LCC on land management were in term of environmental deterioration, problem related to land use planning (urban and rural), meaning expansion of the illegal settlement and tenure insecurity. Hence, land management practices, utilization of alternative energy sources and family planning education are some of the appropriate interventions to reduce this dramatic change.

Keywords: Remote Sensing, GIS, LU/LCC, land tenure, land management.

DOI: 10.7176/JEES/11-5-01

Publication date:May 31^st 2021