Analysis Of Land Use Land Cover Dynamics And Its Impacts On Local Community Livelihoods In Malka Watershed, Gemechis District, West Hararge Zone, Oromia, Ethiopia

Abstract

Changes in land cover are a major global concern in the twenty-first century, with serious implications for human survival. LULCCs significantly impact livelihood income and the environment, resulting in biodiversity loss, increased greenhouse gas emissions, and altered hydrological cycles locally and globally. LULCCs are one of the main problems in the study area. Before 1990 years, some farmers migrated from the area to other areas within the district region because of their land severe degraded, and as a result, food insecurity problems occurred in the study area. The study's main objective was to investigate LULC dynamics and their impacts on livelihood in the study area for the three decades (1990–2021) mainly 1990-2000, 2001-2010, and 2011-2021. The study took a total of 202 samples using scientific sample size determination from the rural HHs in the watershed area using survey questionnaires, while also taking into account the KII and FGD and applying ArcGIS 10.8 and ERDAS Image 14. The sampling techniques considered in this thesis were a stratified random sampling. The LULC classifications for 1990 and 2021 revealed that agricultural land and shrub land were the dominant land use classes, accounting for 83.49% of the total area covered. Other land use classifications accounted for 699ha (6.8%). With 5834ha, farmland was the most significant proportion of land, followed by grassland (3737ha). According to the 2021 LULC classification, agricultural land and settlement were the primary land use groups, accounting for 8427ha (82.01%) and 1124ha (10.94%) of total area coverage, respectively. The main causes of LULCs 1990 until 2021 were rapid human population growth; agricultural expansion, deforestation, and insufficient land holding size. However, LULCs impacted on the communities living were Agricultural crop yield production decline, fertilizer utilization and communities supported by a productive safety net program increased. Government and development stakeholders should implement participatory land resource management, land rehabilitation, and land use planning strategies for sustainable development. Raising awareness on alternative energy sources, family planning, and diversifying livelihoods is crucial. Community-based watershed management with local farmers is also recommended