Abstract:
The wetland resources of Ethiopia have a great potential for ecotourism attraction and plays a great role in economic development of the country. But the wetland resource of the country is threatened by many factors to serve as its potential. In line with, this study was undertaken with the main objective of analyzing the wetland ecosystem change, management practices and determinant factors using spatial and statistical techniques. To meet the objective, four decades years 1990, 2000, 2010 and 2020 were selected and satellite images were acquired and processed to generate land use and land cover maps that can serve as an input. Also, Survey data was conducted on wetland management practices and determinant factors. Spatial analysis includes image preprocessing, classifying, and generating land use land cover maps and detecting the change using GIS and remote sensing software programs whereas descriptive analysis used to investigate wetland management practices and determinant factors. In this study, four major land-use classes (farmland, forest land, grassland, and water body) were selected for change detection and the area covered by each category was calculated for each study years. The main factors which affect the wetland, the major one is weak wetland conservation, misconception of wetland and poor land tenure. Therefore, enhancing law enforcement and wetland policy development, providing community-based training should be considered to change the knowledge, skill and attitude of communities and government staffs toward wetland ecosystem conservation
