Analysis Of Land Use Land Cover Change In Selected Kebels Of Habru District, North Wollo, Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia

Abstract

Land use land cover pattern of a region is an outcome of natural and socio-economic factors and their utilization by man in time and space. Land is becoming a scarce resource due to immense agricultural and demographic pressure. In this study the land use land cover dynamics and modeling in Habru district have been under taken. This study aimed to examine and analyze the spatial and temporal variations of land use land cover conditions and analyze trends of change and the main drivers of the change using remote sensing and GIS by assessing the historical patterns of land use land cover in past 20 years and determining the trend, nature, rate, location and magnitudes of the changes. . To serve these objectives, field survey, satellite image of 2003, 2013 and 2023 image, topographic maps and Arial photo were used. The rate of increment for crop land and settlement was 58 and 43 percent in 2013 and 2023 respectively the meantime the rate of decline for shrub land was 52 percent. But the rate of decline for natural forest is 4 percent between 2013 and 2023. This conditions show the shift from natural forest to shrub land because of the decline in forest land. The result of the work shows increment in agricultural expansion and settlement by between 2003 and 2013. Therefore, agriculture and settlements are the main drivers of land use land cover change, which are in turn direct consequences growth of population