Abstract:
Land use and land cover changes have a serious effect on ecosystem services. This study was carried out to assess the impact of land use/land cover (LULC) changes on ecosystem service values (ESVs) in Abuna Gindeberet District, West Shewa, and Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia. The satellite images for three periods 1990, 2005 and 2020 years were downloaded from USGS to analyze the spatial and temporal changes. The study result revealed that seven major land use and land cover were identified, such as forestland, cropland, settlement, shrub land, grassland, bare land, and water bodies. The results revealed that cropland, grassland, settlement, and bare land increased by 7765 ha (11.31%), 5556 ha (greater than 100%), 3547 ha (91.4%) and 3851 ha (greater than 100%), respectively during the study periods. Shrub land, forest land, and water bodies decreased by 13080 ha (53.1%), 12294 ha (95.85%), and 140ha (38.04%), respectively, in the thirty years. The total ESV of the 1990 period was estimated at 87.63 million USD, whereas the 2005 period estimated at 49.5 million USD and the 2020 period estimated at 33.66 million USD. These results indicate that grasslands provide a wide range of ecosystem services and goods. The overall ESV of the Abuna Gindeberet district lost in three decades was $54.07 million US from all land LULC classes. Among the specific ecosystem services, food production (0.559 US dollars in millions), biological control (0.3 US dollars in millions), pollination (0.25 US dollars in millions), gas regulation (0.04 US dollars in millions) had positive ESV while the remaining ecosystem services had negative values, indicating a decrease in those ESVs. The conversion of grass land, forest land and shrub land to agricultural land and major environmental problems were reported that reduced the total ESV of the study area. Therefore, creating awareness among society of optimal use of natural resources, conservation systems and their benefits by policy makers and NGOs could play a significant role in the rehabilitation of the environment
