Abstract
Land use /Land cover Change is one of the major human induced global changes. This study was carried out to examine LU/LC changes and its driving forces in Wujig Mahgo Waren. Satellite image (USGS-EROS) (http://geography.usgs.gov) such as Landsat5 TM 1994, 1999 and 2011, Landsat7 ETM+ 2003 and Landsat 8 OIL/TIROS 2017 were used to analyze the LU/LC change of the study area.
In addition, field observations household survey, Key informant interview (KII) and Focus Group Discussion (FGD) were conducted. ArcGIS 10.4 software used for satellite image processing and map preparation, GPS Garmin 60 tool for ground truth and SPSS 16.0 software for house hold’s survey analysis the study area changes have been observed between in the years 1994 and 2017 in LU/LC changes. The result of the study area showed that forest land, woodland and scrub land were increased by 21.1 ha, 176.7 ha and 968.4 ha respectively, while shrub land range land, and crop were decreased by 1151.6 ha, 261.4ha and 720.1 respectively. From 2011 to 2017(after intervention) the land cover types such as forest, wood land, scrub land, was increased by 123.9 ha, 579.5 Ha, 867.7 Ha respectively. A corresponding was observed in shrub land range land and crop land decrease of by 1281.6 ha, 102 ha and 7.5 respectively. The land cover change in the study area is the result of several proximate and underlying driving forces. The major proximate driving forces of LU/LC change are an increasing demand for firewood, Overgrazing, Cutting of trees for construction and Deforestation. Whereas, demographic and Institutional the major underlying drivers in the study area.
Keywords: Land use land cover, GIS, Satellite image, Driver force, Land sat image
