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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Land-Cover/Land-Use Changes in the Derekolli Catchment of the South Welo Zone of Amhara region, Ethiopia
Author:Belay Tegene
Year:2002
Periodical:Eastern Africa Social Science Research Review (ISSN 1027-1775)
Volume:18
Issue:1
Period:January
Pages:1-20
Language:English
Notes:biblio. refs., maps
Geographic terms:Ethiopia
Northeast Africa
Subjects:environment
land use
agricultural land
Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment
Development and Technology
geography
Forest utilization
Environmental planning
Vegetation
External link:http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/eastern_africa_social_science_research_review/v018/18.1tegene.pdf
Abstract:A land cover analysis carried out in the Derekolli catchment of the South Welo Zone of Amhara Region, using image analysis and GIS (Geographical Information System) technologies, in conjunction with data collected through field surveys, revealed two types of changes, i.e. land cover modification and conversion. The shrubland, which apparently formed the climax vegetation of the study site, disappeared at the rate of 1.6 and 0.31 percent per year from 1957 to 1986, and from 1986 to 2000, respectively. This change involved a gradual thinning of the shrub and its modification to shrub grassland, and then grassland, due to the selective cutting of the woody biomass for fuelwood and charcoal production. A significant conversion from natural vegetation cover to cropland was observed only between 1957 and 1986, where the cultivated land expanded by 7 percent. There was little change in the cropland area since 1986, as most of the land suitable for cultivation was already in use and the limit for expansion had almost been reached. The other type of conversion, i.e. the change from cultivated land to urban area, was insignificant since the land taken up by the emerging town, together with the roads, accounted for less than 1.5 percent of the total area of the catchment. Bibliogr., sum.
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