Spatio-temporal variation on land use and land cover and its drivers under watershed management activities in Becho, Central Highlands of Ethiopia

Abstract The study sought to understand the spatio-temporal variation of land use and land cover (LULC) and its drivers under watershed management activities in Becho district, in Ethiopia’s Central Highlands. To gain a better comprehension of the subject, two micro watersheds were chosen to test the effectiveness of watershed management activities (treated-Shankur Tareqo and untreated-Mende Tufessa). LULC changes were detected using aerial photography (1973), and satellite images from Landsat 5 TM (1990), Spot 5 (2005), and Landsat 8 OLI (2021) obtained from the Ethiopian Geospatial Information Institute and the United States Geological Survey. In addition, key informant interviews (KII) and focus group discussions (FGD) were used to elicit LULC drivers. Between 1973 and 2021, the total area of woodland, and cultivated and rural settlement land LULC classes in the treated micro-watershed decreased by 24.65% (171.9 ha) and 7.34% (759 ha), respectively. Though, grassland, forestland, and barrenland increased by 30.83% (179.52 ha), 1% (3 ha), and 183.14% (755.28 ha), respectively. The overall area of LULC class for woodland, grassland, forestland, and cultivated and rural settlement decreased by 50.36% (316.16 ha), 41.23% (196.46 ha), 2.43% (11.85 ha), and 1.35% (138.6 ha), respectively, in the untreated micro-watershed, while barrenland increased by 175.86% (666.55 ha). According to KII and FGD, the drivers of LULC changes were identified as the expansion of cultivated land, population pressure, and government policy. According to the findings, local-scale watershed management activities was not as effective as expected. As a result, in order to achieve the desired outcome, the concerned stakeholders should reconsider how watershed management activities is undertaken.