Spatial analysis of landscape rehabilitation in degraded land along topographic variabilities in the Kiliso sub-watershed, Southern Ethiopia

Abstract In Ethiopia, particularly in Southern Oromia and Eastern Halaba, land degradation is a common challenge for the pastoral community and farmers. As a result, the sub-watershed has closed for the past five years. However, little is known about the effects of topography on the rehabilitation of various land uses and land covers (LULCs). This study determined how the main topographic variables affect the rate of rehabilitation. Sentinel-2 images were used to quantify land use and land cover for the years 2017 and 2021. The aspect, altitude, and slope were calculated using the SRTM of 1 Arc-Second Global. The Maximum Likelihood classifier algorithm was used for supervised image classification. Changes in LULCs were analyzed using the post-classification technique. The LULC maps were overlaid with the topographic variabilities. The topographic variability’s influences were clearly observed on the rehabilitation rate of area enclosure. In the slope class of 0 to 5%, agriculture is the dominant cover. The bushland was largely detected in the slope classes of 0 to 10 in 2017. Agriculture and barren land were influenced as altitude and slope increased. Forest and bushland were found to be highly restored at an altitude of 1841 to 1880, an aspect of the south, and slope classes of 0 to 5 percent.