Trends of land use/cover change in Kecha-Laguna paired micro watersheds, Northwestern Ethiopia

Figures & data

Figure 1. Study area map.

Table 1. Description of LULC types identified in the Kecha-Laguna micro watersheds, Northwestern highlands of Ethiopia

Land use/cover classes	Working Definition
Forest land	Land covered by large trees. Includes natural forests and forest plantations.
Bush land	Land covered by bushes and sometimes with scattered small trees mixed with grasses
Grazing land	Land covered by grasses and used for grazing
Cultivated and Settlement land	Areas covered with annual and perennial crops and scattered rural settlements usually associated with cultivated lands.
Khat plantation	Areas covered by khat plantation
Degraded land	Areas with little or no vegetation cover consisting of exposed soil and/or rock outcrops

Table 2. Land use/cover types and areas covered in Kecha micro watershed in four different years (1957, 1984, 2006 and 2016)

LULC classes	1957		1984		2006		2016
	ha	%	Ha	%	ha	%	ha	%
Degraded land	0	0	0	0	38.6	10	24.3	6.3
Bush	115.7	30.1	110.2	28.8	32.4	8.4	25.4	6.6
Forest	54.4	14.2	51.1	13.3	15	3.9	28	7.3
Khat	0	0	0	0	0.5	0.1	11.9	3.1
Cultivated and settlement	155.9	40.5	174.8	45.5	267.9	69.7	277.9	72.3
Grazing	58.4	15.2	48.1	12.5	30	7.8	16.8	4.4
Total	384.35	100	384.35	100	384.35	100	384.35	100

Table 3. Magnitude of Land use cover change in Kecha micro watershed in five different periods

LULC classes	Change in land use/cover (ha and %); gain(+) or loss(-)
	1957–1984		1984–2006		2006–2016		1984–2016		1957–2016
	ha	%	ha	%	Ha	%	ha	%	ha	%
Degraded land	0	0	+38.6	+10	−14.4	−3.7	+24.3	+6.3	+24.3	+6.3
Bush	−5.3	−1.4	−78.05	−20.3	−7	−1.8	−85.1	−22.1	−90.3	−23.5
Forest	−3.4	−0.9	−36.05	−9.4	+13	+3.4	−23.1	−6.0	−26.4	−6.9
Khat	0	0	+0.5	+0.1	+11.5	+3.0	+11.9	+3.1	+11.9	+3.1
Cultivated and settlement	+18.9	+4.9	+93.1	+24.0	+10.5	+2.6	+103.2	+26.8	+122.1	+31.8
Grazing	−10.3	−2.7	−18.1	−4.5	−13.2	−3.4	−31.3	−8.1	−41.6	−10.8

Table 4. Rate of land use/cover change in Kecha micro watershed for the four periods

LULC classes	Rate of change ha/year and %/year
	1957–1984		1984–2006		2006–2016		1957–2016
	ha/year	%/year	ha/year	%/year	ha/year	%/year	ha/year	%/year
Degraded land	0	0	+1.8	+0.5	−1.4	−0.4	+0.4	+0.1
Bush	−0.2	−0.1	−3.5	−0.9	−0.7	−0.2	−1.5	−0.4
Forest	−0.1	+0.02	−1.6	−0.4	+1.3	+0.3	−0.4	−0.1
Khat	0	0	+0.05	+0.01	+1.2	+0.3	+0.2	+0.1
Cultivated and Settlement	+0.7	+0.2	+4.2	+1.1	+1.1	+0.3	+2.1	+0.5
Grazing	−0.4	−0.1	−0.8	−0.2	−1.3	−0.3	−0.7	−0.2

Table 5. LULCC matrices of Kecha micro watershed (1957–1984)

	LULCC to 1984 (ha)
	LULC	Forest	Bush	Grazing	Cultivated and settlement	Total
From LULC 1957 (ha)	Forest	28.4	11	3.4	11.6	54.4
	Bush	11	75.6	8.62	20.5	115.7
	Grazing	2.6	6.7	26.9	22.2	58.4
	Cultivated and settlement	9.1	17.1	9.2	120.5	155.9
	Total	51.1	110.2	48.1	174.8	384.35

Figure 2. Land use/cover map of Kecha micro watershed (1957 and 1984).

Figure 3. Land use/cover map of Kecha micro watershed in 2006 and 2016.

Table 6. LULCC matrices of Kecha micro watershed (1984–2006)

LULCC to 2006
	LULC	Forest	Bush	Grazing	Cultivated and settlement	Degraded	Khat	Total
From LULC 1984	Forest	4	9.7	0.9	29.9	6.6	0	51.1
	Bush	5.2	10.3	8.1	72.9	13.9	0	110.2
	Grazing	1	1.4	11.6	25.5	8.5	0.1	48.1
	Cultivated and settlement	4.8	11	9.4	139.9	9.6	0.4	174.8
	Total	15	32.4	30	267.9	38.6	0.5	384.35

Table 7. LULCC matrices of Kecha micro watershed (2006–2016)

LULCC to 2016
	LULC	Forest	Bush	Grazing	Cultivated and settlement	Degraded	Khat	Total
From LULC 2006	Forest	12.2	1.3	0.2	1.3	0.03	0	15
	Bush	5.4	13	0.4	11	2.1	0.5	32.4
	Grazing	0.6	0.4	9.4	14.6	3.8	1.4	30
	Cultivated and settlement	8.6	8.3	4.8	231	3.8	9.3	267.9
	Degraded	1.2	2.4	2.02	17.8	15	0.2	38.6
	Khat	0	0	0	0	0	0.5	0.5
	Total	28	25.4	16.8	277.9	24.3	11.9	384.35

Table 8. Land use/cover types and areas covered in Laguna micro watershed in three different periods (1957, 2006 and 2016)

LULC	1957		2006		2016
	ha	%	ha	%	ha	%
Degraded land	0	0	44.7	13.2	49.1	14.5
Bush	107.07	31.6	86.5	25.5	75	22.1
Forest	85.2	25.1	25.8	7.6	24.2	7.1
Khat	0	0	0.3	0.1	10.4	3.1
Cultivated and settlment	135	39.8	175.9	51.8	177.3	52.2
Grazing	12	3.5	6.1	1.8	3.2	0.9
Total	339.26	100	339.26	100	339.26	100

Table 9. Magnitude of Land use/cover change and rate of change in the Laguna micro watershed on the three different periods

LULC classes	Change in LULC coverage (ha or %) and rate of change ha/year an %/year
	1957–2006		2006–2016		1957–2016
	Ha	%	Ha	%	Ha	ha/year	%	%/year
Degraded land	+44.7	+13.2	+4.45	+1.3	+49.1	+0.8	+14.5	+0.2
Bush	−20.6	−6.1	−11.5	−3.4	−32.05	−0.5	−9.4	−0.2
Forest	−59.5	−17.5	−1.55	−0.5	−61	−1.03	−18.0	−0.3
Khat	+0.3	+0.1	+10.13	+3.0	+10.41	+0.2	+3.1	+0.1
Cultivated and settlement	+40.9	+12.1	+1.4	+0.4	+42.4	+0.7	+12.5	+0.2
Grazing	−5.8	−1.7	−2.98	−0.9	−8.81	−0.1	−2.6	−0.04

Table 10. LULCC matrices for Laguna micro watershed (1957–2006)

LULCC to 2006
	LULC	Cultivated and Settlement	Forest	Bush	Grazing	Degraded	Khat	Total
LULC 1957	Cultivated and settlement	98.1	7.8	17.1	0.9	10.9	0.1	135
	Forest	33.8	12.1	23.7	2.9	13	0.01	85.2
	Bush	39.8	5	43.6	0.8	18.1	-	107.1
	Grazing	10.1	0.3	0.1	1.3	0.6	0.2	12
	Total	175.9	25.8	86.5	6.1	44.7	0.3	339.26

Figure 4. Land use/cover map of Laguna micro watershed in 1957, 2006 and 2016.

Table 11. LULCC matrices for Laguna micro watershed (2006–2016)

		LULCC to 2016
		Cultivated and settlement	Forest	Bush	Grazing	Degraded	Khat	Total
From LULC 2006	Cultivated and settlement	141	4.44	12.4	0.5	11.6	7.4	175.9
	Forest	2.3	14.2	6.5	0.5	0.7	1.5	25.8
	Bush	18.3	5.5	50.2	1.6	11	0.1	86.5
	Grazing	3.4	0.1	0.1	0.6	1.6	0.7	6.1
	Degraded	12.9	0.7	6.6	0	23.9	0.2	44.7
	Khat	0.02	0.05	0.02	0	0	0.2	0.3
	Total	177.3	24.2	75	3.2	49.1	10.4	339.26