Assessment of Biodiversity Conservation of Entoto Natural Park for Ecotourism Development
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Date
2016-12
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Addis Ababa Universty
Abstract
The major objective of this study was generating biodiversity and land use/cover changes for the
development of ecotourism by applying Geographic Information Systems GISs and Remote Sensing
process in the Entoto natural park. Various studies attempted to carry out research work on value of
ecotourism for wildlife conservation and economic development in Ethiopia and little is done on
investigating opportunities and challenges of ecotourism potential sites. Ecotourism can provide a
strategic source of revenue to natural areas that need protection. Thus, this thesis was foreseen with the
objective of assessment of the biodiversity and potential opportunities of the Entoto natural park for the
development of ecotourism in this site. The primary data collection was performed during field
verification. To gather the required primary data for this study, questionnaires and interview were made
to determine the status of biodiversity, opportunities and opinions for the development of ecotourism in
Entoto Park. The remotely sensed data processes were performed by applying different and appropriate
software in accordance with the data type. The supervised classification technique was used to classify
the imageries because an a priori knowledge was gained from the field verification. The result of field
verification showed that 25 types of tree and shrub plant species were recorded from the Entoto natural
park and the response through the questionnaires and the information obtained from conducted
personal interview were almost matched with the result of data recorded from the field. Eucalyptus
globulous and Juniperus procera occupied nearly 88 % of the total species abundance of the study
area. Change detection maps and topography maps were amongst the outputs produced in an ArcGIS
and ERDAS Imagine environment. As compared successive decadal data with each other the analyses
result revealed that, forest cover of the area shown more increase. The land in this park setting may be
suitable for new camp grounds or a range of built structures and facilities such as accommodation and
venues and nature-based activities such as canopy walks. This research would add value to the
literature on the significance of biodiversity for the development of ecotourism and benefit of
ecotourism to environmental conservation and strong coexistence between them. Based on the actual
resources of the conducted area and evaluation results, Entoto Natural Park can be considered as an
appropriate site for ecotourism promotion.
Key words: Ecotourism, Biodiversity, GISs, Sustainable, Afromontain, criteria
Description
Keywords
Ecotourism, Biodiversity, GISs, Sustainable, Afromontain, Criteria