Identification of Degraded Rangeland Areas, and Rehabilitation Site Analysis for Feed Specious Growth: the Case of Borana Rangeland, Oromia Region, Ethiopia
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Date
2023-02
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Livestock production is mainly dependent on the productivity and sustainability of the rangelands’ capacity to supply feed for the livestock. However, in recent times the Borana rangeland is unable to sustain supply enough feed to the livestock because of the degradation of the rangeland. Remote Sensing and GIS techniques are of paramount importance to investigate degradation hotspots and select suitable rehabilitation sites for sustainable rangeland. Therefore, this research aims to assess and identify degraded areas as well as suitable sites for rehabilitation in Borana Zone using Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques. The data used in this paper are Landsat 7ETM+ and Landsat 8 OLI Satellite images of 2002, 2012 and 2021, elevation, soil, and climate data. Land Use Land Cover (LULC) degradation, soil degradation due to erosion and deposition, and soil pH degradation were considered as rangeland degradation indicators. LULC, soil (soil depth, soil texture, soil pH, soil OC, and total Nitrogen (TotN)), elevation, rainfall, and temperature factors were used for suitability analysis. Weighted overlay analysis, and Multicriteria decision Analysis (MCDA) method supported by Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) were applied to identify the degraded areas and suitable sites for rangeland rehabilitation. The result of the study indicates that 6.33% of the rangeland cover is highly degraded. Whereas, 46.98%, which is the majority of the rangeland, has a moderate degradation level. The marginally degraded area covers 18.97% of the total rangeland while 27.70% of the total rangeland has no or very low degradation. With respect to suitability, the highly suitable site selected covers an area of 7.9%, while the majority of the study area (81.4%) is moderately suitable. The result shows that 10.7% of the area has a marginal contribution for rangeland rehabilitation. Whereas, negligible amount (0.002%) of the rangeland is not suitable. The findings indicate that there is a high risk of conversion of the moderately degraded areas into a highly degraded condition and hence, it is important to Consider degradation protection measures and rangeland restoration sooner.
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Rangeland, Degradation, Suitability, Analysis, NDVI, USPED