Assessment of Land Use Land Cover Dynamics at Bale Mountains National Park Using Gis and Remote Sensing
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Date
2007-07
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Addis Ababa Universty
Abstract
Effective management of natural resources, especially National Parks requires accurate
and up-to-date information to guide park managers in making appropriate decision. The
intension of this study is to provide such information using GIS and remote sensing
technologies to guide policy development in managing protected areas in Bale
Mountains National Park. By utilizing remote sensing technologies and implementing
GIS mapping techniques, land use and land cover change of designated areas can be
monitored and mapped for specific research and analysis. The present study was
attempted to identify and quantify the major land use land cover changes over the past
33 years as well as to identify potential habitat for Mountain Nyala (one of wild life
species) at BMNP. Three satellite imageries (Landsat MSS 1973, Landsat ETM+ 2000
and ASTER 2005) have been utilized for the change detection analysis. As a result,
land use land cover map of 1973, 2000 and 2005 was generated. In this study post
classification and image differencing methods of change detection were assessed and a
suitable method among them was found to be the former one because of the merit that it
provides to and from information and results in a base map that can be used for the
subsequent year. More over, it identifies where and how much change has occurred.
Eventually, Eight land cover classes were identified from supervised classification of
both ASTER, 2005 and Landsat ETM+, 2000 images, namely, moist montane forest,
dry ever green forest , wood land , alpine bush land , water body, , pasture and farm
plot, barren land and mixed grass/cereals.Five factor layers (vegetation type, elevation,
settlement, river and road) were employed for Nyala habitat suitability modeling, and
four suitability classes (most suitable, suitable, moderately suitable and less suitable
habitat) were identified after performing GIS overlay analysis. The majority of most
suitable habitat lies around the northern part of the park and on the top of the harrena
forest. Woodland vegetation type along with the elevation range between 2800-3200
m.a.s.l found to be the most suitable habitat for Mountain Nyala. In general, five major
causes of land use/land cover changes were identified (haphazardly expanding of
settlement, Exploitation of wood for fuel and construction materials, human induced
fire, luck of legislation & law enforcement and uncontrolled grazing & increasing
farming on higher elevation).
Key Words: Land cover/ land use, habitat, GIS, suitability, RS, BMNP
Description
Keywords
Land cover/ land use, Habitat, GIS, Suitability, RS, BMNP