Rural-Urban Interface Vegetation Covers Change In and Around Burayu Town, Oromia Region
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Date
2020-06
Authors
Bulcha, Tarekegn
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Addis Ababa University
Abstract
At rural-urban interface areas the extent of vegetation cover changes has been increasing
owing to lack of proper management, awareness of the local community and urban
expansion. This study was conducted to analyze the governance, perception and extents of
rural-urban interface vegetation cover changes in and around Burayu Town. This study
employed both quantitative and qualitative (mixed research) type of research approach.
Descriptive research which is cross-sectional survey type of research design was employed
to survey 268 households. Information regarding to the governance of vegetation cover were
collected and analysed qualitatively. Data regarding the spatial analysis of vegetation cover
change was analysed using remote sensing satellite images of 2000-2020 period. This study
finding reveals most of the vegetative landscapes including urban parks and green areas
located at periphery and at interface areas of the town were mismanaged due to lack of
strong governance and little integration between community and town administrative. This
study also indicated that the issues of urbanization, formal and informal settlements, land use
plan and horizontal expansion of the town are perceived as a problem and agreed by the
majority of the people. The change in vegetation covers was perceived as a result of the
effects of urbanization and settlement expansion. Particularly urbanization is seen as leading
problem with mean value of 3.95 which further give rise to horizontal expansion and
unintended settlements. The 2000-2020 period trends of spatial analysis revealed that over
the last 20 years, as a result of anthropogenic effects the predominant vegetation covers in
and around the town converted to other non-vegetation purposes which is mainly the urban
settlements. About 43.37% of the vegetation cover was changed to other land use cover types
during the study period from 5166.27 ha in 2000 to 2925.81in 2020. Hence, urban-rural
interface vegetation covers change problems in the study area needs more attention to
synergies and integrate management responses among all the stakeholders.
Description
Keywords
Community perception, governance, rural-urban interface, spatial analysis, vegetation covers change.