Assessing the Driving Factors and Actors for the Land Use/ Land Cover Changes of Dessie City, Amhara Region, Ethiopia.
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Date
2023-12-01
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
This study evaluated the effects of migration on the land use and land cover of Dessie city between the years 2016 and 2022. Dessie cities informal settlement has led to uncontrollable changes in land use and cover, converting agricultural and protected forest areas to residential areas. Through the identification of motivating factors and actors, the use of spatial analysis of remote sensing, GIS tools, and survey methodologies, the study was carried out using both
qualitative and quantitative approaches. In order to determine the perception of office workers and the community of the city on the factors and players who contribute greatly to the land use and land cover of the Dessie city, the primary data were gathered through questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and observations and satellite images were used as data sources to gather the secondary data. The study's findings significantly indicated that built-up areas expanded from 3,467.8 ha in 2016 to 7937.5 ha in 2022 while Agricultural land declined from 6,428.9 hectares in 2016 to 4462.7 ha in 2022. Based on the findings, the study also came to the conclusion that the main driving forces behind the change in land use/ land cover of the city were population growth, employment opportunities, issues with instability, unrestricted access to property, housing preferences, urban topography, and city’s plans, as well as actors like land brokers, local farmers, experts, and government officials. Finally, the research recommends to curb track of changes in land use /land cover and developments should be carried out properly in accordance with a planned strategy, there is a need in effective land management and monitoring technologies in order to guarantee a proper usage of land.
Key words: Actors, Driving Factors, Informal settlement, Land Use, Land cover change, Migration