Abstract
Church forest (CF) is the most important biodiversity hotspot in Ethiopia. Land use land cover change (LULCC) is among the threats of CF. However, little is known about the quantitative trends of LULCC and forest fragmentation around CF. The aim of this study was to analyze LULCC and forest fragmentation of four selected CF and their surrounding (within 3 km buffer). The selected churches were: 1. Kedest Arsema Monastery (KAM) from Tigray region, 2. Woji Abune Aregawi Church (WAA) from Amhara region, 3. Abune Tekele Hayimanot Monastery of Bole Bulbula (AT-B) from Addis Ababa 4. Abune Tekele Haymanot Monastery of Wolayta (AT-W) from Southern Nations, Nationalities and People’s Regional State (SNNPRS). Satellite images of Landsat TM (1984/86/87, 1995&1999) and OLI_TIRS (2017/18) were used. After preprocessing activities conducted, the images were classified using pixel-based supervised classification technique. By using the classified LULC maps, the landscape metrics of fragmented patches was calculated. We found that farmland and forest/shrub land are the most dominant LULC classes of the study areas. Reduction of forestland was recorded within the boundary of AT-W (from 28.2 to 17.6%), WAA (from 2.4 to 1.4%) and AT-B (from 7.1 to 3.5%) between 1986/87 and 2017. Forest area increased from 7.3 to 26.8% inside the boundary of KAM between 1986 and 2018, while shrub land decreased from 92.7 to 73.2% during the same period. The study areas except KAM shows a decreasing trend of forest cover and shrub land inside their boundary over the study periods. Forest fragmentations and attrition of natural vegetation were also observed from WAA, AT-B, and AT-W along the study periods. Thus, effective conservation activities are urgent in and around CF to conserve the biological resources of CF.
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Yahya, N., Kebede, G., Getachew, M., Eshete, A. (2022). Land Use Land Cover Changes and Forest Fragmentation on the Surrounding of Selected Church Forests in Ethiopia. In: Kindu, M., Schneider, T., Wassie, A., Lemenih, M., Teketay, D., Knoke, T. (eds) State of the Art in Ethiopian Church Forests and Restoration Options. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-86626-6_3
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