Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Natural Forest Cover Change Utilizing Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing Technologies: A Case Study

Ethiopia’s natural forest cover is declining at an alarming rate due to population-growth-induced factors, other human-caused activities, and natural factors. This study aimed at the evaluation of spatiotemporal natural forest change dynamics by using change analysis. For the study (2000 ETM, 2010 ETM, and 2020 OLI-TIRS Landsat images were used) for change detections. Thus, the study result revealed that the major land use types were natural forests by 2000, but by now (2020), most of the natural forest areas are replaced by other land use classes. Thus, 233.76 ha of natural forest were cleared yearly for the last 20 years, mostly converted to farmland and settlement areas. Forest in the study is a source of energy (fuel wood and charcoal productions), substantial economic importance (timber and other construction material productions), and a source of food and domestic and wildlife habitat. Quantification of land use change detection shows us farmland, human settlement, and plantation areas are showing an increasing trend throughout the study period while natural forests are decreasing trend by 12% during 2000- 2010 and by 14 % from 2010-2020. The main causes of natural forest degradation are the high demand for farmland, housing, and energy mainly due to population growth, shortage of clean energy provision, and low level of awareness. Natural forests will have high economic, ecological, genetic, and medicinal value. Thus, protecting and conserving natural forests is crucial for the study area.