Review of Land Use and Land Cover Change and its Causes, Consequences and Environmental Implications in Highlands of Ethiopia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53555/ans.v5i5.969Keywords:
land use land cover, consequence, sustainable, degradationAbstract
Land use-cover (LULC) is one of the crucial environmental phenomena that affect many parts of the earth’s systems including climate, hydrology, biodiversity and fundamental sustainability of land resources on the earth. Anthropogenic factors are responsible for major land use and land cover changes (LULCC). The purpose of this review paper is to assess the LULCC causes, consequences and environmental implications in high land Ethiopia. At the regional and national scales, these changes have profound implications for national radiation and energy balances, alterations in biogeochemical cycles, perturbations in hydrological cycles and loss of biodiversity at genetic and species levels. At the local scale, changes in the use of land and its cover affect watershed runoff, micro-climatic resources, groundwater tables, processes of land degradation and landscape level biodiversity. All these have direct impacts on livelihoods of local communities. These multifaceted environmental impacts can affect immensely food security and sustainable development. Biodiversity is reduced when land is changed from a relatively undisturbed state to more intensive uses like farming, livestock grazing, selective tree harvesting, etc. Population growth, deforestation, institutional factors and built-up land were found to be major causes of LULCC.
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