Land-use and land-cover dynamics in response to changes in climatic, biological and socio-political forces: The case of southwestern Ethiopia

Few studies of land-use/land-cover change provide an integrated assessment of the driving forces and consequences of that change, particularly in Africa. Our objectives were to determine how driving forces at different scales change over time, how these forces affect the dynamics and patterns of lan...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Reid, Robin S., Kruska, Russell L., Muthui, N., Taye, A., Wotton, S., Wilson, C.J., Mulatu, W.
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Springer 2000
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/33033
_version_ 1855513414554615808
author Reid, Robin S.
Kruska, Russell L.
Muthui, N.
Taye, A.
Wotton, S.
Wilson, C.J.
Mulatu, W.
author_browse Kruska, Russell L.
Mulatu, W.
Muthui, N.
Reid, Robin S.
Taye, A.
Wilson, C.J.
Wotton, S.
author_facet Reid, Robin S.
Kruska, Russell L.
Muthui, N.
Taye, A.
Wotton, S.
Wilson, C.J.
Mulatu, W.
author_sort Reid, Robin S.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Few studies of land-use/land-cover change provide an integrated assessment of the driving forces and consequences of that change, particularly in Africa. Our objectives were to determine how driving forces at different scales change over time, how these forces affect the dynamics and patterns of land use/land cover, and how land-use/land-cover change affects ecological properties at the landscape scale. To accomplish these objectives, we first developed a way to identify the causes and consequences of change at a landscape scale by integrating tools from ecology and the social sciences and then applied these methods to a case study in Ghibe Valley, southwestern Ethiopia. Maps of land-use/land-cover change were created from aerial photography and Landsat TM imagery for the period. 1957-1993. A method called `ecological time lines' was developed to elicit landscape-scale explanations for changes from long-term residents. Cropland expanded at twice the speed recently (1987-1993) than two decades ago (1957-1973), but also contracted rapidly between 1973-1987. Rapid land-use/land cover change was caused by the combined effects of drought and migration, changes in settlement and land tenure policy, and changes in the severity of the livestock disease, trypanosomosis, which is transmitted by the tsetse fly. The scale of the causes and consequences of land-use/land-cover change varied from local to sub-national (regional) to international and the links between causes and consequences crossed scales. At the landscape scale, each cause affected the location and pattern of land use/land cover differently. The contraction of cropland increased grass biomass and cover, woody plant cover , the frequency and extent of savanna burning, and the abundance of wildlife. With recent control of the tsetse fly, these ecological changes are being reversed. These complex patterns are discussed in the context of scaling issues and current conceptual models of land-use/land-cover change.
format Journal Article
id CGSpace33033
institution CGIAR Consortium
language Inglés
publishDate 2000
publishDateRange 2000
publishDateSort 2000
publisher Springer
publisherStr Springer
record_format dspace
spelling CGSpace330332024-04-25T06:00:11Z Land-use and land-cover dynamics in response to changes in climatic, biological and socio-political forces: The case of southwestern Ethiopia Reid, Robin S. Kruska, Russell L. Muthui, N. Taye, A. Wotton, S. Wilson, C.J. Mulatu, W. land use climate tenure policies trypanosomiasis glossinidae ecology Few studies of land-use/land-cover change provide an integrated assessment of the driving forces and consequences of that change, particularly in Africa. Our objectives were to determine how driving forces at different scales change over time, how these forces affect the dynamics and patterns of land use/land cover, and how land-use/land-cover change affects ecological properties at the landscape scale. To accomplish these objectives, we first developed a way to identify the causes and consequences of change at a landscape scale by integrating tools from ecology and the social sciences and then applied these methods to a case study in Ghibe Valley, southwestern Ethiopia. Maps of land-use/land-cover change were created from aerial photography and Landsat TM imagery for the period. 1957-1993. A method called `ecological time lines' was developed to elicit landscape-scale explanations for changes from long-term residents. Cropland expanded at twice the speed recently (1987-1993) than two decades ago (1957-1973), but also contracted rapidly between 1973-1987. Rapid land-use/land cover change was caused by the combined effects of drought and migration, changes in settlement and land tenure policy, and changes in the severity of the livestock disease, trypanosomosis, which is transmitted by the tsetse fly. The scale of the causes and consequences of land-use/land-cover change varied from local to sub-national (regional) to international and the links between causes and consequences crossed scales. At the landscape scale, each cause affected the location and pattern of land use/land cover differently. The contraction of cropland increased grass biomass and cover, woody plant cover , the frequency and extent of savanna burning, and the abundance of wildlife. With recent control of the tsetse fly, these ecological changes are being reversed. These complex patterns are discussed in the context of scaling issues and current conceptual models of land-use/land-cover change. 2000 2013-07-03T05:25:57Z 2013-07-03T05:25:57Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/33033 en Open Access Springer Landscape Ecology;15(4): 339-355
spellingShingle land use
climate
tenure
policies
trypanosomiasis
glossinidae
ecology
Reid, Robin S.
Kruska, Russell L.
Muthui, N.
Taye, A.
Wotton, S.
Wilson, C.J.
Mulatu, W.
Land-use and land-cover dynamics in response to changes in climatic, biological and socio-political forces: The case of southwestern Ethiopia
title Land-use and land-cover dynamics in response to changes in climatic, biological and socio-political forces: The case of southwestern Ethiopia
title_full Land-use and land-cover dynamics in response to changes in climatic, biological and socio-political forces: The case of southwestern Ethiopia
title_fullStr Land-use and land-cover dynamics in response to changes in climatic, biological and socio-political forces: The case of southwestern Ethiopia
title_full_unstemmed Land-use and land-cover dynamics in response to changes in climatic, biological and socio-political forces: The case of southwestern Ethiopia
title_short Land-use and land-cover dynamics in response to changes in climatic, biological and socio-political forces: The case of southwestern Ethiopia
title_sort land use and land cover dynamics in response to changes in climatic biological and socio political forces the case of southwestern ethiopia
topic land use
climate
tenure
policies
trypanosomiasis
glossinidae
ecology
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/33033
work_keys_str_mv AT reidrobins landuseandlandcoverdynamicsinresponsetochangesinclimaticbiologicalandsociopoliticalforcesthecaseofsouthwesternethiopia
AT kruskarusselll landuseandlandcoverdynamicsinresponsetochangesinclimaticbiologicalandsociopoliticalforcesthecaseofsouthwesternethiopia
AT muthuin landuseandlandcoverdynamicsinresponsetochangesinclimaticbiologicalandsociopoliticalforcesthecaseofsouthwesternethiopia
AT tayea landuseandlandcoverdynamicsinresponsetochangesinclimaticbiologicalandsociopoliticalforcesthecaseofsouthwesternethiopia
AT wottons landuseandlandcoverdynamicsinresponsetochangesinclimaticbiologicalandsociopoliticalforcesthecaseofsouthwesternethiopia
AT wilsoncj landuseandlandcoverdynamicsinresponsetochangesinclimaticbiologicalandsociopoliticalforcesthecaseofsouthwesternethiopia
AT mulatuw landuseandlandcoverdynamicsinresponsetochangesinclimaticbiologicalandsociopoliticalforcesthecaseofsouthwesternethiopia