Geography and Environmental Studies

The Suluh river basin is subjected to land use and land cover change due to population pressure, improper farming practices, lack of alternative non-farm activities, and rugged topography. Yet, land use/land cover change detection and its driving factors have not been applied in the study area. Thus, the current study detected land use and land use change and identified the drivers for it in the Suluh river basin, the northern highland part of Ethiopia. Landsat image data and Ancillary data sources were used to achieve the objectives. With the aid software's of eCognition Developer 9.2 and IDRISI Selva 17.3, images were classified and changes were detected. Both qualitative and quantitative data were analyzed. According to the study's findings, between 1990 and 2018, cultivated land expanded by 7.98%, plantation land by 43.7%, built up land by 135.5%, and bar land by 9.8%. A decline trend was found to exist for water bodies by 79.6%, pasture land by 48.6%, shrub and bush land by 61.7%, and forest land by 576.7%. Thus, in order to implement sustainable land management practices in the Suluh river basin, land use planners should take into account information about land use and land cover change, as well as the corresponding drivers.

Interpersonal conflict happens everywhere and at any time and is inherent in all societies. However, the methods of managing such conflict are quite different from one organization to the other. The general objective of this study was to assess and identify the causes of interpersonal conflicts within a circle of friends and to propose solutions and alternative course of actions that might solve the problems. The study showed that the major sources of conflicts were personal issues, dishonesty towards the others, miscommunication, academic standings, temperament, and emotional stability. It was also noted that compromising, sympathy, and collaborating were frequently used conflict management styles within the circle. It is recommended that each individual that belongs on the circle be expected to understand the real causes of conflicts for healthier management styles.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of satellite rainfall estimates (Climate Hazards Group Infrared Precipitation with Stations version 2 (CHIRPSv2) and Multi-Source Weighted-Ensemble Precipitation version 2 (MSWEPv2) from 1981 to 2018 for monthly meteorological drought analysis over the Upper Blue Nile (UBN) basin. The reference for the performance evaluation was rainfall measured in situ selected with reference to the elevation zones of the basin: Highland, midland, and lowland. Both the measured and estimated rainfall datasets were aggregated by month at a spatial resolution of 10 km × 10 km with a temporal coverage of 38 years from 1981 to 2018 and evaluated with respect to raw precipitation statistics and the standardized precipitation index (SPI). The values of SPI were validated with reference to documented meteorological drought records of the country. The mean bias, correlation coefficient, probability of bias (PBias, %), mean error (ME, mm), and roo...

The study attempts livestock husbandry and sustainability of small farmers in West Gojjam region, Ethiopia where a large number of livestock are reared due to the favorable climatic conditions. The mainstay of the population (those with holding of less than 3 ha) practices mixed crop-livestock farming. It discovers issues of the economic and gender profiles of livestock rearers and their engagement in different operations of livestock husbandry for economic sustainability. Systematic random sampling was applied technique to select 240 households from four micro geographical areas (kebeles) of peri-urban region on the basis of purposive sampling at the distance of 10, 20, 30, 40 km from central business district. The findings describe 51.6% contribution of females in livestock husbandry for barn and cleaning while men performed 71.5% marketing activities. More than 87 % agricultural operations were done by men using livestock. The Animal husbandry contributes 60-70 % income among the...

Soil erosion is one of the major factor affecting sustainability of agricultural production in Ethiopia. This research applied recently validated RUSLE soil erosion model based on 6 to 14 years data for the Ethiopian highlands to estimate soil erosion and to evaluate soil conservation strategies in the Koga watershed. In this study, the average annual soil loss rate determined is 30.2 t ha −1 yr −1. The lowest soil loss is estimated about 12.1 t ha −1 yr −1 around the outlet of the Koga river which is greater than the minimum tolerable soil loss (2 t ha −1 yr −1). The highest soil loss is estimated from the steep slopes of upper watershed which is 456.2 t ha −1 yr −1 by far higher than the maximum tolerable soil loss (18 t ha −1 yr −1). Using ordinary least square regression, existing land use aggravates soil erosion with 92% overall coefficient of determination (R 2). The topographic factor also influences soil loss with 89% R 2 value. Based on the evaluation of technical standards of soil conservation measures, 35.56% of the existing soil conservation practices fit with the recommended national standard which has less contribution to tackle soil erosion. Therefore, to sustain agricultural practices, appropriate and standardized soil conservation structures on different erosion prone land uses and landforms should be implemented in Koga watershed. 1 Introduction Livelihood of human kind is closely linked to soil and soil contributes food, clean water, clean air, and are a major carrier for biodiversity (Katsuyuki, 2009; Keesstra et al., 2016). Most of the people in the world remain heavily dependent on soil resources as their main livelihood source that lead to high soil erosion. The high erosion rates are affecting mainly the developing countries due to intensive cultivation, deforestation, ploughing of marginal lands and extreme climate hazards (Biswas et

Agriculture being the most primitive occupation of the most civilized mans and it should be supported by scholars. Agriculture in Ethiopia is characterized by low productivity due to low external inputs, lack of good farming practice deforestation which results soil erosion and decreasing productivity. Potato is one of the most common food crops cultivated in Ethiopia spatially Amhara region. However, the current production supply couldn't satisfy demands for this crop. As a result, effective method of assessing environmental suitability analysis to increase the production of this crop is needed. A multi factor spatial analysis can effectively assess the environmental suitability of an area for potato cultivation. However, there are no any comprehensive agricultural land suitability spatial analysis for the study yet. In an attempt to underscore its significance, this study conducted GIS based land suitability analysis. It involves identifying suitability factors, hierarchical organization, standardization, rating and ranking, and weighing the factors selected and finally implementing the suitability map. The evaluation criteria used are elevation, slope, soil, rainfall, temperature variations and poor crop management. They were collected from different government agencies. The ranking and weighting were conducted through pairwise comparison of map algebra in ArcGIS of variables using experts from Amhara Region Agricultural Research Institute. The weights of factors were estimated by computing map algebra values. Different suitability maps were prepared for each variable by combining different ArcGIS 10.4 extension tools were used, in this regard as it has the capacity to integrate these modules. Four suitability scenarios were developed using different standardization and combination methods. Using the suitability scenario method, finally physical land suitability analyses were conducted. The results of the analyses disclosed that large area of land on the highland plateau and plain of South Gondar, West Gojjam and Awi are suitable for potato crop cultivation. On the other hand, North Gondar and some part of East Gojjam are not suitable for potato growing.

Purpose: Poverty is a challenge facing all countries but worst in Sub-Sahara African. Ending poverty in its all form is the Nation's 2030 core goals where Ethiopia is striving. Therefore, to step forward the effort, it is necessary to assess rural poverty. Accordingly, the study intended to investigate the determinants of rural poverty at the household level in Tenta district, South Wollo Zone.

Morphometric analysis is a quantitative measurement and mathematical analysis of landforms. It plays a significant role in understanding the geohydrological characteristics of a drainage basin in relation to the terrain feature and its flow patterns. It also helps to estimate the incidence of infiltration and runoff, and other related hydrological character of a watershed like erosion and sediment transport which has a strong implication for natural resource conservation. This study has attempted to quantify the morphometric characteristics of Guna-Tana watershed for proper implementation of soil and water conservation practices. ASTER (DEM) was used for extracting morphometric parameters. The watershed covers a total area of 3601.5 km 2 and it has a basin length of 78.89 km. It has been tried to generate morphometric parameters which account basin drainage network, geometry, drainage texture, and relief characteristics together with hypsometric characteristics. The morphometric analysis of drainage density of the study watershed is 0.49 km/km 2 which indicates the basin is highly permeable and result with better underground water storage capacity. Ruggedness number is 0.02 that implies the area is less prone to soil erosion. In addition, it has stream frequency of 0.32 and form factor 0.57 which indicates slightly elongated basin shape. Comparative analysis of its sub watersheds Gumara and Ribb was also undertaken. Therefore, practicing soil and water conservation in the watershed could enhance/strengthen the water storage capacity, prevent sediment loss and related natural resource from the watershed that rehabilitate its productivity.

Soil erosion is a serious environmental problem arising from agricultural intensification and landscape changes. Improper land management coupled with intense rainfall has intricated the problem in most parts of the Ethiopian highlands. Soil loss costs a profound amount of the national GDP. Thus, quantifying soil loss and prioritizing areas for conservation is imperative for proper planning and resource conservation. Therefore, this study has modeled the mean soil loss and annual sediment yield of the Gumara watershed. Landsat 5 TM, Landsat 7ETMþ, and Landsat 8 OLI were used for land use land cover (LULC) change analysis. Besides these, other datasets related to rainfall, digital soil map, Digital Elevation Model, reference land use, and cover (LULC) ground truth points were used to generate parameters for modeling soil loss. The watershed was classified into five major land-use classes (water body, cultivated land, grazing land, built-up and forest and plantation) using a maximum likelihood algorithm covering a period of the last 30 years (1988e2019). The mean annual soil loss and sediment yield were quantified using RUSLE, Sediment delivery ratio (SDR), and Sediment Yields models (SY). The analysis result unveils that within the past 30 years, the watershed has undergone significant LULC changes from forest & plantation (46.33%) and grazing land to cultivated land (31.59%) with the rate of À1.42km 2 yr-1 and-2.80km 2 yr-1 respectively. In the same vein, the built-up area has expanded to cultivated and grazing land. Subsequently, nearly 15% (207 km 2) of the watershed suffered from moderate to very severe soil loss. On average, the watershed losses 24.2 t haÀ 1 yrÀ 1 of soil and yields 2807.02 t haÀ 1 yrÀ 1 sediment. Annually, the watershed losses 385,157 t haÀ 1 yrÀ 1 soil from the whole study area. Among the admirative districts, Farta (Askuma, Giribi, Mahidere Mariam and Arigo kebeles), Fogera (Gazen Aridafofota and Gura Amba kebeles), East Este (Witimera kebele), and Dera (Gedame Eyesus and Deriana Wechit kebeles) districts which cover 50% of the watershed were found severely affected by soil erosion. Thus, to curve back this scenario, soil and water conservation practices should prioritize in the aforementioned districts of the watersheds.

Forests provide a wide range of ecosystem services. Despite these facts, the expansion of agriculture and settlement at the expense of forest resources has threatened the forest resources and results in biodiversity loss. To halt this problem, various conservation practices that believed to restore the degraded lands and biodiversity of the country have been implemented. Area exclosure is among the conservation strategies that have been used to restore the degraded lands in Mount Adama forest. However, its role in woody species regeneration in Mount Adama was not investigated. Thus, the objective of the study was to evaluate the impact of area exclosure on woody plant species composition, regeneration status, structure and diversity in Mount Adama. A systematic transect sampling method was used to collect vegetation data. Hence, 53 plots with 400 m 2 area were laid along 11 transects. Then, within the main plots, five subplots with 1 m 2 were laid to determine the abundance and frequency of seedlings. The results showed that about 31 woody species that belong to 30 genera and 19 families including four endemic species were identified. The majority (67.74%) of the species were categorized under shrub habitat, while the remaining 19.35% and 12.90% were trees and lianas or climbers, respectively. Asteraceae family was dominant by contributing 4 species followed by Rosaceae and Solanaceae each contributed 3 species. Hypericum revolutum was the dominant species with 53.38 important value index followed by Erica arborea and Hagenia abyssinica with 49.12 and 40.05, respectively. The overall Shannon-Wiener diversity index and Shannon evenness in the exclosure site were 2.6 and 0.73, respectively. Furthermore, the number of seedlings and saplings were higher in the exclosure than the untreated site. The results of the study evidently showed that area exclosure that implemented in Mount Adam successfully contributed to the biodiversity restoration. Therefore, further conservation efforts targeting species with low IVI values are needed for sustainable management and ecological recovery of the area.

Soil moisture availability affects agricultural productivity and in turn food security. Estimating the moisture content of soil is imperative for proper water resource management and agricultural productivity. However, field based method is expensive and covers limited spatial variation. The advancement of remote sensing technology eases the soil moisture estimation over large geographic area. Hence, this study intended to apply the optical and thermal remote sensing data for estimating SM in the Lake Tana sub basin. Temperature vegetation dryness index (TVDI) model which is used in this study to estimate soil moisture is derived from the wet and dry edge of the LST-NDVI triangular scatterplot. The finding revealed that NDVI and LST have inverse relationship where LST decrease with increasing NDVI. Spatially, northern and north western part has experienced high LST. The estimated soil moisture result ranging from 0 to 1 where the soil moisture is higher in areas with TVDI value is near 1. Thus, soil moisture is higher in the east, and northeast part of the sub basin whereas the central, western and northwest part experienced low soil moisture. Therefore, applying remote sensing enables estimation of soil moisture across large geographical area with scarcity of field data (in-situ observations).

Soil erosion and the subsequent sedimentation are serious environmental problems. Improper land management coupled with intense rainfall has complicated the problem in the Ethiopian highlands. Consequently, soil loss costs a profound amount of the national GDP and deters land productivity. Quantifying soil loss and prioritizing areas for conservation is imperative for proper planning and resource management. Therefore, this study aimed at estimating the mean annual soil loss rate of Gilgel Abay watershed which has critical implications on Lake Tana and Abbay River (Upper Blue Nile River), using RUSLE and morphometric analysis methods. Datasets including rainfall, soil, Digital Elevation Model and land use/land cover were used to generate important parameters required for the soil loss estimation. Data collected through field observation, consultation with experts and document analysis were used for validation purposes. The results of the study reveal that the watershed experienced an average soil loss rate of 39.8 t ha-1 yr-1. Subsequently, nearly 25% (37,038 ha) of the watershed is threatened by moderate to very severe soil loss. Among the four sub watersheds, sub watershed 3 (S3) and sub watershed 4 (S4), which consist of about 65% (105,000 ha) of the total area of the study watershed, experienced an annual soil loss rate of over 30 t ha-1 yr-1. The amount of soil loss that the study watershed has experienced is above the soil loss tolerance level of Ethiopia (2-18 t ha-1 yr-1) and the tropical region (10 t ha-1 yr-1). Similarly, the results of morphometric analysis showed that the studied watershed has S-shaped hypsometric curve, an indication for maturity stage of landscape development. The studied watershed is also characterized by a non-circular shaped drainage with rugged and dissected topography that contributes to high flash flood, peak discharge and incidence of soil loss. The result of both models signified that S3 and S4 are highly susceptible to soil erosion. Therefore, these two sub watersheds need priority for soil and water conservation (SWC) measures. Furthermore, the study demonstrated the importance of the integration of different models in the identification of soil erosion prone areas and prioritization for the proper implementation of SWC measures.