Abstract:
It is evident that Ethiopia is one of the countries of Africa that is experiencing significant
population growth as well as land use/cover dynamics. Land use/cover induced
degradation of natural resources is a major challenge to the country’s development. The
main objective of this study was to investigate the impact population dynamics has had
on land use/cover in Mandura district. Data on population over time were taken from the
CSA during the 1984, 1994 and 2007 national census results. A total of 210 farm
households from three kebeles: 105 from the local people and 105 from migrants were
surveyed in May 2011 to acquire data on socioeconomic, land use, resource use and
management. Aerial photographs of 1957, 1982 and SPOT-5 image of the 2006/07 were
used to generate data on land use/cover changes. The results indicate that population has
substantially increased, more than fourfold between 1957-2006/07, mainly due to
migration from the surrounding areas, government sponsored resettlements, and
flourishing of new urban centers. No less important is mortality has decreased due to
immunization and the birth rate has been increasing due to improved maternal and child
care as compared to the situation prior to the 1990s. The change on land use/cover show
that from the total land use/cover conversions, which totals 58,403 ha of land, farm land
constitutes 90.1 %. The study finds natural population increase, migration, urbanization,
agricultural extensification, institutional weakness, land tenure insecurity, famine and
drought, and poverty as root causes. The study further identifies existence of all weather
road, resettlement, Tana-Beles project, expansion of agriculture, land colonization, wood
extraction for fuel, and soil fertility decline as direct causes of land use/cover changes.
As a result of change of customary land tenure system, the local population has been
forced to engage in extractive economic activities that have never been practiced in the
past. Therefore, the study calls for coordinated efforts for resources use and management
at different levels, land use policy formulation, devising alternative sources of
livelihoods and fuel, regulating migration and involvement of the wider community in
policy formulation and implementations.
