Population dynamics and its impact on land use/ cover in Ethiopia : the case of Mandura District of Metekel Zone, Benshangul-Gumuz Regional State

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.