Land use/cover change at Infraz watershed by using GIS and remote sensing techniques, northwestern Ethiopia

Land cover is the physical and biological cover of the surface, whereas land use is the syndromes of human activities for the exploitation of it. The land cover and use change is caused by both natural and anthropogenic factors. The objective of this study was to detect land cover/use changes in Infraz watershed. The study has used ArcGIS10 and ERDAS IMAGINE10, landsat images of 1973, 1986, 1995 and 2011 and socio-economic data to analyse land cover and use changes of Infraz watershed. The study has found that because of population increase and improper agricultural activity bush and wetlands have been declined where as farm and settlement lands were expanded between the study years. About 1044 wetlands and 6338.7 ha bush lands were lost and converted to cultivated and farm lands, grass lands and forest covers which were increased by 6685.3, 357.7 and 338.3 ha between the study periods, respectively. There is an urgent need to limit the population growth rate and implementing land use policy in the Infraz watershed.