Spatio-temporal Dynamics, Drivers, Effects and Environmental Implications of Land use/land Cover Changes in Ambo Town and Its Watershed, West Shoa Zone, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia

Abstract Background: Land use/land cover change in urban watersheds of developing countries like Ethiopia is claimed to be a consequence of complex interaction of different actors, driving forces, and land itself. It is asserted to result in the degradation of natural vegetation and significant increases in impervious surfaces. The purpose of the study was to analyze spatio-teporal changes in land use/ land cover in Huluka watershed where Ambo town is situated and examine their drivers and effects with environmental implications.Results: The overall increase of urban built-up area, cultivated land, and bare land use/land cover type with 351%, 105%, and 41.9% respectively between the year 1979 and 2017 implies the increase in flooding disaster risk in the watershed as such land use/land cover types exacerbate the run-off conditions in the watershed. Infrastructural expansion, agricultural expansion, increased demand for fuel wood and wood for construction, local environmental factors, local biophysical drivers, and local Social events were identified as proximate drivers of land use/land cover changes in the study area. Demographic factors, economic factors, technological factors, policy and institutional factors and cultural factors were confirmed as the underlying drivers of land use/land cover change in the watershed. Increased flooding risk, increased soil erosion; increased sedimentation into the lake (Dendi lake) and rivers (Huluka, Awaro, Debis, Boji, Bolo, Aleltu, Karkaro, and Korke), decrease in soil fertility resulting from flooding risk, and change in climatic parameters (decrease in annual rainfall and increase in heat during dry season) were claimed as the negative effects of land use/land cover change in the study area.Conclusions: Practice of appropriate land use planning and management in the watershed, appropriate environmental impact assessment (EIA), and proper planning and management of socio-cultural, economic, and environmental development are of paramount importance to promote sustainable development in the watershed.