Understanding the Impact of Land Cover Dynamics

Land Use/Land Cover Change has been one of the widely experienced environmental phenomena as a result of unbalanced man-nature interaction. Land which is central in our civilization is greatly affected by human interventions such as settlement, agriculture and other development activities which in turn are contributing to land use and land cover changes. The issue of land cover dynamics driven by a population influx and lofty demand for land resource are highly contributing to the changes in local environment and thereby impacting the livelihood strategies of the local people. As people utilize the land for various purposes, the process challenges their existing livelihood systems and in the long run their sustainable livelihood strategies. Moreover, land cover dynamics have become one of the principal contributing factors for climate change and global warming through altering the earth’s ecosystem. All these impacts of land cover dynamics are being experienced by inhabitants of the Menagesha Suba locality which is found some 45 kilo meters south west of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.