Characterization and prioritization of watersheds has gained importance for proper planning and management of natural resources in sustainable development. Implementation of management practices over a larger area at the same time is inaccessible and uneconomical. So, it has required applying a viable technique for prioritization of critical sub-watersheds. Thus, the present study was aimed to prioritizing erosion-prone sub-watersheds using morphometric analysis. Advanced space-borne thermal emission and reflection radiometer of 30m resolution DEM has used to generate drainage networks and delineation of sub-watersheds using ArcGIS software. The important derived morphometric parameters have computed on the base of already developed mathematical formulae and methods. The study area (a watershed) has classified into seven interesting sub-watersheds, which have ordered SW1–SW7. The very important quantitative watershed aspects such as linear, relief and areal have been taken in consideration, and eighteen morphometric parameters have been selected and used for ranking and prioritizing of sub-watersheds. In this regard, sub-watersheds (SW7, SW3 and SW4) and (SW5, SW6 and SW2) have categorized into higher and medium priorities, whereas sub-watershed (SW1) has assigned at lower priority. This implied that SW1 is relatively sustainable than others, on the contrary, SW7 is relatively affected sub-watershed by runoff and soil erosion that needs first priority for management practices. Therefore, the study proposes a useful soil and water conservation practices such as bunds, check dams, micro-basins and multipurpose tree species planting based on suitable location and design parameters. The decision makers should optimally allocate the investments according to this final priority. And it has required to monitor and evaluate due to environmental sound, economical viable and socially acceptable. Also it has required developing an integrated approach for characterizing and prioritizing of sub-watersheds.

This study investigated groundwater potential in the Western escarpment of the Ethiopian Rift valley, taking Dijo catchment as a case study, an area that is known for its critical shortage of water. Different thematic layers were used to determine the groundwater potential of the catchment. PCI Geomatica and Rockwork were used to automatically extract lineament and lineament orientation, respectively. Weights of parameters were computed using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP). Rank was assigned to each feature class for each thematic map according to their characteristics and interrelationship with groundwater. Once the mapping was done, validation of the estimated result was done. Accordingly, the result indicates that there is a matching between the analysis results and samples taken from boreholes with an accuracy result of 79.2%. The results revealed that nearly half of the catchment was found to have high-to-very-high groundwater potential while the remaining exhibiting limited potential for groundwater. Despite the high potential, there is a critical shortage of water. This is partly attributed to poor planning and limited capacity in identifying water resource potential. Thus, we suggest that efforts should be made to exploit the available water resources thereby to solve the societal problem.

The purpose of this study was to investigate temperature and rainfall variations and their effects on the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Konso cultural landscape, Ethiopia, using dense merged satellite–gauge-station rainfall data (1981–2020) with a spatial resolution of 4 km-by-4 km and observed maximum and min temperature data (1987–2020), together with qualitative data gathered from cultural leaders, local administrators and religious leaders. The Climate Data tool (CDT) software version 8 was used for rainfall- and temperature-data analysis. The results showed that the north and northeastern regions of Konso had significant increases in rainfall. However, it was highly variable and erratic, resulting in extreme droughts and floods. The study confirmed that there were significant (p < 0.05) increasing trends in the number of days with heavy rainfall, very-heavy rainfall days, and annual total wet-day rainfall (R10 mm, 20 mm, and PRCPTOT). The highest daily minimum temperature, lowest and highest daily maximum-temperature number of warm days and nights, and number of cold days and nights all showed significant rising trends. The increasing trends in rainfall and temperature extremes have resulted in flooding and warming of the study area, respectively. These have led to the destruction of terraces, soil erosion, loss of life and damage of properties, loss of grasses, food insecurity, migration, loss of biodiversity, and commodification of stones. The continuous decline in farmland productivity is affecting the livelihood and traditional ceremonies of the Konso people, which are helpful for the transfer of traditional resource-management knowledge to the next generation. It is therefore necessary to implement local-scale climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies in order to safeguard the Konso cultural landscapes as a worldwide cultural asset and to bolster the resilience of smallholder farmers.

Land use and land cover change (LULCC) are the result of different interacting socio-economic and environmental causes and consequences that have been known since the beginning of agriculture. The study intended to explore the implications and drivers of LULCC in the Ethiopian rift valley region of Gidabo river sub basin from 1986 to 2019. The researchers have triangulated the data from Landsat 5 (™), and Landsat 8 (OLI) with data obtained from key informants, focus groups and field observation, which is helpful to determine the interaction between the environment and the community. It is also important to mitigate environmental disaster (erosion, landslides, and climate change) and sustainable utilization of natural resources. The LULCC of the past 33 years implied that about 58.4 % of the area was changed to other Land use land cover (LULC) classes. This refers to the fact that about 14% of agroforestry, 2% of the settlement, 1.1% of the forest, and 1% of bare land were expanded at the expense of 10.3% of shrub/woodland, 6.3 % of grassland, and 1% of cropland classes. Therefore, as a result, the highest land cover (46.7%) was observed on the agroforestry system. Participants in group discussion and informant interviews attributed the expansion of agroforestry to the drivers, such as population density, cultural values (Songo, Babbo), traditional beliefs, land policy, and the insecurity resulting from climate change. Whereas, the drivers related to unproductive land, resettlement, urbanisation, and lack of agricultural inputs were considered as threats that will adversely affect the agroforestry system of the area. The study concluded that the high expansion of the agroforestry system has significant contribution to achieve a resilient environment and sustainable development, which integrates the socio-economic and environmental needs of the community. But greater attention should be given to the changes observed in shrub/woodland, grassland, and bare land to enhance environmental protection.

The usage of land use and land cover change information has significantly risen as a result of the requirement for relevant data for environmental monitoring, modeling, and planning. The main objective of the study is to analyze the trend of land use and land cover dynamics in Sheka biosphere reserve: A Case of Shato Core Area, Southwest Ethiopia. To map the land use and land cover, supervised classifications were used, and an accuracy evaluation was conducted. Information on the trend of land use and land cover change was obtained using the IDRISI software’s land change modeler. Results showed that about 308.29ha (56.7%) of wetland and 3,215.6ha (19.6%) of natural forest were converted to other land use types in the last 30 years. Plantation and rural settlement increased by 2,234.3ha (10.2%) and 1289.6ha (6.6%) respectively from 1991–2021. Sheka biosphere reserve was registered with UNESCO in 2012 and Shato is one of the core areas. It covers 5023.3ha (25.5%) of the study area. However, 1482ha (7.5%) were given to coffee plantations, and currently, only 3,541ha (18%) are left. The main drivers of land cover changes were attributed to large-scale agricultural intensification and its induced expansions of rural settlements in and around the Shato core area. The overall accuracy and kappa statistics for 1991, 2006, and 2021 were 74% (0.74), 81% (0.81), and 81.2% (0.812), respectively. Thus, land use and land cover change trend mapping and analysis play a crucial role in conservation planning and habitat monitoring. The study concluded that wetland and forestland conversions in the study area are decreasing overwhelmingly and need serious intervention mechanisms to tackle the loss of biodiversity in the Shato core area.