Seasonal land use land cover change and the drivers in Kafta-Sheraro National Park, Tigray, Ethiopia

Abstract Kafta-sheraro national park (KSNP) is one of the homes of the African elephant has experienced extensive destruction of woodland following regular land use & land cover change in the past three decades, however, up to date, data and documentation detailing for these changes are not addressed. This study aims to evaluate the land use land cover change and drivers of change that occurred between 1988 and 2018. Landsat 5(TM), Landsat7 (ETM + ), and Landsat 8 (OLI/TIRs) imagery sensors, field observation, and socio-economic survey data were used. The temporal and spatial Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) was calculated and tested the correlation between NDVI and precipitation/temperature. The study computed a kappa coefficient of the dry season (0.90) and wet season (0.845). Continuous decline of woodland (29.38%) and riparian vegetation (47.11%) whereas an increasing trend of shrub-bushland (35.28%), grassland (43.47%), bareland (27.52%), and cultivated land (118.36 km 2 ) were showed over thirty years. More results showed bare land was expanded from wet to drier months, while, cultivated land and grazing land increased from dry to wet months. Based on the NDVI result high-moderate vegetation was decreased by 21.47% while sparse & non-vegetation was expanded by 19.8% & 1.7% (36.5 km 2 ) respectively. Settlement & agricultural expansion, human-induced fire, firewood collection, gold mining, and charcoal production were the major proximate drivers that negatively affected the park resources. Around KSNP, the local community livelihood depends on farming, expansion of agricultural land is the main driver for woodland dynamics/depletion and this leads to increase resources competition and challenges for the survival of wildlife. Therefore, urgent sustainable conservation of park biodiversity via encouraging community participation in conservation practices and preparing awareness creation programs should be mandatory.