The Impact of Catchment Land Use Land Cover Changes on Lake Dandi, Ethiopia

Highland freshwater lakes are currently threatened with catchment land use land cover changes particularly in developing countries like Ethiopia despite their wide range of valuable ecosystem services. This study was conducted to assess trends of catchment land use land cover change and associated impacts on a highland Lake, Dandi over three decades from 1990 to 2020 years period based on GIS (ArcMap 10.4.1) and remote sensing (ERDAS Imagine 14) software as well as questioner survey, key informant interviews, and field observation. The study covered 3,794 ha with five major land use land covers, namely mixed agriculture/settlement, bush-/shrubland, grassland, bare land, and water body (Lake Dandi). The assessment revealed that farmland/residential area increased by 593 ha (35.34%), while bare land, grassland, shrubland, and Lake Dandi decreased by 290 ha (26.12%), 218 ha (12.15%), 57 ha (6.85%), and 28 ha (19.53%), respectively. Responses also indicated increased farmland/settlement area (66.66%) and declined areas of bare land (84.63%), bush-/shrubland (84.86%), grassland (96.96%), and Lake Dandi (61.05%). Furthermore, responses indicated expanding agricultural land use (48%), population growth (38%), climate change (32%), overgrazing (30%), and poverty (28%) as major factors currently threatening the lake and its ecosystem services. Field observation also revealed expansion of agricultural land use in the catchment of Lake Dandi including in steeper slopes and hillsides that might exacerbate on-site soil erosion as well as lake sedimentation and toxic contamination. Thus, results indicated deterioration in the storage capacity and water quality of Lake Dandi due to catchment land use land cover change that might in turn adversely affect its ecosystem services and the resident biota suggesting urgent intervention.