Impact of land cover changes on elephant conservation in babile elephant sanctuary, Ethiopia

Abstract

Land-cover changes are a major driving force of habitat modification, which has important implications for the distribution of wildlife species and ecological systems. However, information on the consequences of land-cover changes in wildlife habitat and conservation at local scales is largely absent. Understanding how changes in land-cover can threats the trends of land-cover and wildlife habitat loss in the future is therefore critical for conservation efforts, particularly in protected areas. We used geographical information system and remote sensing techniques, questionnaires and village meetings to assess spatio-temporal patterns of land-cover changes and its impact on elephant distribution, population and seasonal migration in Babile Elephant Sanctuary. Landsat imagery was used to classify and monitor changes in land-cover during 1977–2017. We found that within the sanctuary, agricultural land, bareland and settlements remarkably increased from the year 1977, when they covered about 3.5, 0.3 and 0.1%, respectively to 2017, when it occupied 17.3, 3.7 and 3.4%, respectively. Whereas there was a consistent decrease in woodland and bushland from 56.5 and 31.1% coverage in the year 1977 to 45.3 and 27.2% in the year 2017, respectively. The share of riparian forest cover during the study period (1977-2017) also showed a downward trend from 8.6 to 3.1% between the years 1977 to 2017. Elephant population and distribution data also show declining trend for the past 40 years. Conclusions: Our results demonstrated that the increasing agricultural land and settlements have become a serious threat for ecological integrity for elephant habitat, leading to habitat fragmentation and human encroachment of elephant habitats, and high pressure and competition over resources. This research offers baseline information for land-use planning to balance elephant conservation with livelihood development in Babile Elephant Sanctuary and highlights that managing the impacts of land-cover changes on a full form to be given for human-elephant conflict and elephant habitat loss is a matter of urgency.