Abstract:
The dramatic mountains landscape of the SMNP in the north Ethiopia is home to some of the
rarest animals on the earth, including the simien fox and the walia ibex. Land encroachment is
mainly driven by human actions and also drives environmental changes and it can undermine
environmental wealth and tourism development of SMNP. Therefore this study was aimed at
understanding trends for land use and land cover change for 30 years, review of documents was
carried out to understand the key wild life species and also address the adversely effects of
tourism development of the study area. Time-series satellite images of land sat ETM, which
covered the time frame from 1985 to 2015, were used. Socio-economic survey and review of
document was carried out to understand historical trends, collect ground truth and other
secondary information required. Analysis of data and other data was accomplished through
integrated use of ERDAS imagine version 9.1, and ArcGIS version 9.2, SPSS version 20 software
packages along with Microsoft office analytical tools. Binary logistic model was used to analyze
the relationship between presence or absence of land encroachment and the independent
variables. Chi-square test was used to analyze number of age level, family size, occupation, and
educational status by the respondents. The result showed that most respondents the existence of
land encroachment manifested the demanding of farmland, grazing land and firewood. Remote
sensing analysis showed landscape level change of cultivated land and settlement to have a big
increase and also a big challenge of the study area, while the forest coverage was a net decline
from 1985 to 2015. The results showed an increase in the areas of agricultural or cultivation and
a decrease in the area of forest. The study concluded that demand is a factor driving human and
livestock encroachment and is made more complex by issues like poverty and large population.
