Spatiotemporal Vegetation Cover Change Analysis Using GIS and Remote Sensing Technologies: The Case of Ganta-Afeshum District, Tigray Region, Northern Ethiopia

Biodiversity conservation through enclosure distribution to landless youth plays its own role as a means of environmental conservation, maintaining biodiversity, and as a job opportunity option for youths in the Tigray region. But its impact on vegetation cover change dynamics has not been studied yet at the distributed sites. This study aims to investigate historical and existing spatiotemporal vegetation cover dynamics before and after enclosure distribution to landless youths in some selected kebeles of Ganta-Afeshum. To do so, satellite images of Landsat 5 and Landsat 8 OLI for the years 1992 and 2020 were downloaded, respectively, and satellite image pre-processing activities were done before proceeding to the processing stage. Using Erdas Imagine and ArcGIS Pro software's Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), the selected kebeles of Mugulat, Sasun, Hagereselam, and Whudet sites were computed to analyze the vegetation status of each kebele both in 1992 (before distribution) and 2020 (after distribution). Vegetation cover dynamics and change analysis from 1992 to 2020 for these kebeles were also analyzed, quantified, and mapped. The result showed that the NDVI values of Mugulat kebele ranged from 0.006 to 0.442 with a mean of 0.121 in 1992 and from 0.008 to 0.390 with a mean value of 0.142 in 2020. The NDVI values of Hagreselam range from 0.013 to 0.306 with a mean of 0.112 in 1992 and 0.008 to 0.317 with a mean value of 0.132 in 2020. In the Sasun kebele, the NDVI value ranges from 0.024 to 0.387 with a mean value of 0.153 in 1992 and from 0.005 to 0.420 with a mean value of 0.156 in 2020. And NDVI values of Wuhdet kebele range from 0.021 to 0.359 with a mean value of 0.110 in 1992, and NDVI ranges from 0.004 to 0.312 with a mean value of 0.127 in the year 2020. Generally, there is an increasing vegetation trend in both Mugulat and Hagreselam kebeles, while there is a decreasing vegetation coverage in both Sasun and Whudet kebeles. Generally, there is an increasing vegetation trend in both Mugulat and Hagreselam kebeles, while there is a decreasing vegetation coverage in both Sasun and Whudet kebeles. GIS and Remote sensing technologies are the most widely applied methods for monitoring, modelling, mapping and measuring natural resources for wise utilization and future planning. This finding serves as a base line of information for policymakers, researchers, and peasant association experts to conduct detailed investigations on vegetation cover analysis and to set future plans for conservation of biodiversity through enclosure distribution to landless youths in the region and is used as a means of biodiversity conservation, job creation and income generation for the landless youths.