Land Use Land Cover Change and Its Implication on Surface Runoff: A Case Study of Baro River Basin in South Western Ethiopia

The Baro river basin in the south western Ethiopia is potentially rich in land and fresh water resources. But, the resource of this basin is highly under change starting since 1986. The main goal of this study was to analyse land use land cover change and its impact on surface runoff processes using Geographical information systems, remote sensing techniques and simple empirical formula runoff coefficient. The result revealed that a significant spatial temporal increment and decrement of different land use land cover types in area. The major causes of these land use land cover changes were massive resettlement/ population growth, over utilization of resources and expansion of commercial farming system. This dynamical change of land use land cover has implied effect on environment by degrading in the form of surface water variability. As a result, temporally analyzed potential surface runoff has increased from 37 to 49 percent in 1984 and 2001 respectively. Land use land cover change has not only disrupted ecological balance of the watershed but also increased surface runoff. Keywords: LULC, Surface runoff, GIS, Baro basi