bstract
This study was conducted to quantify the effect of population dynamics on land use/land cover (LU/LC) changes in
Dera District, Ethiopia. Population data (1984, 1994 and 2007) and remote sensing data (Landsat 5 TM of 1985 and
Landsat 7 ETM+
imagery 2011) were used. Global positioning system and topographical maps of scale 1:50,000 for
ground verification; field observations and focus group discussions; ERDAS Imagine 9.1 and ArcGIS 9.2 software for
satellite image processing and data analysis were used. The result indicated an increased of population by 73% from 1985
to 2011. Cultivated land and degraded lands were also increased by 25.79% and 398% at the expense of forest land,
shrub land and grazing lands. Thus, population dynamics is one of the major driving forces for the LU/LU changes in the
study area.