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Impact of land use/cover change and slope gradient on soil organic carbon stock in Anjeni watershed, Northwest Ethiopia

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Abstract

Today’s agri-food systems face the triple challenge of addressing food security, adapting to climate change, and reducing the climate footprint by reducing the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG). In agri-food systems, changes in land use and land cover (LULC) could affect soil physicochemical properties, particularly soil organic carbon (SOC) stock. However, the impact varies depending on the physical, social, and economic conditions of a given region or watershed. Given this, a study was conducted to quantify the impact of LULC and slope gradient on SOC stock and C sequestration rate in the Anjeni watershed, which is a highly populated and intensively cultivated area in Northwest Ethiopia. Seventy-two soil samples were collected from 0–15 and 15–30 cm soil depths representing four land use types and three slope gradients. Soil samples were selected systematically to match the historical records (30 years) for SOC stock comparison. Four land use types were quantified using Landsat imagery analysis. As expected, plantation forest had a significantly (p < 0.05) higher SOC (1.94 Mg ha−1) than cultivated land (1.38 Mg ha−1), and gentle slopes (1–15%) had the highest SOC (1.77 Mg ha−1) than steeper slopes (> 30%). However, higher SOC stock (72.03 Mg ha−1) and SOC sequestration rate (3.00 Mg ha−1 year−1) were recorded when cultivated land was converted to grassland, while lower SOC stock (8.87 Mg ha−1) and sequestration rate (0.77 Mg ha−1 year−1) were recorded when land use changed from cultivation to a plantation forest. The results indicated that LULC changes and slope gradient had a major impact on SOC stock and C sequestration rate over 30 years in a highly populated watershed. It is concluded that in intensively used watersheds, a carefully planned land use that involves the conversion of cultivated land to grassland could lead to an increase in soil C sequestration and contributes to reducing the carbon footprint of agri-food systems.

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Availability of data and materials

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The first author thanks Haramaya University Africa Center of Excellence for Climate Smart Agriculture and Biodiversity Conservation (ACE Climate SABC), Debre Berhan University, CGIAR’s research program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), and the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (GRA) through their CLIFF-GRADS program for the financial support. The authors also thank Dr. Woubet Alemu, for providing us with the necessary data, Dr. Fikrey Tesfay for the continuous supervision and support during data collection and laboratory analysis, Debre Berhan Agricultural Research Center, and Anjeni area farmers for the laboratory work and support during data collection respectively.

Funding

This laboratory work is supported by CGIAR’s research program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), Africa Centre of Excellence for Climate-Smart Agriculture and Biodiversity Conservation, Haramaya University, Haramaya, Ethiopia and the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (GRA) through their CLIFF-GRADS program.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Africa Centre of Excellence for Climate-Smart Agriculture and Biodiversity Conservation, Haramaya University, Haramaya, Ethiopia

    Bethel Geremew & Bobe Bedadi

  2. College of Agriculture and Natural Resource Sciences, Debre Birhan University, P.O. Box 445, Debre Birhan, Ethiopia

    Bethel Geremew

  3. National Drought Mitigation Center, University of Nebraska—Lincoln, Lincoln, USA

    Tsegaye Tadesse

  4. USDA-Agricultural Research Service, Columbia Plateau Conservation Research Center, Pendleton, OR, USA

    Hero T. Gollany

  5. International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    Kindie Tesfaye

  6. College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia

    Abebe Aschalew

Authors
  1. Bethel Geremew
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  2. Tsegaye Tadesse
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  3. Bobe Bedadi
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  4. Hero T. Gollany
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  5. Kindie Tesfaye
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  6. Abebe Aschalew
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Contributions

Bethel Geremew: data curation, conceptualization, methodology, writing — original draft, formal analysis and investigation visualization. Tsegaye Tadesse: data curation, writing — review and editing and supervision. Bobe Bedadi: data curation, writing — review and editing, project administration, resources and supervision. Hero T. Gollany: writing — review and editing, resources and supervision. Kindie Tesfaye: data curation, writing — review and editing and supervision. Abebe Aschalew: writing — reviewing and editing and supervision.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bethel Geremew.

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Geremew, B., Tadesse, T., Bedadi, B. et al. Impact of land use/cover change and slope gradient on soil organic carbon stock in Anjeni watershed, Northwest Ethiopia. Environ Monit Assess 195, 971 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-023-11537-7

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