GIS and Remote Sensing Integrated Environmental Impact Assessment in Irrigation Development: A case study on Fincha Valley/Ethiopia

This book mainly focuses on the environmental repercussion of irrigation development. To better show the impacts of the irrigation project five environmental components are selected and appropriate techniques used to quantify the outputs. The study makes use of Remote sensing tools and techniques to objectively quantify the vegetation changes that have been taking place and show the negative consequences. The research involves field survey of soil and water samples and laboratory assessment in the irrigated and non irrigated lands. On the other hand some of the social and economic variables are compared using the existing statistics and interview. It is found out that despite the many advantages of the irrigation project it has many negative impacts and implications on the environment. This in turn puts the sustainable of the project in question. Many of the examined threats are due to mismanagement of the resources rather than the existence of the project by itself. There are many recommendations forwarded to many stockholders to mitigate the negative impacts on the environment.