Journal of Environmental Sciences Juniper Publishers

JUNIPER PUBLISHERS-OPEN ACCESS JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES & NATURAL RESOURCES   Soil Erosion Modeling Using GIS Based RUSEL Model in Gilgel Gibe-1 Catchment, South West Ethiopia Authored by Gizaw Tesfaye Abstract This study was aimed to estimate soil loss in Gilgel Gibe-1 catchment by GIS-based RUSLE model and prioritize sub-watersheds for soil conservation planning. Both primary and secondary data from different sources were used in this study. The amount of soil loss from the catchment is estimated with GIS-based RUSLE model which uses the rainfall-runoff erosivity, soil erodibility, topographic effect, soil/surface coverage and land management practice of the catchment as an input. The result of the study shows the mean annual soil loss of the catchment is 62.98 t ha -1 year-1 which is about 26.56x106 ton year-1. Erosion ‘hotspot’ areas are identified and prioritized on the bases of soil loss. Accordingly, SW4, SW3, SW5, SW6, SW9, SW8, SW7,

JUNIPER PUBLISHERS-OPEN ACCESS JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES & NATURAL RESOURCES An Assessment of Local Community Livelihood Benefits as a result of Bale Mountains National Park, Southeast Ethiopia Authored by   Yohannes Teshome Assessing and considering the potential contribution of protected areas of land on local community livelihood benefits helps to effectively protect and sustain representative samples of various biotopes. This study was designed to assess the contribution of Bale Mountains National Park (BMNP) on local community livelihood. Thirteen villages were selected purposely from five Districts and 732 households were interviewed. The survey was conducted using structured household questionnaires, focus groups discussion and key informants. Various data analysis techniques namely descriptive statistics, Chi-square (χ²) test of independence, post hoc Tukey test after a one-way ANOVA test and Correlation (r) were used. Results showed that