Assessment of biodiversity conservation in Entoto Natural Park, Ethiopia for ecotourism development

Abstract

Abstract. Tesema AD, Berhan G. 2019. Assessment of biodiversity conservation in Entoto Natural Park, Ethiopia for ecotourism development. Asian J Ethnobiol 2: 22-37. The study's main goal was to use Geographic Information Systems (GISs) and remote sensing to generate biodiversity and land use/cover changes to develop ecotourism in Ethiopia's Entoto natural park. During field verification, the primary data was collected. Questionnaires and interviews were conducted to assess the status of biodiversity, prospects, and opinions for creating ecotourism in Entoto Park to collect the required primary data for this research. Different and suitable software was used to process remotely sensed data depending on the data type. Since the field verification provided a priori information, the imageries were classified using the supervised classification technique. The field verification results revealed that 25 different tree and shrub plant species were discovered in the Entoto natural park. The responses to questionnaires and details gathered from personal interviews were nearly identical to the data collected in the field. Almost 88% of the overall species abundance in the study region was accounted for by Eucalyptus globulous and Juniperus procera. In an ArcGIS and ERDAS Imagine the setting, outputs such as change detection maps and topography maps were developed. The analyses revealed that the region’s forest cover has increased when comparing successive decadal results. The land in these park areas could be used for new campgrounds, various developed structures and amenities such as lodging and venues, and nature-based activities such as canopy walks. This study will contribute to the literature on the importance of biodiversity in the growth of ecotourism and the benefits of ecotourism to environmental conservation and their close coexistence. Entoto Natural Park can be considered a suitable site for ecotourism promotion based on the existing resources of the studied region and the assessment results.