WLRC Land Cover Map 2016 (Overview Map Series) Scale: 1:500,000

The main methodological approach implemented to map the complex landscapes of Ethiopia at the required scales for the MapServer series was the majority and minority concept of landscape segregation that translated into the HICU-based mapping (Homogenous Image Classification Units). The employment of such an ‘exclusion-based’ approach (e.g. sub-setting of the Landsat imagery and gradually reducing the minorities/majorities) can be considered as a breakthrough in deriving important land cover information in heterogeneous landscapes, such as the rainfed agricultural area of Ethiopia. Nevertheless, the final land cover was mapped using an approach that combined the automated HICU approach with expert knowledge and visual delimination of units. This approach made it possible to distinguish cultivated land from other land use or land cover classes. Unsurprisingly, the actual amount of cultivated land is considerably larger than that indicated by official statistics in use since the mid-1980s, when the rural population was half its current size. T he team also mapped large-scale land use systems, inclusive of any foreign direct investments. Results of the study show there has been a considerable expansion and intensification of farming in the past three decades, unfortunately leading to more soil erosion.