Abstract:
The change of LUCC due to human activities in the world has a notable impact on ecosystem
services at regional and global levels, which are important for the survival of humans. North
Mecha Woreda located in northwest Ethiopia is not escape from this phenomenon. This study
assessed the impact of land use land cover change on ecosystem service values from the year
1994, 2004, 2014, and 2024.To achieve this objective explanatory sequential research
design, and purposive and stratified random sampling technique was used. The result shows
that land use/ land cover change result have significant transformation including a reduction
in forest, shrub land, and grazing land while cultivated land, built-up area, bare land, and
water body were increased. Specifically, forest land decreased by 54.18%, while water body
increased by705.99%.The ecosystem service values were estimated based on benefit transfer
method decreased from total $59.695 million in 1994 to $ 53.475 million in 2024 with a total
change of $6.203 million. The result of ecosystem service value gain and loss indicates
significant impact of land use land cover change. The coefficient of sensitivity (CS) in the
study indicated that values were greater than 1 indicate that the quantification and estimation
of ecosystem services in the study area was moderately elastic. The descriptive statistics
indicated that strong agreement on land use land cover change causes ecosystem service
value change in the study area. Generally; North Mecha Wored has experienced significant
environmental changes, indicated by a decline in natural resources and loss of ecosystem
service, showing the need for sustainable land management practice and forest reforestation
and afforestation.