Land use and land cover (LULC) dynamics pose negative impacts on land resources. Evaluation of the rate and extent of change is, therefore, indispensable for managing the environment and its implications on sustainable land resource management of the study area. The study was aimed to analyze the spatial and temporal dynamics of the LULC in Cheha district during the 1973 to 2017 periods and assess the implications of LULC changes. All acquired imageries of the study area were geo-referenced and re-projected. Supervised classification with maximum likelihood technique was employed to extract multispectral satellite data from Landsat using GIS and ERDAS imagine software. The Landsat imageries were monitored during the (1973, 1987, 2000, and 2017) periods. Seven thematic maps of land classes were identified and generated using remote sensing techniques, and field verification. The study results showed the areal extent of shrub, bare, and forest lands decreased by (29.6%), (19.4%) and (7.5%), respectively during the 1973 to 1987 interval. However, the built-up area was increased considerably by (57.3%) and agricultural land (18.9%) in the same span. The area coverage of built-up, agriculture, and forest lands, during the entire study period (1973 - 2017) increased by (67.1%), (31.6%) and (59.7%), respectively. Conversely, the respective yearly change of grazing, shrub, and bare land classes over the study period was (-194.4 ha), (-114.7 ha), and (-60.3 ha). The LULC dynamic pretended a serious threat to land resources in the study area over the past 44 years. Therefore, a better understanding of its underlying causes and associated driving forces could support in developing sustainable land resource management in the area.

Keywords: Land use/land cover change, Image classification, landsat images, remote sensing.