Availability of global and national scale land cover products and their accuracy in mountainous areas of Ethiopia: a review

A review of global and national-scale land cover products reveals their limited accuracy in complex mountainous terrains, such as Ethiopia's Bale Mountains National Park. Despite the availability of 146 studies—most published since 2013—none utilized pre-existing land use/land cover (LULC) products; instead, they relied on individually computed maps. Validation using 185 ground truth points showed overall accuracy below 50%, highlighting significant challenges in applying these products to local-scale applications in rugged landscapes. The study underscores the need for region-specific LULC products tailored to mountainous areas.

Hailu, B. T., Fekadu, M., & Nauss, T. (2018). Availability of global and national scale land cover products and their accuracy in mountainous areas of Ethiopia: a review. Journal of Applied Remote Sensing, 12(04), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1117/1.jrs.12.041502