Opportunities and Challenges
to Adopting Sustainable Watershed
Management Interventions:
An Overview of Experiences
from Ethiopia
Gebreyesus Brhane Tesfahunegn and
Elias T. Ayuk
Abstract
Watershed management techniques in view of
the water–soil–waste nexus approach and its link
to food security have been widely studied in
Ethiopia. However, there has been limited
uptake and implementation of the recommended
technologies in many watersheds. This paper
aims to illustrate the experiences and lessons
about watershed management interventions in
the Tigray region, northern Ethiopia and identifies opportunities and challenges to the adoption
of these practices. Information was collected
based on discussions with farmers and development agents, field observations, personal experiences, and literature review. Positive impacts of
the nexus-oriented watershed management interventions included 50% increase in income, 56%
increase in food security, 62% increase in
vegetation coverage, 63% increase in surface
and groundwater resources, 62% restoration of
soil fertility, sediment accumulation behind
bunds (up to 65 t ha
−1 year
−1
), and 80%
reduction in soil loss. In Ethiopia, opportunities
for the widespread adoption of watershed management interventions include improvement in
socioeconomic conditions, experiences on natural resources restoration, farm diversification
and intensification, and understanding the complementarity of crop and livestock systems. On
the other hand, adoption of these interventions
was challenged by a lack of improved agronomic
practices, poor crop and livestock management,
unpredictable climate, the large area of land
under severe degradation, and high competition
between crop and livestock systems. In order to
improve the adoption of nexus-oriented watershed management interventions, a conceptual
research strategy including local and scientific
knowledge and approaches (from participatory
problem identification to monitoring, and evaluation strategy) is suggested.
Keywords
Income Á Farm diversification Á
Food security Á Land degradation Á
Natural resources restoration
1 Introduction
Ethiopia has been seriously affected by land
degradation in the form of soil erosion, forest
degradation, and soil fertility decline. Despite the
G. B. Tesfahunegn (&)
College of Agriculture, Aksum University,
Shire-Campus, P. O. Box 314, Shire, Ethiopia
e-mail: gebre33@gmail.com
G. B. Tesfahunegn Á E. T. Ayuk
International House 2nd Floor, United Nations
University Institute for Natural Resources in Africa
(UNU-INRA), University of Ghana, Legon Campus,
Accra, Ghana
e-mail: ayuk@unu.edu
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
S. Hülsmann and M. Jampani (eds.), A Nexus Approach for Sustainable Development,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57530-4_11
165
to Adopting Sustainable Watershed
Management Interventions:
An Overview of Experiences
from Ethiopia
Gebreyesus Brhane Tesfahunegn and
Elias T. Ayuk
Abstract
Watershed management techniques in view of
the water–soil–waste nexus approach and its link
to food security have been widely studied in
Ethiopia. However, there has been limited
uptake and implementation of the recommended
technologies in many watersheds. This paper
aims to illustrate the experiences and lessons
about watershed management interventions in
the Tigray region, northern Ethiopia and identifies opportunities and challenges to the adoption
of these practices. Information was collected
based on discussions with farmers and development agents, field observations, personal experiences, and literature review. Positive impacts of
the nexus-oriented watershed management interventions included 50% increase in income, 56%
increase in food security, 62% increase in
vegetation coverage, 63% increase in surface
and groundwater resources, 62% restoration of
soil fertility, sediment accumulation behind
bunds (up to 65 t ha
−1 year
−1
), and 80%
reduction in soil loss. In Ethiopia, opportunities
for the widespread adoption of watershed management interventions include improvement in
socioeconomic conditions, experiences on natural resources restoration, farm diversification
and intensification, and understanding the complementarity of crop and livestock systems. On
the other hand, adoption of these interventions
was challenged by a lack of improved agronomic
practices, poor crop and livestock management,
unpredictable climate, the large area of land
under severe degradation, and high competition
between crop and livestock systems. In order to
improve the adoption of nexus-oriented watershed management interventions, a conceptual
research strategy including local and scientific
knowledge and approaches (from participatory
problem identification to monitoring, and evaluation strategy) is suggested.
Keywords
Income Á Farm diversification Á
Food security Á Land degradation Á
Natural resources restoration
1 Introduction
Ethiopia has been seriously affected by land
degradation in the form of soil erosion, forest
degradation, and soil fertility decline. Despite the
G. B. Tesfahunegn (&)
College of Agriculture, Aksum University,
Shire-Campus, P. O. Box 314, Shire, Ethiopia
e-mail: gebre33@gmail.com
G. B. Tesfahunegn Á E. T. Ayuk
International House 2nd Floor, United Nations
University Institute for Natural Resources in Africa
(UNU-INRA), University of Ghana, Legon Campus,
Accra, Ghana
e-mail: ayuk@unu.edu
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
S. Hülsmann and M. Jampani (eds.), A Nexus Approach for Sustainable Development,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57530-4_11
165