Integrated Watershed Development Strategy of Ethiopia

Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Resources

Natural Resource Management Directorate

June, 2018

Addis Ababa,

Ethiopia

Contents1. Introduction and Background..............................................................................................................1

1.1. General........................................................................................................................................1

1.2. Concepts and definitions..............................................................................................................3

1.3. Historical Background and Current Status of Watershed Development in Ethiopia....................4

2. The Need for Watershed Development Strategy..................................................................................6

3. Existing Opportunities.........................................................................................................................8

4. Scope of the Strategy...........................................................................................................................8

5. Vision..................................................................................................................................................9

6. Mission................................................................................................................................................9

7. Objective.............................................................................................................................................9

7.1. The specific objectives of the strategy.........................................................................................9

8. Guiding Principles.............................................................................................................................10

9. Strategic Issues, Bottlenecks and Corresponding Strategic Interventions..........................................11

Strategic Issue 1: Strengthening integration among stakeholders..........................................................11

Strategic Issue 2: Strengthening research on watershed development...................................................12

Strategic Issue 3: Ensuring the Quality and Standard of Implemented Activities..................................13

Strategic Issue 4: Lack of intensification, specialization and diversification:........................................15

Strategic Issue 5: Lack of strategic interventions based on the land use, land terrain, socio-economy, agroecology and livelihood....................................................................................................................15

Strategic Issue 6: The growing social, economic and environmental impact of development interventions,.........................................................................................................................................19

Strategic Issue 7: The expansion of invasive species.............................................................................20

Strategic Issue 8: The need for supporting watershed development with mechanization,......................21

Strategic Issue 9: Resilience building for climate change effects..........................................................22

Strategic Issue 10: Lack of guideline on integrating payment for ecosystem services in watershed development,.........................................................................................................................................25

Strategic Issue 11: Ensuring community ownership and sustainability of development interventions,..26

Strategic Issue 12: Strengthen documentation, reporting, monitoring and evaluation system for watershed development,........................................................................................................................28

10. References.....................................................................................................................................29

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1. Introduction and Background

1.1. GeneralAgriculture is the leading sector of Ethiopian economy as the overall economic growth of the

country largely depends on the agricultural sector. The sector provides employment to 83% of

the population, contributed 41.6% of the country GDP in 2009/10 fiscal year (GTP, 2010) and

85% of export earnings. Improving the productivity of the agricultural sector can thus

undoubtedly benefit both the rural and urban population by providing more food and raw

material at low price; generate foreign exchange; provide a growing amount of labor and capital

needed for industrialization; and provide market for industrial goods.

Ethiopia has untapped natural resource bases for agricultural development. The major resource

bases for agricultural development are land, diverse agro ecology, water resources, bio-diversity

and human resources. The agriculture sector has promising opportunities to transform itself from

subsistence to a level of modern and commercial sector.

However, the Ethiopian agriculture is highly affected by land degradation. The major causes

include severe soil erosion, uncontrolled deforestation leading to low vegetative cover and

unbalanced crop and livestock production, which is aggravated by rapid population increase and

its vulnerability to climate change. In addition, topography, soil types and agro-ecological

parameters are contributing factors in the degradation processes influenced by man (Hurni et al.,

2010). Land degradation, being a common problem in Ethiopia, puts millions of rural people

unable to produce their food consumption leading to disastrous impact on the socio-cultural,

environment and ecological setting of the country.

In response to the problem, watershed management initiatives started in the early 1980s after the

devastating famine in Ethiopia around 1973/74. Massive food for work programs for the

implementation of soil and water conservation works started in the 1980’s. By late 1990,

Watershed development, in Ethiopia has increasingly been managed and developed for poverty

alleviation and environmental conservation. This also focuses on reducing the degradation of

natural resources objectives (FAO, 2006). Throughout the world and particularly in Ethiopia,

Community Based Watershed Development Programme has evolved as a comprehensive

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development concept for sustainable and efficient utilization of natural resources for the benefit

of the local community with special attention to the rural poor.

Currently, national wide watershed development movement is underway with the community

based watershed development approach. In the last few years community based watershed

development approach is widely adopted across the country. This watershed development is

implemented through mass labor mobilization as well as with the support of different program

and projects initiative. As a result, positive impacts have been gained that have a lot of

contribution to the improvement on the environment, economic and livelihood of the rural

community. According to the PSNP-PW Impact Assessment study conducted in 2009, 2011,

2014 a general decrease in soil loss of 15, 12, 32 tones/ha/annum respectively was reported in

sampled watersheds. Similarly an estimated 3% runoff reduction was reported on the 2014

PWIA impact assessment report. Besides the assessment report estimated an 80% increase in

vegetation cover in the sampled micro watersheds specially in non-pastoral areas. According to

this study, area closure and enrichment plantation works which were implemented on degraded

bushlands and/or grazing lands have regenerated to either dense or open woodlands. Woody

Biomass Production from Area Closures is now about 10,682 MT/Ha. This is more than double

when compared to the rate of production at the start of PSNP which was only 5,194 MT/Ha. In

some of these rehabilitated micro-watersheds, farmers reported that few wild animals like

leopard, warthog and antelopes are coming back after disappearing several decades back. Some

of the species that regenerated after the area closures include Podocarpus spp., Olea spp.,

Juniperous spp., Croton spp, Vernonia spp, Euphorbia spp, Entada spp, Carisa Spp., Dodonea

spp. etc. The total runoff volume in the watersheds as well as flooding and sedimentation in and

out of the watershed areas has also shown remarkable reduction. Furthermore, due to positive

impact of watershed management practice, recently there are attitudinal changes within the

community (Tesfa Worku, 2015).

Despite the effort made in watershed development, the results achieved so far is not adequate

enough to the required level which is anticipated to reach by the growth and transformation plan.

The Natural Resource Management Directorate under the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock

Resources has made consultation workshop on improving performance of watershed

development in the country. During the workshop among others it was agreed that, developing a

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national watershed development strategy is crucial to address systematic strategic issues.

Besides, the development of the strategy has to be focused on addressing not only existing

strategic issues but also anticipated problems in the future in meeting the growth and

transformation plan of the sector. Therefore, the national watershed development strategy is

prepared and presented as follows.

1.2. Concepts and definitionsA watershed is a topographically delineated area that is drained by a stream system—it is the

total area above some point on a stream or river that drains past that point. A watershed is also a

hydrological response unit, a biophysical unit, and a holistic ecosystem in terms of the materials,

energy, and information that flow through it. Therefore, as well as being a useful unit for

physical analyses, it can also be a suitable socioeconomic-political unit for management planning

and implementation. Watersheds can vary in size from thousands of square kilometers to a small

area drained by a free sheet. (source…)

Watershed management is the process of organizing and guiding land, water, and other natural

resources used in a watershed to provide the appropriate goods and services while mitigating the

impact on the soil and watershed resources. It involves socio-economic, human-institutional, and

biophysical inter-relationships among soil, water, and land use and the connection between

upland and downstream areas (Ffolliott et al. 2002 ). In essence, it is resource management with

the watershed as the basic organizing unit.

The concept of watershed management dates back to 2000 BC (Zheng 2004; Chen 2007), and it

has continuously evolved and improved over time. Watershed management can broadly be

defined as “the study of the relevant characteristics of a watershed aimed at the sustainable

distribution of its resources and the process of creating and implementing plans, programs, and

projects to sustain and enhance watershed function that affect the plant, animal, and human

communities within a watershed boundary” (California Department of Conservation 2015).

Through the evolution of watershed management, the practice of integrated watershed

management has now become more prominent. Integrated watershed management builds upon

the foundational principles of watershed management to integrate various social, technical, and

institutional dimensions, as well as conservation, social, and economic objectives (German et

al. 2007). This integration generates “An adaptive, comprehensive, integrated multi-resource

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management planning process that seeks to balance healthy ecological, economic, and

cultural/social conditions within a watershed. It serves to integrate planning for land and water; it

takes into account both ground and surface water flow, recognizing and planning for the

interaction of water, plants, animals, and human land use found within the physical boundaries of

a watershed” (Red Deer River Watershed Alliance 2015).

The integrated watershed management approach exemplifies the importance of looking at

multiple uses of watershed resources, rather than simply the hydrology. It attempts to balance

human and environmental needs, while simultaneously guarding ecosystem services and

biodiversity (Bakker 2012). Managing watersheds in this manner allows the needs of society and

the environment to be accounted for, even with increasing population pressures and demand for

higher productivity and multiple uses of forests and related landscapes (Dortignac 1967). We can

also define integrated watershed management as an adaptive, integrated, and multidisciplinary

systems approach to management that aims to preserve productivity and ecosystem integrity

regarding the water, soil, plants, and animals within a watershed, thereby protecting and

restoring ecosystem services for environmental, social, and economic benefit.

1.3. Historical Background and Current Status of Watershed Development in EthiopiaPlanning the development of watersheds for Ethiopia started in the 1980’s by projects and

programs. A planning unit for developing large watersheds comprised 30-40 thousand hectares.

The purpose was mostly for implementing natural resource conservation and development

programs. Large-scale efforts remained mostly unsatisfactory due to lack of effective community

participation, limited sense of responsibility over assets created, and unmanageable planning

units (30-40 thousand hectares) (source…). The lessons learned from this experience encouraged

MoA and support agencies like FAO to initiate pilot watershed planning approaches on a

bottom-up basis, using smaller units and following community-based approaches. These were

tested at the pilot stage through FAO technical assistance under MoA during 1988–91.

MoA and WFP technical staff developed simple participatory and community-based watershed

planning Guidelines: the LLPPA (Local Level Participatory Planning Approach). LLPPA was

developed for Development Agents, as a practical approach focusing mostly on integrated NRM

interventions, productivity intensification measures, and small-scale community infrastructure

such as water ponds and rural feeder roads. During the last 10 years, thousands of community

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plans were prepared and implemented with significant results. To date, LLPPA is at the core of

the MoARD-WFP assisted MERET project to combat land degradation and food insecurity in

several regions (MoARD, 2005).

Several NGOs and bilateral organizations also adopted participatory land use-planning approach

in the last decade in their respective areas of intervention and in close collaboration with

government partners. For instance, both GTZ and SOS Sahel have followed a Participatory Land

Use-Planning (PLUP) approach.

The collective experience comprising different approaches, combined with the need to have a

common and standardized more effective approach to the country as a whole, gave birth to the

current community-based participatory watershed development guidelines.

Through time the implementation of CBPWD guideline have faced challenges in the pastoral

areas. Considering the challenges, the pastoral area PW guideline was developed by PSNP under

the MoANR.

Currently it is felt by the Natural Resources Management Directorate that, it is time to revise

both guidelines and the revision process is underway.

Currently, government has given due attention to watershed development and embarked at

national level wide movements with community based participatory watershed development

approach. More than any time the government has given due emphasis for mass labor

mobilization. The community is mobilized to implement different watershed development

interventions and it was possible to put vast areas of degraded land under rehabilitation. Massive

watershed development through mass mobilization has been (given more emphasis) started in

2009 GTP I period. As per the report of the Ministry a number of community watersheds with

development plans prepared, vast degraded lands were rehabilitated through area closures and

cultivated lands were also covered with different physical and biological soil and water

conservation measures as presented in Table 1 below.

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Table1. GTP I and GTP II Achievements in watershed Development

No Type of Interventions Unit Achievement

of GTP I

Achievement

of GTP II

Over all

Achievements

to date

1 Number of community

watersheds with development

plan

Number 60460 20748 81208

2 Area of degraded land

rehabilitated

Million

ha.

11.737 3.66 15.397

3 Area of community

watersheds treated with

physical soil and water

conservation measures

Million

ha.

20.17 7.88 28.05

4 Area of Community

watersheds treated with

biological soil and watershed

measures

Million

ha.

17.09 2.034 19.124

Source: - Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Resources Annual Reports

2. The Need for Watershed Development Strategy In recent years, environmental management has become a key focus area in Ethiopia. The main

environmental problems of the country include land degradation caused by soil erosion,

deforestation, loss of biodiversity, recurrent drought aggravated by climate change effects

resulting in declining productivity and continuing in food shortage. Besides loss of required

natural resources such as drinking water, fuel wood thus increasing burdens on women’s time

and labor requirements. To curb the existing environmental challenges, a lot of works have been

done on watershed development for long time in most parts of the country by the regular

government programmes (mass mobilization) and projects. However, the impact of the

interventions are not as promising as per the expectations as explained in the previous sections.

To improve watershed development performance and contribute to the growth and

transformation of the agriculture sector strategic development challenges like

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Lack of integration among stakeholders involved in the watershed development,

Poor research output on watershed development technologies

Poor standard and quality of implemented physical soil and water conservation structures,

Inadequate level of community ownership and sustainability of development

interventions,

Lack of intensification, specialization and diversification,

Lack of strategic interventions based on the land use, land terrain, socio-economy,

agroecology and livelihood (agrarian, non-pastoral, Agro-pastoral, pure pastoral, riverine

pastoral etc).

The growing social, economic and environmental impact of development interventions,

Poor linkage with livelihood improvement and rural employment,

Lack of guidance on fair utilization of rehabilitated resources,

The expansion of invasive species (prosopis Juliflora, Water Haicin, lantancamara,

partinium, striga etc)

The need for supporting the development with mechanization,

Poor documentation, reporting, monitoring and evaluation system,

The need for addressing CC effects/hazardous (drought, flood, frost …),

Lack of guidance on integrating payment for ecosystem services in watershed

development,

Including other strategic issues should be addressed with the development of watershed

implementation strategy in order to achieve the desired outcome. Besides, Ethiopia has also now

started to transform the Green Economy Strategy into action and fast track initiatives are already

underway (Chisholm and Tassew, 2012). The country has huge hydro-electric power generation

investments and plans but severe land degradation and siltation problems hamper its viability.

Therefore, integrated watershed management would help to address the problems and give

solutions that are inclusive and sustainable to steer the country towards its stated plan and goal

for ensuring rural agriculture as the basis of economic growth.

3. Existing Opportunities

Nowadays, there exists a number of enabling opportunities for watershed development. These

include; Favourable government policies, existence of organized governmental structures from

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the Federal up to kebele level, involvement of development partners and non-governmental

organizations. In addition, massive community participation in watershed development as a free

labour contribution is one of land mark for extensive watershed development in the country. The

existence of long-term experience on watershed development is also a good opportunity in the

area on which we can take advantage to promote sustainable watershed development. Existing

government commitments to address the specific challenges to women and other vulnerable

groups to engage in watershed development interventions is also vital opportunity. The well-

organized community structures at kebele level and high level of attention that has been given to

climate change adaptation and mitigation at global and national level and improvement of

community awareness about climate change and environmental degradation are other vital

opportunities for watershed development.

4. Scope of the StrategyThe strategy will identify the contribution of Integrated Watershed Development to the overall

achievement of the country’s GTP plan for the coming Years. The strategy will also serve as a

roadmap to guide different stakeholders that involve in planning and implementation of

watershed interventions. To this effect, set of principles and values that reflect the vision,

mission, goal and objectives of all the stakeholders was articulated in the strategy.

This integrated watershed development strategy encompasses the creation of enabling

environment, guidance on strategic intervention, strategic direction on systemic bottle necks,

institutional strengthening and enhancing participatory sustainable watershed management across

the country.

The integrated watershed management strategy tries to identify the existing as well as anticipated

strategic challenges and bottlenecks facing the watershed development and proposes strategic

intervention to solve the challenges and improve performance of watershed development and

sustainability in the country. Therefore, the strategy is developed around the strategic issues and

bottlenecks. The major strategic issues bottlenecks were thoroughly analysed and strategic

interventions were proposed for each challenge to be implemented with short and long term set

of priorities. Besides, the strategy recommends strategic priority intervention taking into

consideration agro-ecology, topography, socio-economy, livelihood setting.

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The strategy is expected to help improve the performance, effectiveness and efficiency of

watershed development and there by contribute to meeting the countries vision (be a middle

income country by 2025) and beyond.

5. Vision

To see the sustainable natural resource management adopted and climate resilient community

created in the country through the implementation of integrated watershed development with

active involvement of all stakeholders by the end of 2028.

6. Mission

The mission of the Integrated Watershed Development strategy is to develop and adapt technologies, knowledge and innovation for efficient watershed management and utilization and thus livelihood improvement.

7. ObjectiveThe overall objective of Integrated Watershed Development strategy is to improve the sustainability and productivity of natural resources that bring change to the livelihood of the community through multi-disciplinary, and multi-sectorial and participatory approach.

7.1. The specific objectives of the strategy

The specific objective of the strategy includes:-

Implementing natural resource conservation and management technologies suitable for

diverse agro-ecologies,

Promote sharing of implementation responsibilities among relevant stakeholders from

early in the process,

provide a framework for developing capacity and scaling up best watershed innovations

and integrate scientific and local knowledge,

coordinate national Integrated Watershed Management and promote collaboration

amongst institutions to focus on strategic priorities, adaptive development approaches and

basic innovations

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Maintain a long-term perspective and engagement for implementation of the watershed

management plan,

Seek coherence in providing inputs and obtaining contributions from beneficiaries across

development interventions,

Ensure fair utilization of rehabilitated resources among all groups of the community

including vulnerable groups of the communities

Develop incentives and mechanisms to compensate for the provision of environmental

service by upper parts of the watershed

8. Guiding Principles

So as to accomplish its mission, Integrated Watershed Management strategy has established a set

of guiding principles and criteria for the implementation of the strategy. The Integrated

Watershed Management strategy will, accordingly, be guided by the following basic and stable

principles that include:-

Integrated Watershed Development interventions should be implemented following

integrated and participatory approach ,

Natural resources in a watershed are most commonly owned so that their distribution and

fair utilization of the resources will be exercised,

CRGE and Gender mainstreaming will be practiced under the umbrella of Integrated

Watershed Management for environmental sustainability,

Ensure that Integrated Watershed Management research outputs will lead to sustainable

development and livelihood improvement and, thus, the strategy must encompass basic,

applied and adaptive research approaches for technology development, demonstration,

transfer, dissemination, and adoption,

Utilize and promote combinations of the conventional, innovative and advanced science

and technology, and ensure high research quality with due regard to addressing possible

economic, social and environmental impacts.

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9. Strategic Issues, Bottlenecks and Corresponding Strategic Interventions

Strategic Issue 1: Strengthening integration among stakeholdersBottleneck 1: Lack of integration among stakeholders in watershed development

Integrated watershed development and management can’t be successful with one institution

delivery; by its very nature it needs harmonization, alignment, integration and coordination.

Narrow sector based projects have limited success in addressing the multi-dimensional problem

of land degradation. Watershed developments being a key intervention, a lot of stakeholders are

involved in the implementation of watershed management in the country. Sustainable natural

resource development and management need integration of multi-stakeholder actors involved in

the development. However the integration and coordination of stakeholders’ is not to the

required level. Stakeholder’s identification and mapping and the modality for harmonization,

alignment, integration and coordination are lacking.

Proposed Strategic Interventions

Identification and mapping of stakeholders: A lot of stakeholders (line ministries, donor

partners, non-governmental organizations, projects, programs, private sectors, research institutes,

academic institutions etc.…) are involved in the development of watershed. Hence, the

stakeholder identification and mapping should be taken as a priority intervention.

Establishment of multi-stakeholder platform: Strengthening integration and coordination

minimizes duplication of effort, creates common understanding among stakeholders, lessons can

be learnt from one another, good to bring synergetic effect at national level, important to have

maximum benefit from the limited resource available etc. Besides it helps to address new

emerging issues like livelihood enhancement, rural youth employment, women, climate change,

and fair benefit sharing from watershed development among community members.

Hence, there is a need to have a comprehensive and integrated approach for involving different

sectorial agencies and stakeholders. Therefore, establishing a watershed development multi-

stakeholder platform is believed to improve the harmonization, alignment, integration and

coordination;

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Strategic Issue 2: Strengthening research on watershed development

Bottleneck 1: Lack of research output on watershed development technologies

Watershed management requires the support of research. Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural

Research (EIAR) is mandated to conduct research activities. However, there have not been

sufficient efforts to link watershed management with research or to build research into watershed

management. Watershed projects have not been used as on-farm sites for research designed and

implemented with significant involvement of farmers and extension workers to produce site-

specific technological solutions. This leads to problems in adoption and up-scaling of research

findings within specific watersheds. There is also the question of up-scaling technologies and

approaches beyond a designated watershed. At the same time, researchers were unable to relate

research activities to the real problems facing farmers or to capture the locally developed or

modified technologies (Azene B., Kimaru G., 2006).

As information obtained from EIAR, there is integrated watershed management case team

responsible for conducting watershed development research that works in partnership with

stakeholders and coordinates the research at national level. So the mandate of the case team is to

generate and adopt new technologies and approaches on soil and water conservation that is

suitable for different agroecology which help to rehabilitate natural resource shortly, play pivotal

role in increasing production and productivity, contribute immensely for food security

beneficiary agriculturalist and pastoralist. However, research outputs that will support to

transform the watershed development in the country is not to the required level. The root causes

identified are lack of strong structure and man power and lack of focus given to the soil and

water conservation research team. According to the result of the assessment study made in

identifying bottlenecks using FGDs and KIIs, it was found that research institutes give more

focus to research on crops as compared to watershed development. Moreover the research

institutes at regional and zonal level are stuffed with fresh graduates who lack experience to deal

with time taking research on watershed development.

Proposed Strategic Intervention

Strengthen the Organization of the Integrated Watershed Research: The great contribution

of agricultural research institute for the development of the agriculture sector in its last fifty

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years career is unquestionable. However, as many problems in the agriculture sector still have

not been given solutions, the productivity and production of our nation is found at lower stage.

The research did not produced adequate technologies especially on livestock, high value

vegetables, fruits and spices production, mechanization, irrigation and value adding post-harvest

technologies (EIAR, 2016).

Despite all others, a healthy watershed is a base for livestock and crop production, one can infer

that, the agricultural research has not given due attention in generation of technologies that could

be used for rehabilitation of degraded watersheds and to sustainably manage those which have

natural potential.

Hence, focus for NRM research be given and the reorganization of the NRM research

team that could match in delivering the expected output from the development side

should be priority intervention

A multi-disciplinary approach to watershed based research should be in place as it

lacking in the existing system

Research centers should be equipped with sufficient facilities, man power, adequate

budget etc.

Strategic Issue 3: Ensuring the Quality and Standard of Implemented Activities

Bottleneck: Poor quality and standard of implemented activities

We cannot deny massive soil and water conservation is under way now days in the country,

using the labor available through mass labor mobilization as well as programs and projects

resource. The effort and the improvement achieved in some regions are encouraging. However,

review, supervision and monitoring reports indicate that, still there is a gap in maintaining

quality and standard of implemented structures. The root causes for the issue are related to lack

of basic knowledge among DAs and poor capacity development system whereby trainings are

not reaching the grass root level.

Proposed Strategic Interventions

Strengthening ATVETs: The ATVETCs have been contributing immensely in producing

significant number of extension agents who are providing technical supports to farmers at FTC,

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as well as on farm level. The contributions of these extension agents in the growth of the

agricultural sector have been irreplaceable. However, there are concerns on technical capacities

and knowledge of the extension agents joining the working environment recently. There are so

many contributing factors for low technical qualities of these extension agents. To mention some

of these; i) High turnover of capacitated and experienced instructors ii) Problem of getting

practically trained and well skilled instructors for ATVETCs iii) The different institutional

arrangements of ATVET colleges (some are under federal ATVET coordination unit only five),

some are under regional ATVET coordination units which accountable to Ministry of Education

iv) ATVETs follow different curricula v) Less capacity and facilities of regional ATVETs

compared to federal ones vi) In some regions students who completed II level is being employed.

Therefore, to solve this nationwide problem the following are recommended,

There should be strong national coordination unit that regulate the standard of

curriculums, support Regional ATVET colleges with modern training equipment,

capacity building of instructors,

Strong monitoring and follow up mechanisms should be in place

Cooperation training for graduated DAs, intensive on job training scheme should be

strengthened.

Develop mechanism in which competent students who pass through TVET systems

employed as instructor

Design Capacity Development System: as mentioned above most of the training of trainers

conducted that was expected to be cascaded to the grass root implementers (DAs, Foremen,

Surveyors) is not reaching as required. The root causes are lack of system on capacity

development, most of the trainings are not cascaded, even those cascaded trainings were given

with a very short and busy schedules within one or two days. The reason for this is mentioned

by woredas as lack of attention, budget problem and busy and overlapping schedule of the

training programs. Lack of training materials and limited technical support and follow are also

some of the problems. Besides, revision of the guidelines and familiarization as well as

strong support and follow up system should be in place.

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Strategic Issue 4: Lack of intensification, specialization and diversification: Bottleneck:- Lack of utilization oriented development in NRM intervention; It is to be well

noted that a lot of activities are under way to solve the problem of land degradation in the

country. Most of the NRM interventions are focused in protecting and conserving the natural

base, less attention is given to utilization and development of the conserved resources. Most of

the time it was observed that the activities done focus on protecting the soil from erosion, protect

the forest from deforestation and restoration of vegetation in the watershed as if it looks that the

end goal is for greening only. But in actual situation we should also focus on the increasing

production, productivity and income generation at house hold level and improve livelihood of the

community. Hence, our development orientation should also focus on intensification,

specialization and diversification.

Proposed interventions

Strengthening linkage of NRM interventions with livelihood improvement: in the past three

to four decades a lot watershed development intervention had been implemented in the country.

On the contrary there was no clear linkage on how these implemented interventions would

contribute to the production and productivity there by improve the livelihood of individual

households and the community as a whole.

Intensification, specialization and diversification: Most of the natural resource development

interventions focus on implementation of conservation measures, as mention above increasing

production and productivity is give low attention, hence watershed development interventions

should be geared towards intensification and if possible there must be a link between the recently

established industrial parks. Farmers should be linked to the input requirement of these industrial

parks and they have to specialize on specific produce based value chain analysis and their local

potential. Similarly in order to avoid the risk of climate change effect farmers should diversify

the type of produce to cop up with the cc effects.

Strategic Issue 5: Lack of strategic interventions based on the land use, land terrain, socio-economy, agroecology and livelihood

Bottleneck: Lack of direction on strategic interventions for different areas:

Ethiopia, with a land area of 1.13 million km2, is characterized by considerable diversity in

terms of its bio-physical environment and its cultural and ethnic composition. The country is

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with varied relief (massive highlands with high and rugged mountains, flat topped plateaus and

deep gorges), divided by the Great Rift Valley, and surrounded by lowlands and semi-deserts,

which has resulted in a variety of different ecosystems based on local differences in the micro-

climate, soil properties, vegetation types and water resources. In turn this has influenced

historical and current socio-economic base, livelihood and settlement patterns. Across the

country there is considerable variation in altitudes, ranging from below the sea level, in the Afar

Depression, to the summit of Ras Dashen Mountain.

It should be recognized that, Ethiopia is a country with diverse agro-ecology, different land

terrain, different people of culture, socio-economy and livelihood. Hence, the focuses of priority

natural resources management intervention vary accordingly. Howevver, there is no strategic

document indicating the priority intervention tacking in to consideration the above situation

mentioned. Looking to the highland areas there are different factors that we should focus on eg.

moisture deficit vs moisture surplus; Mixed farming (crop livestock) vs agroforestry based

livelihood. Similarly the lowland pastoral areas vary as agro-pastoral, pure pastoral and riverine

pastoral. Hence our priority development intervention should be identified based on the land use,

land terrain, socio-economy, agroecology and livelihood of each locality.

Proposed Intervention

Propose direction on priority strategic interventions for different areas: The approach for

implementation of watershed development intervention after 2005 was the community based

watershed development with a planning unit being micro watershed and the implemented priority

technologies being selected with the participation of the community. We cannot deny selection

of technologies with participation of community has contributed a lot in sustainability of

technologies. However, similar approach (CBPWD guideline) with micro watershed planning

unit had faced challenges in implementation in pastoral areas, which forced us to revise the

planning unit to be kebele or rangeland by considering livelihood and terrain in the pastoral

areas. When we look the type of technologies across the country majority are focused on the

implementation of physical SWC structures irrespective of the key priority focus area of

intervention which can bring immediate impact on the rehabilitation of natural resources. The

priority intervention in agroforestry livelihood system should be different from moisture deficit

area with mixed farming system (crop-livestock based) with flat to undulating terrain. Even there

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is a great variation in terms of priority intervention among pastoralist regions. Hence in this

document we have tried to classify the country in to the following eight areas and suggested

priority focus for strategic intervention for each.

a) Moisture Deficit Areas with flat to undulating terrain and Mixed farming system:

b) Surplus Moisture Areas with flat to undulating terrain Mixed farming system:

c) Agroforestry based with flat to undulating terrain livelihood system:

d) Potential areas of the rift valley basin with flat terrain mixed farming livelihood system

e) Potential Wood land areas with flat to undulating terrain Mixed farming system:

f) Lowland agro-pastoral livelihood system:

g) Lowland pure pastoral livelihood system:

h) Lowland riverine pastoral livelihood system:

a) Moisture Deficit Areas with Flat to Undulating Terrain and Mixed Farming System:

these are areas with annual/seasonal rainfall not sufficient to meet the crop water requirement

for crop production as well as human and livestock water demand in the area; having flat to

undulating terrain and mixed farming system (crop-livestock). The major problem of these

areas is associated with land degradation and moisture stress. The priority intervention

should focus on technologies that can help conserve soil moisture, facilitate crop production

and harvest water to be used later for both irrigation and water supply for human and

animals. Priority intervention technologies and approach include in-situ and ex-situ water

harvesting technologies, area closure, trench, hillside terrace, micro-basin, bench terrace,

water harvesting (household and community level), zero runoff, development of surface and

shallow ground water for irrigation, improved water use efficiency etc.

b) Adequate Moisture Areas with flat to undulating terrain Mixed farming system: these

are areas that receive relatively higher annual/ seasonal rainfall; having flat to undulating

terrain and their livelihood based on mixed farming system (crop-livestock). The major

problem of these areas is related to excess runoff and the resulting soil erosion. The priority

intervention technologies and approach should focus on conserving the excess water,

recharging the ground water or removing excess runoff safely from the farm lands. Priority

intervention technologies and approach include Cutoff drain, waterways, percolation pit,

graded structures, gully treatment, river bank stabilization, area closure, surface and ground

water development etc.

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c) Agroforestry based with flat to undulating terrain livelihood system: these are areas

receiving low to sufficient annual or seasonal rainfall; having flat to undulating terrain and

their livelihood is based on fruit-coffee based traditional agroforestry farming system. The

priority intervention technologies and approach should focus on intensifying and diversifying

the existing traditional agroforestry system with establishment of strong agroforestry nursery

site, water harvesting both in situ and ex situ, gully rehabilitation etc.

d) Potential areas of the rift valley basin with relatively flat to gentle slope terrain and

mixed farming livelihood system: These are areas receiving low to sufficient rainfall with

mixed farming livelihood system consisting of endangered water bodies with fragile

ecosystem. The major problems in these areas are deforestation, wind erosion, active gully

erosion, and high extraction of water for irrigation from rivers, lakes and ground water. The

priority intervention and approaches should focus on restoration of lakes ecosystem,

rehabilitation of gullies, control of free grazing, construction of wind breaks and shelter belts,

improvement of water use efficiency.

e) Potential wood land areas with flat to undulating terrain Mixed farming system: These

are areas in western part of the country, receiving sufficient rainfall, consisting of potential

wood land with livelihood based from small mixed farming to mechanized farming system.

The major problems in these areas are deforestation, wild fire, forest degradation. The

priority intervention technology and approach should focus on participatory forest

management, farm mechanization, area closure, adoption of conservation agriculture,

construction of fire breaks, farm boundary plantation etc.

f) Lowland agro-pastoral livelihood system: These are pastoral areas bordering the high land

regions receiving insufficient rainfall with their livelihood based on both crop and livestock

products. The major problem in these areas is related to land degradation, moisture stress and

lack of proper rangeland management. The priority intervention technologies and approaches

should focus on water harvesting both in situ and ex situ, flood water harvesting, spate

irrigation, construction of ponds, small dams, range land management, hillside terraces,

micro-basin, trench etc.

g) Lowland pure pastoral livelihood system: These areas are receiving low to extremely low

rainfall with their livelihood based on livestock and livestock products with relatively flat

terrain having harsh climatic condition in most areas. The major problem is scarcity of water

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for human and livestock, expansion of invasive species, wind erosion, rangeland degradation

and gully erosion. The priority intervention technologies and approaches should focus on

surface water harvesting using machineries, development of deep bore holes, pond and small

dam’s construction, range land management, control invasive species, gully control etc.

h) Lowland riverine pastoral livelihood system: These are areas receiving low rainfall; with

flat terrain living along the banks of major rivers with their livelihood system is pastoralism

to small extent adopting flood recession and irrigation farming system. The major problem is

related to lack of awareness on adopting irrigation farming. The priority intervention

technology and approach should be expansion of irrigation farming and rangeland

management.

Strategic Issue 6: The growing social, economic and environmental impact of development interventions,

Ethiopia a fast growing country, succeeded with annual economic growth rate with double digit

every year. The country is highly engaged with construction of agriculture (sugar projects), road,

railway, hydropower projects etc. Even though the development interventions are seen as a

positive outcome however, the associated social, economic, and environmental negative impacts

are of high concern. In the recent study made by MoANR on mapping of watersheds causing

floods and development intervention plan, it was found one of the major cause of flooding is

related to development intervention and expansion of towns, the study revealed that, flood is

affecting vast area and communities leading to life loss of human and animals, damage on

houses, business institutions, infrastructure, crop production, agricultural land, spiritual places

etc. Hence the issue needs urgent development intervention.

Proposed Strategic Intervention

Strengthen Proper follow up implementation of Environmental Management Monitoring

Plan: one cannot deny the importance of implementing development projects; however we have

to make sure that mitigation measures for the negative social economic and environmental

impacts that may arise due to the implementation of development interventions should be

properly designed and implemented accordingly. Hence, we should strengthen the proper follow

up of implementation of environmental management monitoring plan of development projects.

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Strategic Issue 7: The expansion of invasive species

Bottleneck: Lack of clear policy or strategy for the control and management of invasive

species

The Environment Policy of Ethiopia, the Forest Resource Strategy and the National Biodiversity

Strategy and Action Plan, recognize invasive plant species to be growing threats to the

biodiversity of the country and socio-economic welfare of the people. At the national level,

however, there is no clear policy or strategy for the control and management of invasive species

(Anage et al., 2004; Fisehaye, 2006), and little attempt has been made in terms of their research

and management.

Alien plant species are found in many parts of the country. Although no detailed studies have

been available on their impact, they are causing enormous problems in the various ecosystems

and the economy. The prominent alien species that cause damage across the country include

Parthenium hysterophorus, Prosopis juliflora, water Haicin, Eichornia crassipes and Lantana

camara. Introduced, or alien invasive, species can have significant negative impact on global and

national levels. Prosopis is becoming a major problem on semi-arid rangelands (IBC, 2005).

P.julioflora is now a serious topic in Ethiopia, especially in Afar and Dire-Dawa. It has invaded

large areas of mostly grazing lands in these regions and elsewhere, and is the national number

one invasive plant. According to the field survey P. julioflora is invading potential farm lands,

range lands, impairing mobility, causing injuries to livestock and people by its sharp and

poisonous thorns and displacing the native flora and causing shortage of forage is the area. This

in turn is threatening the livelihoods of local communities. In the Afar Region people are

predominantly pastoralists dependent on livestock rearing, or agro-pastoralism for their survival.

However, the prosopis invasion, coupled with recurrent droughts that strike the area, has left the

people unable to maintain these subsistence livelihoods (Dubale A., 2008).

With the decline of grazing and cultivable land, coupled with recurrent droughts, people in the

Afar region became highly food insecure and dependent on government food aid for their

survival. In highly invaded areas people are now reliant on food aid on average for 5-6 months in

good years and for up to 10 months in drought times (PCDP, 2005 as cited in Dubale, 2008).

Over 700,000 hectares of prime grazing land and cultivable land following the Awash River is

20

currently either invaded or at risk of invasion from prosopis in the Afar Region. This accounts

for 15% of the region’s productive land (4,670,316 hectares), excluding wetlands, water bodies,

sandy and rocky areas (4,856,251 hectares (US FS, 2006 as cited in Dubale, 2008).

Despite all these negative effects, Prosopis juliflora has many uses such as fuel and charcoal

production as it has excellent heating properties, timber as its wood is extremely hard and

durable, fodder, honey and gum.

In light of addressing this problem, there is no organized and strategical efforts to manage this

specie in a manner that could benefit the communities directly. Hence, this calls for high-level

government commitment in issuing strategy and policy for the effective management of P.

juliofloraare is vital.

Proposed Interventions

Start Free labor mobilization for control of Invasion species in pastoral areas: Currently

free labor mobilization is not underway in the pastoral regions, but from experience of some of

the projects eg GIZ-SDR there is a ground to start free labor mobilization for the construction

water spreading weir, besides the problem of invasion species like Prosopis juliflora is a priority

problem for the pastoral communities, hence it can be taken as a good entry point for starting

free labour mobilization.

Encourage involvement of private sector to engage in the productive use of invasive

species: Prosopis juliflora apart from its problem it has got so many uses. It can be processed as

human food and animal feed besides it can be used a source of energy for many uses hence the

private sector should be encouraged to invest in the productive use of the species.

Strategic Issue 8: The need for supporting watershed development with mechanization,

Bottleneck: Lack of labor for scaling-up of best practices (Bench terracing): Recognizing that

most of watershed development interventions are labor based activities; communities are

mobilized to contribute labor each year as well as projects and programs are designed as cash for

work or food for work to get the labor of the communities. Recent experiences show that the

implementation of technologies like bench terrace construction is found efficient and effective in

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the control of soil erosion. Hence regions are engaging themselves in this type of technology.

However from the practical experience it was found that the technology is highly labor

consuming and scaling up of the technology without the support of machinery is difficult. Hence,

supporting the implementation of the technology with machinery is suggested as an option for

the scaling-up.

Proposed Intervention

Introduction of machinery: As discussed above the implementation of bench terrace at wider

scale is difficult using human labor, hence there should be a system to support the

implementation of the technology with machineries like bench leveler.

Strategic Issue 9: Resilience building for climate change effectsBottleneck: Poor resilience to climate change effects: climate change is a global phenomenon

challenging the poor farmers in the developing countries. The case is similar in Ethiopia, where

climate change is affecting the agriculture sector and millions of farmers in the rural areas. As

climate change is an additional challenge in the development, building climate resilience is a

huge and urgent challenge for the country. Ethiopia’s weather is likely to become more

unpredictable in the coming years, with increased flooding and drought. This will impact on all

aspects of Ethiopia’s economy, and particularly agriculture and natural resources. To help

respond to this challenge, the country has developed Ethiopia’s Programme of Adaptation to

Climate Change (EPACC).

Article 44 of the Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia entitles citizens to

a clean and healthy environment. The Environmental Policy of the Federal Democratic Republic

of Ethiopia emanated from this Constitution and specifies in more detail how this constitutional

right of a clean and healthy environment is to be achieved. Among other aspects of the

environment, it details mitigation of and adaptation to climate change and related issues. Most of

the climate change related hazards can affect Ethiopia’s economy as well as the livelihoods of

the society are identified and appropriate mitigation measures are prioritized in the CRGE

strategy.

Proposed Intervention

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Animal and crop diseases and mitigation measures identified to counter them: Animal

diseases that in the past been restricted to the hot lowlands, have been rising up in altitude and

even entirely new animal diseases may also emerge as climate change intensifies. Strengthening

of animal health services and development of an early warning system covering emerging animal

disease epidemics is a necessary feature in keeping animals healthy all the time.

The types and frequency of crop diseases will increase as temperature, relative humidity and

moisture availability change in both magnitude and variability with the intensification of climate

change. The main strategy to counter crop diseases effetely will continue to be crop breeding.

New crop diseases and even pests may arise locally. Ethiopia’s development of research and

development capacity in crop diseases and pests should thus be supplemented by the

development of an early warning system to detect and notify the research and development

institutions of the emergence of new and the intensification of existing diseases and pests.

Special attention should be paid to biological techniques, found in both traditional knowledge

and scientific research outcomes, resorting to chemical methods only as a last resort. This is

because the unidentified risks to both human and environmental health are higher when new

chemicals come into widespread use.

Biodiversity loss and mitigation measures identified to counter them: Even without climate

change, habitat destruction owing to agricultural and urban expansion and increasing pollution

hastens biodiversity loss. Climate change will exacerbate all this and increases rate of species

extinction. Therefore, both to mitigate climate change and to adapt to it, effectively functioning

ecosystems are essential and reduction in plant, animal or microorganism diversity has a negative

impact on ecosystem functioning. It is in crop genetic diversity reduction that we immediately

see the need for minimizing biodiversity loss. If we continue to lose crop genetic diversity, our

agriculture will fail to adapt to the changing climate because our breeders will lack the diversity

that they need to continually develop the crop varieties that will continually adapt to the

changing conditions. For this reason, we need to strengthen both in-situ and ex-situ crop genetic

diversity conservation. We need to strengthen the existing gene bank and establish also a new

one to ensure that duplicates are kept to insure against any mishap. The need is now obvious to

strictly control the introduction of new species and to subject them to a comprehensive

environmental impact assessment before release into the open environment.

23

Land degradation and mitigation measures identified to prevent it: The Ethiopian landscape is

mostly rugged and thus also mostly prone to land degradation. Wind erosion in the dry season

and water erosion in the rainy season are obvious threats to agriculture and to ecosystem services

in general. Extremes of both drought and flooding will increase with climate change, making

land degradation an even greater threat to food production and to all ecosystem services.

Land degradation is very fast when vegetation cover is scanty. The use of fuel saving stoves

would obviously ease deforestation. Nevertheless, deforestation must be stopped and

reforestation hastened. For this to be possible, the old tradition of free-range animal grazing must

be stopped especially in the highlands. Fodder can then be cut and carried to feed the domestic

animals. The reduced cattle population can thus enable the free range grazing herds to be moved

about from one area to the next before overgrazing takes place. This improved management

enables the grazing landscape to be covered back with new grass that grows even when the

rainfall is light. Eventually, all the livestock can become sedentary and the landscape be closed

off to grazing with grass being cut and brought to the animals as forage.

Ploughing farms on slopes hastens soil erosion. The minimization of tillage could thus help

combat land degradation. Terracing fields minimizes soil erosion and digging trench bunds

maximizes the infiltration of rain water into the soil to both recharge ground water and to reduce

the flowing water that is the soil erosive agent. The recharging of ground water reduces the

severity of the droughts that climate change exacerbates. The restored vegetation and the soil on

which it grows would then sequester more carbon thus contributing to climate change mitigation

while securing the adaptation to climate change of the hitherto vulnerable community. The

improvement in vegetation cover can become the basis for extending bee keeping throughout

Ethiopia. This co-benefit of combating land degradation can act as an in-built incentive to both

the farmers and pastoralists. The increased availability of water can also result in the

development of aquaculture as an additional co-benefit.

Mitigation measures identified to improve soil fertility: In order to reduce land degradation

and improving soil fertility making of compost as soil fertilizer and improving of agronomic

practices that improve soil fertility are crucial. This helps in climate mitigation because it both

24

sequesters carbon and reduces and soon reduces the need to use chemical fertilizers. Mixed

cropping and agro-forestry using leguminous trees and shrubs, e.g. Acacia albida and Sesbania

sesban, though traditionally practiced in some parts of Ethiopia, could increase agricultural

productivity substantially if used both more intensively and extensively. Some soils in the more

moist Western parts of Ethiopia are leached and acidic. The judicious addition of lime can

improve their fertility. In contrast, some soils in the semi-arid and arid Eastern lower areas of

Ethiopia become easily affected by salinity, especially when they are inappropriately irrigated.

Then, they lose their fertility. Great care is, therefore, needed in irrigation.

Small scale irrigation and water management to mitigate climate change: Small scale

irrigation development can increases adaptive capacity of smallholders by reducing impacts of

drought and it should be focused on high value crops. During the intensifying and recurring

droughts which are set to be caused by climate change, it is not only crop production that is

going to fluctuate. Of more immediate worry will be the lack of water for human use and for

both domestic and wild animals to drink. If ground water recharge is maximized in years of good

rain and if boreholes are dug at strategic intervals, the impacts of this problem can be minimized.

To maximize the effectiveness of these strategies, care should be taken to reduce wasting water

and especially to protect rivers, lakes and ground water from pollution by industrial wastes.

Improving early warning systems to reduce disasters: With growing rainfall intensity, the

risks of devastating floods and landslides will increase. Likewise, severe droughts will intensify

fires and shortage of drinking water for humans and animals. Forest fires can become extensive

and very destructive. These disasters can be mitigated by developing capacity to manage forests

so that risks of fires are reduced, and to manage fires when they arise, e.g. through fire breaks,

and to put them out.

Strategic Issue 10: Lack of guideline on integrating payment for ecosystem services in watershed development,

Bottleneck: Lack of guideline on payment for ecosystem service: Watershed development has

been successful in some areas in terms of restoring the natural ecosystem and sustainable

utilization of natural resources. In Ethiopia there are a lot of private and government sectors

benefiting from the outcome of the watershed development, although some private sectors like

25

Eden water bottling factory, Bahir Dar Marble industry, water tariff in the Awash basin have

started the initiative payment for ecosystem service, generally speaking there is no guideline for

integrating payment for ecosystem services. Hence, national guideline for payment for

ecosystem service should be developed.

Bottleneck: Poor effort to carbon financing: Developing countries like Ethiopia have little

contribution in polluting the environment, but they suffer a lot from the effects of climate

change. The effort made to get international carbon finance is limited; the only project succeeded

with carbon financing is Humbo carbon project. The effort made to get additional carbon

financing has to be given focus.

Proposed Interventions

Improve the effort to get international carbon finance: There are a lot of area closures

manged by the community which have the opportunity to get the carbon financing. Using PSNP

PW climate smart imitative project, study was made on baseline survey for above and below

ground carbon content of the soil on selected area closures in different watersheds however, this

opportunity was not successful in getting carbon finance.

Proposed Intervention

Prepare proclamation and guideline on integrating payment for ecosystem services: Due to

the watershed development activity carried out in the watershed there are a lot of private and

government sectors benefiting from developed natural resource e.g water bottling factories, town

water supply schemes, irrigation water users, mining industries, flower industries, hydroelectric

power generating schemes, coffee processing industries etc. Appreciating the current initiative

taken by some of water bottling factories, marble industry that have started payment for

ecosystem services, a system to integrate payment for ecosystem for all private as well as

government sectors has to be designed and a proclamation and guideline should be prepared

accordingly.

Strategic Issue 11: Ensuring community ownership and sustainability of development interventions,

The issue is very critical in the development of watershed, it looks like all strategic interventions

mentioned here have contributions one way or another to the issue, but they all should final lead

26

us to community ownership and sustainability. But some specific bottlenecks are presented

below, lack of legalized strong bylaws, free grazing, and lack of proper handover system to the

community to improve ownership.

Bottleneck: Lack of community ownership

In Ethiopia massive watershed development activities were implemented, however, according to

the verification made by Ethiopian Land and Water Resource Institute using satellite image, out

of the reported 20 million coverage only 6 million is existing. A lot of reasons can be mentioned

as a root cause; however community ownership and sustainability can be mentioned the major

among others. The issue is very critical for sustainability.

Bottleneck Lack of legalized strong bylaws: Lack of legalized bylaw is one bottleneck for

sustainability. Watershed development activities have to be supported with legalized strong

bylaws developed with the participation of the community. It has been observed that

sustainability of community watersheds without strong and legalized bylaws is subject to failure

due to lack of controlling mechanism for defaulters. Hence for controlling defaulters we should

have strong and legalized bylaws.

Bottle neck: Free grazing:- Free grazing is the major challenge in the sustainability of

watershed development in the highlands of Ethiopia. Development activities are destroyed soon

after construction due to free grazing practices in most areas. Physical soil and water

conservation structures are destroyed by animals trampling, the opportunity to maintain soil

fertility from crop residue is affected by free grazing, besides any green vegetation for

stabilization of physical structures and rehabilitation degraded lands is also destroyed by free

grazing of animals. Hence, there should be a means to control the free grazing of animals and

adopt cut and carry system within the treated watersheds.

Proposed interventions

Develop Proclamation on Community watershed utilization and Management: After

identifying the role of developing proclamation for ensuring sustainability of rehabilitated

watersheds, the ministry is now in the process of developing proclamation on community

watershed utilization and management.

Institutionalize watershed users: After developing watersheds, user groups are established to

manage the utilization of rehabilitated resources. But from experience it was found out that user

27

groups should be strengthen and institutionalize further in to watershed users association to

ensure sustainability.

Proper handing over of rehabilitated watershed:

Strategic Issue 12: Strengthen documentation, reporting, monitoring and evaluation system for watershed development,

Bottleneck: poor documentation, reporting, monitoring and evaluation system in

watershed development.

Our landmass and land use limit our scale of NRM interventions. Ethiopia has an estimated area

of 1,104,300 km2. However, for the last 3-4 decades, majority of the induced natural resource

management interventions, specifically soil and water conservation measures, have extensively

been implemented in the country. Therefore, while reporting the coverage of NRM interventions,

it is necessary to consider the coverage in terms of the landmass, land use system and

agroecology. National aggregate coverage may mislead the interpretation.

Besides, the lack of modern and appropriate documentation systems on watershed development

makes knowledge management, learning, decision making process on watershed development

difficult. Accordingly, it is very difficult to obtain well organized and reliable reports and plans

on watershed interventions. The PSNP, 2014 impact assessment report proves this fact. In this

case it is difficult to take for granted the reports on areas put under enclosures, areas of

watersheds treated with psychical and biological measures. Hence establishing a robust

information management system in the sector will be solution for the problem.

Proposed Intervention

Establishment of robust information management system in the sector: Information

management system is now a days a power full tool for managing information in different

disciplines including watershed development. However, it has been found that the existing

Monitoring and evaluation system was inadequate for the monitoring and reporting of the

watershed development in the country. It was also noted that NRM intervention data are not

easily accessible to end users, of poor quality and not easily manageable. Hence establishing a

robust information management system is very important for the sector.

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Bakker K (2012) Water security: research challenges and opportunities. Science 337:914– 915 PubMed CrossRef Google Scholar

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Dortignac EJ. 1967. Forest water yield management opportunities, Pg. 579–592. In: Sopper WE, Lull HW (eds) Forest hydrology: proceedings of a National science foundation advanced seminar, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, August 29-September 1965, Pergamon Press, Oxford, p 813Google Scholar

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MoANR (Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources) 2015: Agriculture Sector GTP II Plan unpublished

MoARD (Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources): Field Supervision Reports of Mass Mobilization Watershed Development Activities

MoARD (Ministry Of Agriculture and Rural Development) 2010: Ethiopian Strategic Investment Framework for Sustainable Land Management Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

MoARD (Ministry Of Agriculture and Rural Development) 2005: Community Based Participatory Watershed Development Guideline, Addis Ababa.

Red Deer River Watershed Alliance (2015) What is watershed management? http://www.rdrwa.ca/node/27. Accessed 23 Feb 2016

Tesfa W., S.K.Tripathi 2015. International Journal of Environmental Sciences Vol. 4 No. 1. Pp. 24-30 an Evaluation of Watershed Management Practice in Ethiopia: A Preliminary Review

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