Content
The adverse impacts of climate change and population growth are threatening the livelihoods of the population in the Ethiopian Highlands. Almost 50 per cent of agricultural soil is eroding due to intensive agriculture and the effects of wind and water. An area of at least 30,000 hectares of fertile soil, which provides a livelihood for more than 150,000 people, is lost each year as a result. The land affected includes the water catchment area of Lake Chamo.
Often, the strategies and measures for eco-friendly landscape management developed by the Ministry of Agriculture and its partners cannot be implemented, as the necessary skills are not available locally. Moreover, staff at public institutions are not yet familiar with applying integrated landscape management, which is designed to incorporate the needs of all population groups.
Objective
Ethiopia is implementing the concept of integrated landscape management to improve living conditions nationally, regionally and locally.
Approach
The project works as follows:
- It supports policy-makers by developing strategies for key challenges like livestock farming. It also contributes to aligning policy with community-led approaches by developing integrated landscape management.
- It contributes to implementing community-based land management in selected landscapes in central Ethiopia and Sidamo.
- It supports the expansion of models that are successful locally to entire regions, for example in the catchment area of Lake Chamo in southern Ethiopia.