Abstract:
Land degradation is a great threat to the Beshlo Catchment in Blue Nile Basisn, not merely as an
environmental issue, but also a social and economic problem. In Gedalas Watershed (one of the micro
catchments of Beshelo), land degradation, mediated by both biophysical and socio-economic drivers, is
among the major environmental sustainability and social-economic development threats in the area.
The threat is manifested in depletion of natural vegetations, water, soil and other natural resources;
disruption of ecosystem functions, processes, integrity, and services. Given its particular vulnerability,
watershed management activities have been in operation since the mid-1970s. Recently, the idea of
Sustainable land management through integrated watershed development program has been initiated
with the objective of reducing land degradation risks and ensuring food security at both the nationwide
and family circle. Despite these investments and efforts, real evidences of success and failures of such
efforts were not satisfactory explored. The objectives of this study were, therefore, to analyze the
existing status and future prospects of sustainable land management and evaluates its implication on
the environmental integrities and the local livelihoods specific to Gedalas watershed. For this effect, the
study investigated the dynamics, deriving forces and implications of LULC, soil erosion and soil fertility
status of the watershed, current status of watershed management practices, pertinent challenges and
opportunities for practicing land management technologies and approaches that might help meet the
sustainability requirements of SLM practices. In addition, the study explored factors that determine the
willingness of farming households to undertake SLM practice. As the study carried in the coupled
human-environment system of rural landscapes, interdisciplinary geographical approaches which
integrats social and natural science methodologies were employed to deal with issues of land
degradation-and-rehabilitation status comprehensively. The general findings of the study show that
though it would be dificult to measure all the composite aspects of land degradation, some of the
parameters considered in this study revealed that land degradation is a perpetuating challenge in the
watershed. It is evidenced from the overall undesirable land use/cover changes i.e transition of 21.25%
of Afro/sub alpine landscapes, 17.59% of the grasslands and 8% of shrub lands to either to cultivated
land or settlement areas over the 1973–2017 period, which have unintended negative socio-ecological
repercussions on the watershed; high annual mean soil loss value (which range from 37t/ha/year average values to 393 t/ha/yr soil loss rates on water courses) that exceed threshold level and a wide
gap between the need for SLM and the actual achievement of SLM practices,including limited adherence
to the idea behind contemporary land management policies and implementation principles and
approaches. The study further revealed the presence of opportunities as well as a myriad of challenges
that need to be tackled in order to achieve sustainable land management goals. The study colcludes
that, though, some encouraging progresses have been observed in the SLM project sites; land
degradation has remained a problem in the watershed. This calls for strenuous efforts to promote and
assist wide scale adoption of SLM practices that address the pervasive land degradation problem and
achieve land degradation neutrality as highlighted in sustainable development goals.
