Understanding Water Governance in the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia: Governance Framework, Coherence and Practices.

Water governance demands multi-sector participation beyond the state; and, appropriate laws, policies, regulations, and institutions need to be developed and put in place for sustainable use of water resources. A good water policy, a critical and integral instrument of water governance, guides water use schemes and ensures equitable water distribution among users. The Ethiopian Central Rift Valley (CRV) is rich in water resources, but these water resources are currently under severe strain owing to an imbalance in human-water interactions. This study examined the state of water resources governance framework, policy coherence, actors' engagement and transparency, accountability, and participation in irrigation water supply in the CRV of Ethiopia. Key informant interviews (KII), focused group discussions, and document reviews were used to gather data for the study. The NVivo 11 program was used to organize, code, and analyze the data. The results revealed that water resources governance practices such as water allocation and apportionment, water resources protection, and conservation activities were inappropriately exercised. Water resources management policy mechanisms were not fully put in place. Lack of coherence in water policy implementation, absence of clear roles and responsibilities of stakeholders, absence of transparency and accountability in irrigation water service delivery, and lack of meaningful participation of key actors in water governance decision-making were observed. As a result, over-abstraction, deterioration of buffer zone areas, and chemical erosion from surrounding farming are attributed to the reduction in water volume and quality in the CRV. These challenges have influenced aquatic ecosystem services and threaten the livelihoods of the surrounding communities. Hence, reforms relating to policy coherence and enforcement, stakeholder engagement, water distribution strategies, and the implementation of water governance principles must be given adequate emphasis.

Analyses of LULC dynamics in a socio-ecological system of the Bale Mountains Eco Region of Southeast Ethiopia.

Analysis of land use and land cover (LULC) change and its drivers and impacts in the biodiversity hotspot of Bale Mountain's socio-ecological system is crucial for formulating plausible policies and strategies that can enhance sustainable development. The study aimed to analyze spatio-temporal LULC changes and their trends, extents, drives, and impacts over the last 48 years in the Bale Mountain social-ecological system. Landsat imagery data from the years 1973, 1986, 1996, 2014, and 2021 together with qualitative data were used. LULC classification scheme employed a supervised classification method with the application of the maximum likelihood algorithm technique. In the period between 1973 and 2021, agriculture, bare land, and settlement showed areal increment by 153.13%, 295.57%, and 49.03% with the corresponding increased annual rate of 1.93%, 2.86%, and 0.83%, respectively. On the contrary, forest, wood land, bushland, grass land, and water body decreased by 29.97%, 1.36%, 28.16%, 8.63%, and 84.36% during the study period, respectively. During the period, major LULC change dynamics were also observed; the majority of woodland was converted to agriculture (757.8 km2) and grassland (531.3 km2); and forests were converted to other LULC classes, namely woodland (766.5 km2), agriculture (706.1 km2), grassland (34.6 km2), bushland (31.9 km2), settlement (20.5 km2), and bare land (14.3 km2). LULC changes were caused by the expansion of agriculture, settlement, overgrazing, infrastructure development, and fire that were driven by population growth and climate change, and supplemented by inadequate policy and institutional factors. Social and environmental importance and values of land uses and land covers in the study area necessitate further assessment of potential natural resources' user groups and valuation of ecosystem services in the study area. Hence, we suggest the identification of potential natural resource-based user groups, and assessment of the influence of LULC changes on ecosystem services in Bale Mountains Eco Region (BMER) for the sustainable use and managements of land resources.

Understanding variability in carbon footprint of smallholder dairy farms in the central highlands of Ethiopia.

Smallholder dairy farms face enormous challenges in increasing milk production while mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, thereby enhancing climate resilience. The carbon footprint (CF) of smallholder milk production is expected to increase with increasing demand for dairy products under the business-as-usual scenario. This study estimates the carbon footprint of smallholder milk production and examines variation across farms using data from 480 households to identify viable options for mitigating GHG emissions. We applied a cradle to farm-gate life cycle assessment (LCA) approach to examine the effects of farming systems on GHG emission intensities across intensification gradients of smallholder farms (SHF) from four potential dairy districts in the central highlands of Ethiopia. According to our findings, enteric fermentation was the primary source of GHG emissions, and methane (CH4) emissions from enteric fermentation and manure management accounted for the majority of total emissions across farms. The estimated average CF varies depending on farming systems, global warming potential (GWP), and allocation methods used. When GHG emissions were allocated to multiple products using economic allocation and based on IPCC (2007) and IPCC (2014) GWPs, the overall average CF of milk production was 1.91 and 2.35 kg CO2e/kg fat and protein-corrected milk (FPCM), respectively. On average, milk accounted for 72% of total greenhouse gas emissions. In terms of farm typology, rural SHF systems produced significantly more CF per kg of milk than urban and peri-urban SHF systems. Variations in milk yield explained more than half of the variation in GHG emissions intensity at the farm level. Feed digestibility and feed efficiency had a negative and significant (P < 0.01) association with CF of SHF. Our findings suggested that improving feed digestibility and feed efficiency by increasing the proportion of concentrate and improved forage as well as chemically upgrading straw and crop residue could provide an opportunity to both increase milk yield and reduce the CF of milk production of SHF in the study area. Supporting SHF to realize strategies contributing to climate-resilient dairy development require interventions at several levels in the dairy value chain.

Governance Challenges at the Interface of Food Security and Biodiversity Conservation: A Multi-Level Case Study from Ethiopia.

Ensuring food security while also protecting biodiversity requires a governance system that can address intra- and intersectoral complexity. In this paper, we sought to explore the governance challenges surrounding food security and biodiversity conservation through an empirical study in Jimma zone, southwestern Ethiopia. We used bottom-up snowball sampling to identify stakeholders and then held semi-structured interviews with 177 stakeholders across multiple levels of governance. We also conducted 24 focus group discussions with local people. Data were transcribed and thematically analyzed for its contents. Challenges in the structure of institutions and policy incoherence were the key challenges identified for the governance of food security and biodiversity conservation. The challenges around institutional structure included incompatibilities of the nature of governing institutions with the complexity inherent within and between the two sectors examined. Incoherences in policy goals, instruments, and contradictions of policy output relative to the actual problems of food security and biodiversity further hampered effective governance of food security and biodiversity conservation. Notably, many of the challenges that influenced an individual sector also posed a challenge for the integrated governance of food security and biodiversity conservation, often in a more pronounced way. Based on our findings, we argue that governance in our case study area requires a more integrated and collaborative approach that pays attention to institutional interplay in order to ensure institutional fit and consistency across policy goals.

Environmental and health impacts of effluents from textile industries in Ethiopia: the case of Gelan and Dukem, Oromia Regional State.

This study focuses on four textile industries (DH-GEDA, NOYA, ALMHADI, and ALSAR) established between 2005 and 2008 in the peri-urban areas of Dukem and Gelan. The objectives of the study were to generate baseline information regarding the concentration levels of selected pollutants and to analyze their effects on biophysical environments. This study also attempts to explore the level of exposure that humans and livestock have to polluted effluents and the effects thereof. The findings of this study are based on data empirically collected from two sources: laboratory analysis of sample effluents from the four selected textile plants and quantitative as well as qualitative socioeconomic data collection. As part of the latter, a household survey and focus group discussions (FGDs) with elderly and other focal persons were employed in the towns of Dukem and Gelan. The results of the study show that large concentrations of biological oxygen demand (BOD5), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total suspended solids (TSS), and pH were found in all the observed textile industries, at levels beyond the permissible discharge limit set by the national Environmental Protection Authority (EPA). Furthermore, sulfide (S2), R-phosphate (R-PO43), and Zn were found in large concentrations in DH-GEDA and ALMHADI, while high concentrations were also identified in samples taken from ALSAR and ALMHADI. In spite of the clear-cut legal tools, this study shows that the local environment, people, and their livestock are exposed to highly contaminated effluents. We therefore recommend that the respective federal and regional government bodies should reexamine the compliance to and actual implementation of the existing legal procedures and regulations and respond appropriately.

Analysis of land use/ land cover changes and landscape fragmentation in the Baro-Akobo Basin, Southwestern Ethiopia.

This study investigated the relationship between land use/land cover (LULC) changes and forested landscape fragmentation in the southwestern region of Ethiopia. Satellite images from 1986, 2002 and 2019 were collected and analyzed using standard procedures in ERDAS 2015 software. Fragstat 4.2.1 software was utilized to assess landscape fragmentation by examining a raster datasets derived from the classified LULC map over the research period. The study identified seven LULC classes in the study area. Findings revealed a substantial reduction in shrubland by 46.3%, dense forest by 23.75%, open forest by 17.3%, and wetland by 32.63%, while cropland increased by 38.06%, agroforestry by 20.29%, and settlements by 163.8% during the study period. These changes varied across different agroecological zones and slope gradients. Landscape metrics results indicated an increase in the number of patches and patch density for all LULC classes, demonstrating significant fragmentation of the landscape. The largest patch index, mean patch areas, and the percentage of landscape occupied by open forest, dense forest, shrubland, and wetland declined as a result of conversion to cropland, agroforestry, and settlement. Conversely, the largest patch index, the mean patch area and the percentage of the landscape occupied by agroforestry, cropland and settlement increased, indicating their increasing dominance in the landscape over the study periods. The findings highlighted the potential deleterious impacts of ongoing land use change and fragmentation on the environment, ecosystem function and local livelihoods. Therefore, it is crucial to implement appropriate conservation efforts and sustainable land management practices to mitigate the rapid change and fragmentation of land use and its negative impacts on sub-watershed ecosystems.

Analyze of spatial extent and current condition of land use land cover dynamics for the period 1990-2020 Wayu-Tuka district, western Ethiopia.

LULC variation has increased in many parts of the world recent years. Analyzing LULC is valuable to ability to grasp for spatial extent, patterns and impacts of the dynamics. This research examines the magnitudes and trends of LULC dynamics of Wayu-Tuka District, Western Ethiopia for a period of 1990-2020. Data were acquired from Landsat images (i.e, TM from 1990 to 2000, ETM+ from 2010 and OLI 2020). LULC classes were classified (from Landsat images) to develop land use land cover change maps for the study area. Landsat images were grouped via supervised classification method and maximum likelihood classifier (MLC). Accuracy scores and kappa a coefficient was used to confirm the accuracy categorized for LULC classes. Forest, settlement area, cultivated area, water body, and bare land are the main land use land cover categories identified in the study area. At the study district, forest coverage decreased progressively within the past three decades (1990-2020) from 12.4% in 1990 to 2.6% in 2020. The settlements, cultivated lands and water bodies have been explained by a average rate of 0.41% per year and forest land has been reduced by 0.33% per year. The study identified the major drivers of land use/land cover dynamics such as expansion of agricultural land, extraction of fuel woodland, illegal settlements and illegal logging was the key factors of LULC changes in the field of the study. In expressions of historical and current LULC, the analysis indicated that in the three decades years' viewpoint; changes in agriculture land expansion and expansion of settlement land have had a strong impact on the LULC dynamics. The few remaining forest area coverage of the District shall be completely vanished unless measures are taken to curb these declining trends. Therefore, relevant stakeholders should take integrated actions to rehabilitate degraded landscapes through afforestation and reforestation programmes.

The spatial distribution and expansion of Eucalyptus in its hotspots: Implications on agricultural landscapes.

Fast coppicing plantations like Eucalyptus are becoming an ever increasingly important land use system globally, including the Eucalyptus hotspot highlands of Northwestern Ethiopia. However, comprehensive information regarding species composition is essential for proper planning and policy decisions. The current study mapped the spatial distribution of Eucalyptus globulus (hereafter referred to as Eucalyptus) and identified the key push factors for its expansion. The study used a mapping procedure that uses Landsat imagery together with ground truth data based on supervised training of a pixel-by-pixel classification algorithm within image regions to distinguish areas of Eucalyptus plantations from other classes. High-resolution multispectral and multi-temporal remote-sensing images were combined with ground truth data to produce robust features of Eucalyptus plantation distribution maps. Heckman's Two-Stage econometric model was also employed for determining the major driving factors of Eucalyptus expansion. The results of the mapping algorithm were Eucalyptus plantation distribution maps of 30 × 30 m resolution that showed temporal changes from 1999 to 2021. The findings revealed that Eucalyptus coverage increased by 55% during the period from 1999 to 2010 and the change expressively increased to 69% in 2021 with respect to the reference period. The study also found that a number of push factors influenced the size of land planted with Eucalyptus. The developed maps showing the spatial distribution and expansion of Eucalyptus will help policymakers properly manage the ecosystems and agricultural landscapes of Eucalyptus growing areas.

Household determinants of continued adoption of sustainable land management measures in central Ethiopia.

The government of Ethiopia has undertaken several projects to restore degraded farmlands using a variety of sustainable land management (SLM) techniques. One of the critical elements of the program was the rehabilitation of farmlands using physical soil and water conservation (SWC) strategies. This study examines household determinants of continued SWC adoption performances using areas representing a variety of contexts. The analysis was conducted using a binary logit model based on data collected from 525 sample households in two districts, namely Kewet and Sebeta-hawas. Of the study participants, 276 households were from the Kewet district in the Amhara region, and 249 households were from Sebeta-hawas in the Oromia region. The study findings revealed a significant difference between sampled households in the study areas regarding continued adoption performances, i.e. (25%) in the Sebeta-hawas and (41%) in the Kewet districts. Among others, productivity gains, consistent follow-up, sufficient farm labor, livestock holding, assistance-free efforts, the experience of soil erosion risks, and sloppy farm plots provided incentives for households to embrace the already introduced measures. Aside from that, there appeared to be differences in the relative contributions and significance of determinants influencing the likelihood of continued adoption. The important conclusion is that adoption effectiveness may differ under different circumstances and agro-ecosystems. Variables influencing continued adoption are also context-specific. Thus, decision-makers should consider contextual variations in designing policies and strategies that promote adoption continuities and utilizations.

The role and interplay of institutions in water governance in the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia.

Background: Institutions can play a key role in coordinating how natural resources are effectively managed and used without over-exploitation. Institutions are laws, policies, and organizational arrangements that permit, forbid or regulate human action. This study aimed to look into the roles of formal and informal institutions, and their interactions in water resources governance in the Central Rift Valley (CRV), Ethiopia. Methods: Key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and secondary data sources were employed to collect relevant data. Results: The result of the study indicated that the influence of informal institutions on formal institutions or vice versa was insignificant, and unable to change the actions of water users in the CRV. Other limitations observed in water resources governance in the CRV include a lack of actors' clear roles and responsibilities, absence of meaningful decentralization, limited engagement of key actors in policy development, lack of synergy between the institutions, and absence of enforcement mechanisms. Conclusion: Considering the local contexts and community's traditional knowledge of water governance in water-related policy, rules, and regulations, and enhancing the capacity of local-level institutions, strong interplay among all institutions involved in water governance, and meaningful actors' engagement were recommended to advance the role of institutions in water resources governance in the CRV and in the country. Hence, a mechanism that enables to harmonize formal and informal institutions in water management system can enhance the governance of water resources in the study area and elsewhere in the country.

Enteric methane emission factors of smallholder dairy farming systems across intensification gradients in the central highlands of Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Following global pledges to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 30% by 2030 compared to the baseline level of 2020, improved quantification of GHG emissions from developing countries has become crucial. However, national GHG inventories in most Sub-Saharan African countries use default (Tier I) emission factors (EFS) generated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to estimate enteric CH4 emissions from animal agriculture. The present study provides an improved enteric CH4 emission estimate (Tier II) based on animal energy requirements derived from animal characteristics and performance data collected from about 2500 cattle in 480 households from three smallholder farming systems to represent the common dairy farming in the central highlands of Ethiopia. Using average seasonal feed digestibility data, we estimated daily methane production by class of animal and farming system and subsequently generated improved EF. RESULTS: Our findings revealed that the estimated average EF and emission intensities (EI) vary significantly across farming systems. The estimated value of EF for adult dairy cows was 73, 69, and 34 kg CH4/cow/year for urban, peri-urban, and rural farming systems, respectively. Rural dairy farming had significantly higher emission intensity (EI) estimated at 1.78 CO2-eq per kg of fat protein-corrected milk (FPCM) than peri-urban and urban 0.71 and 0.64 CO2-eq kg-1 FPCM dairy farming systems, respectively. The EF estimates in this study are lower than the IPCC's (2019) default value for both stall-fed high-productive and dual-purpose low-productive cows. CONCLUSIONS: The current findings can be used as a baseline for the national emission inventory, which can be used to quantify the effects of future interventions, potentially improving the country's commitment to reducing GHG emissions. Similarly, this study suggests that increased animal productivity through improved feed has a considerable mitigation potential for reducing enteric methane emissions in smallholder dairy farming systems in the study area.

Estimating the Economic Values of Restricted Monoculture Eucalyptus Plantations: A Choice Modeling Approach.

Today, evaluating ecological wellbeing and ecosystem services is becoming a great concern towards conserving the natural resource base. Healthy functioning ecosystems have fundamental roles for aiding humankind to lead a healthy life and ensure an improved social welfare. Estimating the non-market benefits of ecosystem services can help experts and the public frame policy directions designed for landscape development. The ecosystem of the Eucalyptus hotspot highlands of northwestern Ethiopia, where this study was carried out, provides services that are essential to changes in the life of the society and biodiversity. However, in recent years, the ecosystem is facing a serious threat from intensive monoculture plantations of Eucalyptus. This has resulted in transformation of the cultural landscapes and a loss of biodiversity. The problem in turn calls for designing appropriate ecological improvement programs. Thus, the current study examined the preferences of residents concerning this area and estimated their willingness to pay (WTP) for the proposed ecosystem improvement programs using a Choice Experiment approach. Data were aggregated from 388 residents using a questionnaire survey in January 2020. The survey contained ecological improvement schemes and a hypothetical event by which respondents expressed their willingness to pay a yearly utility fee as a compensation for the improvement programs. Results showed significant differences in resident preferences towards the proposed ecological improvement attributes. The findings also indicated that the socioeconomic backgrounds of residents contributed for the heterogeneity in their WTP for ecological improvement schemes. Accordingly, the marginal willingness to pay of residents was USD 205/person/year for the respective ecological improvement attributes. The findings suggest that policy makers should consider such attribute-based public preferences while planning landscape development and conservation programs. This study can provide vital policy implications and contribute to knowledge as it presents how the non-market valuations of ecosystems help maximize social welfare.

A social-ecological assessment of food security and biodiversity conservation in Ethiopia.

We studied food security and biodiversity conservation from a social-ecological perspective in southwestern Ethiopia. Specialist tree, bird, and mammal species required large, undisturbed forest, supporting the notion of 'land sparing' for conservation. However, our findings also suggest that forest areas should be embedded within a multifunctional landscape matrix (i.e. 'land sharing'), because farmland also supported many species and ecosystem services and was the basis of diversified livelihoods. Diversified livelihoods improved smallholder food security, while lack of access to capital assets and crop raiding by wild forest animals negatively influenced food security. Food and biodiversity governance lacked coordination and was strongly hierarchical, with relatively few stakeholders being highly powerful. Our study shows that issues of livelihoods, access to resources, governance and equity are central when resolving challenges around food security and biodiversity. A multi-facetted, social-ecological approach is better able to capture such complexity than the conventional, two-dimensional land sparing versus sharing framework.

Reframing the Food-Biodiversity Challenge.

Given the serious limitations of production-oriented frameworks, we offer here a new conceptual framework for how to analyze the nexus of food security and biodiversity conservation. We introduce four archetypes of social-ecological system states corresponding to win-win (e.g., agroecology), win-lose (e.g., intensive agriculture), lose-win (e.g., fortress conservation), and lose-lose (e.g., degraded landscapes) outcomes for food security and biodiversity conservation. Each archetype is shaped by characteristic external drivers, exhibits characteristic internal social-ecological features, and has characteristic feedbacks that maintain it. This framework shifts the emphasis from focusing on production only to considering social-ecological dynamics, and enables comparison among landscapes. Moreover, examining drivers and feedbacks facilitates the analysis of possible transitions between system states (e.g., from a lose-lose outcome to a more preferred outcome).

Landscape composition and configuration in the central highlands of Ethiopia.

Landscape dynamics are common phenomenon in the human-dominated environments whereby it can be observed that the composition and configuration between landscape elements change over time. This dynamism brings about habitat loss and fragmentation that can greatly alter ecosystem services at patch, class, and landscape levels. We conducted a study to examine composition and configuration of forested landscape in the central highlands of Ethiopia using satellite images of over a period of four decades, and FRAGSTAT raster dataset was used to analyze fragmentation. Our result showed five land use/land cover (LULC) types in the study area. Cultivated land and settlement land increased at the expense of forestland, shrubland, and grassland. Fragmentation analysis showed the number of patches increased for all LULC types, indicating the level of fragmentation and interspersion. Juxtaposition increased for shrubland, grassland, and cultivated lands and decreased for settlement and forestland resulting in the fragmentation and isolation of patches. The study of LULC along with fragmentation at the landscape level can help improve our understanding of the pace at which conversion of landscape elements is happening and the impacts on ecosystem services as studies of LULC are courser in nature and would not show how each land use is reducing in size, proximity and shape among other things that determine ecosystem services. Such type of studies in rural landscapes are very vital to consider appropriate land management policies for the landscape level by taking into account the interaction between each element for sustainable development. We recommend land managers, conservationists, and land owners for observing the roles of each patch in the matrix to maximize the benefits than focusing on a single element.