Globally erosion has been considered as an environmental and agricultural problem since the first agricultural revolution. In Ethiopia gully erosion has been recorded as a very serious and common socioeconomic and environmental problem of several watersheds. Therefore, the objective of this research was to assess the drivers, dynamics and impacts of gully erosion in case of Tabota Koromo and Koromo Danshe watersheds, South-Central Ethiopia. The intended objectives were achieved by triangulating the image analysis with the data obtained from GPS, group discussion, interview, house hold survey, field observation and field measurement. The result of the study indicated that gully erosion was initiated in the steep slope following the 1970s and 1980s land cover change and other anthropogenic factors. In addition, the soil properties and steep slope (gravity) of the land have contributed in exacerbating the problems. Gully erosion caused physical, social and economic impacts in the area. According to the participants on group discussion and interview, the socioeconomic impacts of gully erosion were loss of life for a 12 year boy, injuries of five live stocks, and decline of yields throughout the year. Result from field measurement and observation depicted that loss of soil (1,080,782.6m 3) and loss of biodiversity are the major physical impacts of gully erosion. Yet there are promising conditions to rehabilitate the gullied area for sustainable ecosystem services in the watersheds. These promising conditions are the availability of high labour forces, access of transportation, civic societies working on natural resource conservation and the green economy development policy of the country. Therefore, concerned government bodies and the local communities at different level need to set plan and work for implementation in a way to use the existing opportunities.

In Ethiopia modern soil and water conservation (SWC) started in the 1970s. Due to several factors, most SWC works have not fully achieved the intended objectives. The disparity between dimensions of the implemented SWC work and the standard is the main factor. Therefore, this research work aimed to assess the design and constraints of SWC in the Gidabo sub-basin, of the Ethiopian rift valley. Data were generated through field observation, field measurements, household survey, interview, group discussion, and Arc GIS. According to the result, about 47.3% of the physical design of the implemented SWC structures failed to meet the standard dimension. In addition, the SWC lacks the standard supportive activities, such as the cut of the drain, check dam, biological work, and frequent maintenance. FGD and KII showed about 71.3% of the farmers accepted SWC technologies, but they have constraints for SWC. These were small land size, food insecurity, lack of resources, technical skill, field guidance, poor maintenance, as well as young migration. The researchers used the chi-square test for the significant variation of constraints along with different agro ecology. According to the chi-square result, significant association was observed between land size, access to fertilizers, seeds, ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Land use and land cover change (LULCC) are the result of different interacting socio-economic and environmental causes and consequences that have been known since the beginning of agriculture. The study intended to explore the implications and drivers of LULCC in the Ethiopian rift valley region of Gidabo river sub basin from 1986 to 2019. The researchers have triangulated the data from Landsat 5 (™), and Landsat 8 (OLI) with data obtained from key informants, focus groups and field observation, which is helpful to determine the interaction between the environment and the community. It is also important to mitigate environmental disaster (erosion, landslides, and climate change) and sustainable utilization of natural resources. The LULCC of the past 33 years implied that about 58.4 % of the area was changed to other Land use land cover (LULC) classes. This refers to the fact that about 14% of agroforestry, 2% of the settlement, 1.1% of the forest, and 1% of bare land were expanded at the expense of 10.3% of shrub/woodland, 6.3 % of grassland, and 1% of cropland classes. Therefore, as a result, the highest land cover (46.7%) was observed on the agroforestry system. Participants in group discussion and informant interviews attributed the expansion of agroforestry to the drivers, such as population density, cultural values (Songo, Babbo), traditional beliefs, land policy, and the insecurity resulting from climate change. Whereas, the drivers related to unproductive land, resettlement, urbanisation, and lack of agricultural inputs were considered as threats that will adversely affect the agroforestry system of the area. The study concluded that the high expansion of the agroforestry system has significant contribution to achieve a resilient environment and sustainable development, which integrates the socio-economic and environmental needs of the community. But greater attention should be given to the changes observed in shrub/woodland, grassland, and bare land to enhance environmental protection.

Soil erosion is one of the global challenges noticed as a cause for unsustainable socio-economic and environmental conditions. Over the last half-century, various soil and water conservation (SWC) practices were introduced in Ethiopia, but the conservation work could not be fully achieved in many areas. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the effect and constraints of physical SWC on selected soil biophysical and chemical properties of the Ethiopian rift valley. The primary and secondary data sources were used to answer the intended objectives. The statistical analysis of variance showed that the soil texture of the study area was affected by the type of conservation technologies than agroecology and slope characteristics. However, soil bulk density was not significantly affected at all. The study also showed that the soil biophysical and chemical properties were significantly affected by the variation of agroecology and SWC technologies. The overall result of the study depicted that about 40% of the conservation work failed to maintain soil fertility because the farmers have constraints to adopt and adapt the SWC work. The constraints include small land size, shortage of fuel wood, dependency on food aid, less productivity of the soil, youth migration, and long lasted effect of conservation works. These constraints were seen as causes for inferior agricultural product, food insecurity, famine, migration and frequent drought of the area. The study concluded that the SWC work of the area should focus on variation of agroecology, SWC technologies, and local constraints. Also, the policy of natural resource conservation should consider local constraints to implement the national SWC guideline.