Exclosures for landscape restoration in Ethiopia: business model scenarios and suitability. Agricultural Water Management – Making a Business Case for Smallholders

Abstract

The publications in this series cover a wide range of subjects-from computer modeling to experience with water user associations-and vary in content from directly applicable research to more basic studies, on which applied work ultimately depends. Some research reports are narrowly focused, analytical and detailed empirical studies; others are wide-ranging and synthetic overviews of generic problems.Although most of the reports are published by IWMI staff and their collaborators, we welcome contributions from others. Each report is reviewed internally by IWMI staff, and by external reviewers. The reports are published and distributed both in hard copy and electronically (www.iwmi.org) and where possible all data and analyses will be available as separate downloadable files. Reports may be copied freely and cited with due acknowledgment. About IWMIThe International Water Management Institute (IWMI) is a non-profit, research-for-development organization that works with governments, civil society and the private sector to solve water problems in developing countries and scale up solutions. Through partnership, IWMI combines research on the sustainable use of water and land resources, knowledge services and products with capacity strengthening, dialogue and policy analysis to support implementation of water management solutions for agriculture, ecosystems, climate change and inclusive economic growth. Headquartered in Colombo, Sri Lanka, IWMI is a CGIAR Research Center and leads the CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE).

Changing Agricultural Landscapes in Ethiopia: Examining Application of Adaptive Management Approach

“…Studies demonstrated that the implemented physical SWC measures played an important role in rehabilitating degraded landscapes and improving ecosystem services [27,[47][48][49]. For example, the transformation of these landscapes through SWC measures the resulting increases in water retention and ground water recharge.…”

“…Exclosures are areas protected from the interference of humans and livestock to promote natural regeneration of secondary vegetation. Recent estimates indicated that more that 4.2 million hectares of land in the country are covered by exclosures [27]. Ethiopia recently pledged to rehabilitate 15 million ha of degraded land by 2030 [45] and, according to the government's plan, about 50% of the land-over 7 million ha-will be rehabilitated by establishing exclosures [45].…”

“…However, local communities raise concerns about the long-term soil conservation approaches and technologies discussed above, as the measures are not effective in generating short-term economic benefits [27]. The critical questions, therefore, are: (i) how would this land and water management, specifically SWC measures, work for poor rural communities?…”

“…Tertiary landscape structures (Figure 1(B3)) are linked to landscape structure 2 (B2) and how it transforms livelihoods. Recent evidence related to how landscape structures B2 transform lives and livelihoods [27] is an important point of discussion, particularly in view of providing incentives to guide behavioral change and to support local communities in adopting certain land and water management interventions.…”

“…For example, we consider how changes in the landscape structure such as LULC changes have influenced carbon sequestration, biodiversity, and erosion [28], or how SWC measures have influenced the restoration of degraded landscapes and agricultural production. how landscape structures B2 transform lives and livelihoods [27] is an important point of discussion, particularly in view of providing incentives to guide behavioral change and to support local communities in adopting certain land and water management interventions. The functional component (Figure 1(B4)) of a landscape consists of the processes influenced by its structure and processes driven by the human and natural system.…”