Natural resource opportunities and challenges for rural development in marginal grabens – The state of the art with implications for the Rift Valley system in Ethiopia

Meaza, Hailemariam; Frankl, Amaury; Poesen, Jean; Zenebe, Amanuel; Deckers, Jozef; Eetvelde, Veerle Van; Demissie, Biadgilgn; Asfaha, Tesfaalem-Ghebreyohannes; Nyssen, Jan

doi:10.1016/j.jaridenv.2017.08.003

Cited by 27 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 121 publications

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“…Contrastingly, Meaza et al . () reported that wetlands in Raya Graben were encroaching into active farmlands and pasture lands due to rising water tables and topographic systems—thereby posing a threat to sustainable agriculture.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatiotemporal wetland changes and their threats in North Central Ethiopian Highlands

Hussien

Demissie

Meaza

2018

Singap J Trop Geogr

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Wetlands are important environmental resources for rural livelihoods in Ethiopia. The study investigated spatiotemporal change of wetlands, drivers and effects in North Central Ethiopian Highlands. Landsat satellite imageries of 1984, 1993, 2000, and 2013 were used to analyse wetland changes over the last three decades. Practical observations, interviews and discussions with local communities and officers were also conducted to address the main objective. Furthermore, secondary data on crop yields were collected to supplement the primary data. The study shows that wetlands have been converted into built‐up areas and farmlands. Wetlands in the study area experienced annual loss across the entire study period. Consequently, the area size of wetlands decreased from 7.4 per cent in 1984 to 2.6 per cent in 2013. About 66 per cent of the total wetlands was lost within 30 years mainly due to farmland encroachment and urban expansions. The highest rate of wetland change was recorded between 2000 and 2013. Such wetland changes increased conflicts among land users. However, the converted wetlands increased short‐term benefits due to wetland recession agriculture. To conclude, wetland resources are under enormous threats, and challenge the sustainability of livelihoods. Thus, integrated and adaptive wetland restoration policies could improve the degraded wetlands.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatiotemporal wetland changes and their threats in North Central Ethiopian Highlands

Hussien

Demissie

Meaza

2018

Singap J Trop Geogr

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“…Despite the relatively low application rate of inorganic fertilizers in the graben bottoms, an increase of the water EC values was observed due to a large part of fertilizers applied along the escarpment is washed to the graben bottoms by runoff and distributed over the farmlands by spate irrigation . We noted also (Meaza et al, 2017) that excessive water use for irrigation, poor drainage, and on-site deforestation have led to salinization in graben bottoms. Such water quality deterioration has reduced the ability to use water for domestic purposes in the area (McHugh et al, 2007).…”

Section: Spatial Variation Of Ec In the Graben Basinsmentioning

confidence: 75%

“…The study area consists of four representative basins (Figure 1 The main rainy (wet) season (kiremt season) usually occurs from July to September, a small rainy season (belg) occurs mainly from March to May, and the remaining months are dry (Demissie et al, 2015;Meaza et al, 2017). The average rainfall at the western escarpment is 981.9 ± 238.1 mm, whereas it is 625.9 ± 198.6 mm at graben bottom.…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial and temporal patterns of water salinity in the marginal grabens of Ethiopia's Danakil Depression

et al. 2019

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Rising salinity is a severe problem associated with land degradation in arid and semiarid regions. This study seeks to understand the spatiotemporal patterns of water salinity and their implication on the downstream water availability in the marginal grabens of northern Ethiopia. We measured the electrical conductivity (EC) of flash floods, baseflows, springs, wells, and lakes. A total of 1,168 samples was collected from 177 spatially distributed water sources (2016–2017). This study shows that there was a significant difference in the EC values of the water points between rainy (1,403 ± 425 μS cm−1) and dry seasons (2,261 ± 258 μS cm−1). Besides, there is an inverse relationship between the river discharges and the runoff EC in the study area. The average value of the water EC was also higher in the limestone area than in the basalt sites. In addition, the water EC increased from the escarpments (396 ± 176 μS cm−1) towards the outlets of the graben basins (1,670 ± 942 μS cm−1). These water EC hotspots in the dry season imply that the river basins are in a closing status due to the erratic rainfall and water extraction by humans. However, the rising water EC and moisture stress endanger the existing agricultural development. Because of the extent and seriousness of salinity, integrated catchment management strategies are needed to tackle the degrading water quality and quantity in the marginal grabens along the northern Ethiopia Rift Valley.

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“…In the study area, from the perspective of the agricultural activities, the river channel dynamic has important implications to irrigation and farm management. River widening and sedimentation are among the threats to the livelihood of the smallholder farmers in the graben bottom of the study area (Meaza et al, ). Hence, further studies and additional field data are needed to design scientifically based appropriate river management strategies.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…the maximum daily rainfall intensity shows a marked increasing trend for Korem and it is almost constant for Alamata ( Figure 14). The (Meaza et al, 2017). Hence, further studies and additional field data are needed to design scientifically based appropriate river management strategies.…”

Section: Decadal Channel Width Changesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamics of ephemeral streams at the foot of degraded catchments in northern Ethiopia

et al. 2019

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The magnitudes of flash floods and their effect on channel width changes were investigated for Hara River in the Raya graben (northern Ethiopia). Precipitation was measured using rain gauges evenly distributed over the study catchment. Event peak discharges were measured with crest‐stage gauges at a reference cross‐section. Changes in channel width were measured at six monitoring sites along a 1.5 km long reach. Decadal channel width change was analyzed over the period 1965–2014. The average rainfall depth of the rainy days was 14.2 ± 9.4 mm whereas the highest was 41.9 mm and the lowest, capable to generate some flow in the river, was only 1.8 mm. The maximum calculated discharge peaked at 408 m3/s whereas the lowest flow was 19.5 m3/s. An average widening of 0.11 ± 0.19 m per flood (for a total of 3.74 m) was measured. The cumulative precipitation and cumulative channel widening suggest that larger and longer lasting rains have substantial influence on channel width change. A marked increase in channel width commonly accompanies 2–3 days of flood duration; it is less marked where there is riparian vegetation on the banks. The long‐term (1965, 1986, 2005, and 2010) measurements indicate that channel width increased rapidly over the last 50 years; nearly 25 m of widening. Generally, channel changes are mainly induced by the duration of floods rather than by their intensity and the data clearly show that ephemeral streams channel dynamics can be triggered also by floods much smaller than bankfull.

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Natural resource opportunities and challenges for rural development in marginal grabens – The state of the art with implications for the Rift Valley system in Ethiopia

Cited by 27 publications

References 121 publications

Spatiotemporal wetland changes and their threats in North Central Ethiopian Highlands

Spatiotemporal wetland changes and their threats in North Central Ethiopian Highlands

Spatial and temporal patterns of water salinity in the marginal grabens of Ethiopia's Danakil Depression

Dynamics of ephemeral streams at the foot of degraded catchments in northern Ethiopia

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