Historical Perspectives and Present Scenarios of Watershed Management in Ethiopia

Gadisa Chimdesa

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ijnrem.20160103.17

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Historical Perspectives and Present Scenarios of Watershed Management in Ethiopia

Gadisa Chimdesa

Published in International Journal of Natural Resource Ecology and Management (Volume 1, Issue 3)

Received: 5 July 2016 Accepted: 15 July 2016 Published: 17 August 2016

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Abstract

This paper is aimed to evaluate the historical perspectives and present scenarios of watershed management in Ethiopia. Watershed management is not the new concept of the country because it had highly experienced indigenous peoples those have been practiced from an ancient period. But, it became the prominent after the recurrent malnutrition and famine problems followed the 1970’s and 1980’s drought and subsequent catastrophic phenomena. Land degradation in the form of soil erosion has been usually considered as the main driving causes of the problem. Thus, the previous governments and other partners have initiated various soil and water conservation activities though they were mostly unsatisfactory or failed. Because there was lack of community participation, sector driven and single medium approach, unsecured land tenure, disincentives and unmanageable planning units. The present government has been taken lessons from the past shortcomings and then it has been initiated participatory community-based watershed management. As a result, it showed positive achievements in rehabilitation of severely degraded land, and it becoming as sources of income for the local communities. Here, it doesn’t mean that current watershed management practices are perfect but practically it has various problems that will be solved in the future. For example: working quality, strengthening awareness creation and capacity building, real community participation, equitable and faire sharing benefits between and among upstream-downstream community should be paid attention. In general, watershed management must be evaluated in terms of environmental soundness, economic viability and social acceptability moreover; it should be supported by research and educational institutions.

Published in	International Journal of Natural Resource Ecology and Management (Volume 1, Issue 3)
DOI	10.11648/j.ijnrem.20160103.17
Page(s)	115-127
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Ethiopia, Historical Perspectives, Land Degradation, Present Scenarios, Soil and Water Conservation, Watershed Management

References

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Gadisa Chimdesa. (2016). Historical Perspectives and Present Scenarios of Watershed Management in Ethiopia. International Journal of Natural Resource Ecology and Management, 1(3), 115-127. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijnrem.20160103.17

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Gadisa Chimdesa. Historical Perspectives and Present Scenarios of Watershed Management in Ethiopia. Int. J. Nat. Resour. Ecol. Manag. 2016, 1(3), 115-127. doi: 10.11648/j.ijnrem.20160103.17

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Gadisa Chimdesa. Historical Perspectives and Present Scenarios of Watershed Management in Ethiopia. Int J Nat Resour Ecol Manag. 2016;1(3):115-127. doi: 10.11648/j.ijnrem.20160103.17

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@article{10.11648/j.ijnrem.20160103.17,
  author = {Gadisa Chimdesa},
  title = {Historical Perspectives and Present Scenarios of Watershed Management in Ethiopia},
  journal = {International Journal of Natural Resource Ecology and Management},
  volume = {1},
  number = {3},
  pages = {115-127},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijnrem.20160103.17},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijnrem.20160103.17},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijnrem.20160103.17},
  abstract = {This paper is aimed to evaluate the historical perspectives and present scenarios of watershed management in Ethiopia. Watershed management is not the new concept of the country because it had highly experienced indigenous peoples those have been practiced from an ancient period. But, it became the prominent after the recurrent malnutrition and famine problems followed the 1970’s and 1980’s drought and subsequent catastrophic phenomena. Land degradation in the form of soil erosion has been usually considered as the main driving causes of the problem. Thus, the previous governments and other partners have initiated various soil and water conservation activities though they were mostly unsatisfactory or failed. Because there was lack of community participation, sector driven and single medium approach, unsecured land tenure, disincentives and unmanageable planning units. The present government has been taken lessons from the past shortcomings and then it has been initiated participatory community-based watershed management. As a result, it showed positive achievements in rehabilitation of severely degraded land, and it becoming as sources of income for the local communities. Here, it doesn’t mean that current watershed management practices are perfect but practically it has various problems that will be solved in the future. For example: working quality, strengthening awareness creation and capacity building, real community participation, equitable and faire sharing benefits between and among upstream-downstream community should be paid attention. In general, watershed management must be evaluated in terms of environmental soundness, economic viability and social acceptability moreover; it should be supported by research and educational institutions.},
 year = {2016}
}

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T2  - International Journal of Natural Resource Ecology and Management
JF  - International Journal of Natural Resource Ecology and Management
JO  - International Journal of Natural Resource Ecology and Management
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AB  - This paper is aimed to evaluate the historical perspectives and present scenarios of watershed management in Ethiopia. Watershed management is not the new concept of the country because it had highly experienced indigenous peoples those have been practiced from an ancient period. But, it became the prominent after the recurrent malnutrition and famine problems followed the 1970’s and 1980’s drought and subsequent catastrophic phenomena. Land degradation in the form of soil erosion has been usually considered as the main driving causes of the problem. Thus, the previous governments and other partners have initiated various soil and water conservation activities though they were mostly unsatisfactory or failed. Because there was lack of community participation, sector driven and single medium approach, unsecured land tenure, disincentives and unmanageable planning units. The present government has been taken lessons from the past shortcomings and then it has been initiated participatory community-based watershed management. As a result, it showed positive achievements in rehabilitation of severely degraded land, and it becoming as sources of income for the local communities. Here, it doesn’t mean that current watershed management practices are perfect but practically it has various problems that will be solved in the future. For example: working quality, strengthening awareness creation and capacity building, real community participation, equitable and faire sharing benefits between and among upstream-downstream community should be paid attention. In general, watershed management must be evaluated in terms of environmental soundness, economic viability and social acceptability moreover; it should be supported by research and educational institutions.
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Gadisa Chimdesa

Department of Natural Resources Management, Collage of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Dilla University, Dilla, Ethiopia

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Gadisa Chimdesa. (2016). Historical Perspectives and Present Scenarios of Watershed Management in Ethiopia. International Journal of Natural Resource Ecology and Management, 1(3), 115-127. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijnrem.20160103.17

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Gadisa Chimdesa. Historical Perspectives and Present Scenarios of Watershed Management in Ethiopia. Int. J. Nat. Resour. Ecol. Manag. 2016, 1(3), 115-127. doi: 10.11648/j.ijnrem.20160103.17

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Gadisa Chimdesa. Historical Perspectives and Present Scenarios of Watershed Management in Ethiopia. Int J Nat Resour Ecol Manag. 2016;1(3):115-127. doi: 10.11648/j.ijnrem.20160103.17

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@article{10.11648/j.ijnrem.20160103.17,
  author = {Gadisa Chimdesa},
  title = {Historical Perspectives and Present Scenarios of Watershed Management in Ethiopia},
  journal = {International Journal of Natural Resource Ecology and Management},
  volume = {1},
  number = {3},
  pages = {115-127},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijnrem.20160103.17},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijnrem.20160103.17},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijnrem.20160103.17},
  abstract = {This paper is aimed to evaluate the historical perspectives and present scenarios of watershed management in Ethiopia. Watershed management is not the new concept of the country because it had highly experienced indigenous peoples those have been practiced from an ancient period. But, it became the prominent after the recurrent malnutrition and famine problems followed the 1970’s and 1980’s drought and subsequent catastrophic phenomena. Land degradation in the form of soil erosion has been usually considered as the main driving causes of the problem. Thus, the previous governments and other partners have initiated various soil and water conservation activities though they were mostly unsatisfactory or failed. Because there was lack of community participation, sector driven and single medium approach, unsecured land tenure, disincentives and unmanageable planning units. The present government has been taken lessons from the past shortcomings and then it has been initiated participatory community-based watershed management. As a result, it showed positive achievements in rehabilitation of severely degraded land, and it becoming as sources of income for the local communities. Here, it doesn’t mean that current watershed management practices are perfect but practically it has various problems that will be solved in the future. For example: working quality, strengthening awareness creation and capacity building, real community participation, equitable and faire sharing benefits between and among upstream-downstream community should be paid attention. In general, watershed management must be evaluated in terms of environmental soundness, economic viability and social acceptability moreover; it should be supported by research and educational institutions.},
 year = {2016}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Historical Perspectives and Present Scenarios of Watershed Management in Ethiopia
AU  - Gadisa Chimdesa
Y1  - 2016/08/17
PY  - 2016
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijnrem.20160103.17
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijnrem.20160103.17
T2  - International Journal of Natural Resource Ecology and Management
JF  - International Journal of Natural Resource Ecology and Management
JO  - International Journal of Natural Resource Ecology and Management
SP  - 115
EP  - 127
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2575-3061
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijnrem.20160103.17
AB  - This paper is aimed to evaluate the historical perspectives and present scenarios of watershed management in Ethiopia. Watershed management is not the new concept of the country because it had highly experienced indigenous peoples those have been practiced from an ancient period. But, it became the prominent after the recurrent malnutrition and famine problems followed the 1970’s and 1980’s drought and subsequent catastrophic phenomena. Land degradation in the form of soil erosion has been usually considered as the main driving causes of the problem. Thus, the previous governments and other partners have initiated various soil and water conservation activities though they were mostly unsatisfactory or failed. Because there was lack of community participation, sector driven and single medium approach, unsecured land tenure, disincentives and unmanageable planning units. The present government has been taken lessons from the past shortcomings and then it has been initiated participatory community-based watershed management. As a result, it showed positive achievements in rehabilitation of severely degraded land, and it becoming as sources of income for the local communities. Here, it doesn’t mean that current watershed management practices are perfect but practically it has various problems that will be solved in the future. For example: working quality, strengthening awareness creation and capacity building, real community participation, equitable and faire sharing benefits between and among upstream-downstream community should be paid attention. In general, watershed management must be evaluated in terms of environmental soundness, economic viability and social acceptability moreover; it should be supported by research and educational institutions.
VL  - 1
IS  - 3
ER  -

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