Progress in Soil and Water Conservation Ethiopia

As part of the Sustainable Water Fund project “Ziway-Shalla: Basin in Balance” (ZSBiB) at Lake Ziway in Ethiopia, Acacia Water and its partners work among other things on soil and water conservation (SWC) activities to combat soil erosion and subsequent sediment run-off at degraded upland areas of Sodo district.

In the past months Acacia Water, together with Wetlands International provided proper training to local communities and relevant regional government officials in the field of:

- community-based organization (CBO) establishment and legalization;

- design and implementation of watershed management interventions, SWC structures and measures; and

- Sustainable land management (SLM)

Our colleague Kalkidan Mulugeta paid the area a field visit at the end of November, 2021, to monitor the progress of the SWC activities, which have been ongoing since late 2020, with Wetlands International (https://www.wetlands.org/) as the lead partner. The progress of the SWC activities appears to be encouraging, and a clear shift in the project area can be witnessed.

The photographs demonstrate the difference in the area. We are pleased to see that the training we provide is being put into action. in 2021, stone bunds have been build by the community in an upstream microcatchment to reduce soil erosion. We look forward to seeing positive impact in the coming years from the reduced soil erosion. The district government experts are doing a continuous follow-up with support from Wetlands international.

The ZSBiB project is funded by The Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO (https://english.rvo.nl/)).

For more information you can contact our colleagues Stefan de Wildt (mailto:stefan.dewildt@acaciawater.com) and Kalkidan Mulugeta (mailto:kalkidan.mulugeta@acaciawater.com)