Ethiopia Soil Water Conservation
Disclaimer: This is a prototype of a LSC-IS hub for Ethiopia that will be hosted by Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR). This may not represent the final version as this depends on the design by EIAR. The goal of this prototype is to test the proposed functionalities and to obtain feedback.
Problem
Soil erosion is a major threat to sustainability and productivity with knock-on effects on the climate crisis and food security. It decreases soil fertility negatively affecting crop yields on fields, while eroded sediments from upstream clog downstream, dams, rivers and canals causing sedimentation and flooding. This is particularly true for hilly areas in Ethiopia, Ethiopia and Rwanda with high erosion risk. Soil erosion can be prevented and arrested through soil and water conservation (SWC) or sustainable land management (SLM) practices. Current land use and land management practices including crop cultivation as well as grazing do not sufficiently consider local potential, limitations and climate and soil erosion risks. While general information on improved land management may exist, context-based information on land resources, and climate and information on feasible SLM alternatives is not widely available or applied by land managers.
Goal
Stakeholders informed of status of soil erosion risks and motivated to apply and promote more sustainable land use and land management practices through improved policies, plans and agricultural extension services, including contributions to Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) monitoring and reporting.
Scope
Catchment managers, authorities and farmer organisations can use the system to obtain information on the suitability of various sustainable land uses and land management practices for agricultural production and land restoration. These is based on existing data (soil, terrain, crop, climate), apps (decision support tools, etc.) and GIS based land suitability and soil erosion models, accessible in the LSC-hub.
System
LSC-IS hub, land suitability applications, Soil erosion and AEZ models and data used in national LDN monitoring and plans for County development, catchment management and farm management.
Scale:
- National
- sub-national, landscape or catchment
- local level
Primary actors
- National: national and regional agriculture and forestry/natural resource management authorities, planners and project managers, UNCCD focal points.
- Local: catchment management, agricultural extension staff, farmer’s and other community-based organisations and authorities.
Secondary actors
Hub-hosts and administrator: EIAR, KALRO, RAB; related data providers.
Beneficiary
Farmers and communities.
Scenario
The intermediary actor accesses the LSC-Hub’s web-based data system or portal, and finds existing information on Land, Soil and crops. The intermediary actor converts this information into land use and land management recommendations and advise to ultimate end users, in particular farmers.
