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Assessing the effect of sustainable land management on improving water security in the Blue Nile Highlands: a paired catchment approach

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Abstract

The Blue Nile Highlands, Ethiopia, has been experiencing serious land degradation, menacing water security, and then human well-being. However, sustainable land management (SLM) may be the way to curb land degradation and improve water security. Therefore, in order to assess benefits after a 5-year catchment restoration effort, we conducted a paired-catchment study to investigate runoff and soil moisture dynamics. First and second catchments were used as control and treated, respectively. After comparing observations gathered from four sites within each of the study catchments, we found that implementing SLM reduced runoff curve numbers by −13.9 to −21.6 units and increased soil moisture storage by 15.6 to 800%, then promoting rapid recovery of the hydrologic functionality of the natural landscapes. We conclude that SLM initiatives can greatly improve water security in the drought-prone Blue Nile Highlands.

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Availability of data and material

Data are available in ORA (Oxford University Archive) at the University of Oxford’s digital repository.

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Acknowledgements

This document is an output from the REACH program funded by UK Aid from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) for the benefit of developing countries (Program Code 201880). However, the views expressed and information contained in it are not necessarily those of or endorsed by FCDO, which can accept no responsibility for such views or information or for any reliance placed on them.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ethiopian Institute of Water Resources (EIWR), Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    Berihun D. Mersha, Tena Alamirew, Zeleke A. Dejen & Solomon G. Gebrehiwot

  2. Water and Land Resource Center (WLRC), Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    Berihun D. Mersha, Gete Zeleke, Tena Alamirew & Solomon G. Gebrehiwot

Authors
  1. Berihun D. Mersha
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  2. Gete Zeleke
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  3. Tena Alamirew
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  4. Zeleke A. Dejen
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  5. Solomon G. Gebrehiwot
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Berihun D. Mersha, Gete Zeleke, Tena Alamirew, Zeleke A. Dejen, and Solomon G. Gebrehiwot. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Berihun D. Mersha, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Berihun D. Mersha.

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Highlights

• Land degradation and climate variability and change are major threats to water security in Ethiopia.

• SLM interventions are capable of restoring the natural hydrologic functionality of the agricultural landscapes in the Blue Nile Highlands.

• SLM interventions help reduce nonproductive freshwater losses in the agricultural landscapes of the Blue Nile Highlands.

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Mersha, B.D., Zeleke, G., Alamirew, T. et al. Assessing the effect of sustainable land management on improving water security in the Blue Nile Highlands: a paired catchment approach. Environ Monit Assess 194, 197 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-022-09837-5

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