2021 Volume 31 Issue 1 Pages 1-14
The Ethiopian government has implemented several conservation activities in response to severe cases of soil erosion and the effectiveness of which has been considered in previous studies. However, farmers require the use of natural resources for their livelihood and will experience further restrictions in their lives if more conservation activities are to be carried out in the future. Therefore, sustainable land management that takes consideration of farmer’s needs is desired. Focusing on the Adi Zaboy watershed in the Kilite Awlaelo district, Tigray region, Ethiopia, this research aimed to create a map of soil erosion risk by using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) model, analyze the geographic properties associated with the soil erosion risk, and propose a land management method that allows regional farmers to continue to use natural resources while reducing soil erosion. The estimated soil erosion risk was classified into six classes. To analyze the geographic properties associated with the soil erosion risk, 35 points were randomly established by mapping. The differences in the land management of the enclosure and the seasonally closed grazing land were assessed to find how they affected the soil erosion risk. The average annual soil loss was 8.3 Mg/ha/yr. Localized conservation activities are necessary for sustainable land management because 71% of the soil loss occurred in 10% of the area. The steep slopes (>6°) need immediate action, as these areas had a high risk of soil erosion and conservation activities were not being performed. Conservation activities such as stone bunds could be difficult on steep slopes of >13°. It is possible to mitigate the restriction on the farmers’ use of natural resources by identifying sites with a low soil erosion risk inside the area enclosure and implementing a system to convert the area enclosure into seasonally closed grazing land.
