Socio economic benefits of adopting aquatic ecosystem management tools and its impact on

community livelihoods in highlands of West Shoa Zone, Ethiopia

Introduction

Ethiopian highlands are sources for 12 river basins (9 wet and 3 dry) with annual flow of 122

million meter cubic, not considering the ground water. The country is often referred to as the

‘water tower’ of horn of Africa because of its wide variety land forms and climatic conditions,

creating an extensive river network system throughout the country. Regardless of the abundance

of water resources in the country, Ethiopia is categorized with nations that will face economic

water scarcity by the year 2025 (World Water Assessment Program (WWAP), 2012).

The benefits of ecosystems are discussed at many scales and to many different beneficiaries. At

the local level, ecosystem services are frequently the basis for rural livelihoods and subsistence,

particularly for the poor. Human need and interest to expand production and productivity is

increasing through time and this has helped to maintain world’s food demand, but has led to

severe environmental impacts, including global biodiversity loss, and water and land degradation

(Foley et al. 2011). Recently growing developmental activities put high pressure on aquatic

ecosystems in highlands of Ethiopia: pollution by domestic and industrial waste, pollution by

pesticides and fertilizers, sedimentation and siltation, deforestation and spring source abandoning

and water abstraction are among many threats.

Therefore, most highland rivers of Ethiopia are not found in safe and good condition thus, it

directly affect the livelihoods of the community who are dependent on agriculture practices and

living in rural and urban areas of the country. For instance, Industrial wastes directly affects the

health of the people and animals through river water, deforestation can affects the natural
balance of ecosystem and aggravate global warming. management of surface running waters

quality is a key to societal issues, which requires proactive measured designed to resolve specific

regional problems. Proper monitoring of flowing water will help to increase water use efficiency

and planning a range of appropriate utilization are restoration activities. Given the high

variability of ecological zones, degradation gradient and subsequent impacts on highland rivers

there is a need for research and development intervention that take in to account the sustainable

utilization of resources for the benefit of the society.

Due to lack of awareness and proper monitoring of aquatic resources in Ethiopia, almost all

aquatic resources in the country are not well protected and found in worse conditions. The

fishery resources as well as the fishery-based communities are also redundantly affected by the

poor management of aquatic resources. The problem associated with poor handling of aquatic

resource is multi-dimensional for instance; health effect, economic loss and environment

unbalance are among the consequences. Thus there is a need to apply ranges of aquatic resource

management strategies have been developed and intervene in some selected degraded highland

rivers and streams. Particularly women and children are among the highly vulnerable parts of the

community to the problem associated with water this is due to their high intimacy with river and

streams.

Apparently, these effects are not yet studied and there is no clear evidence that shows the extent

of damage that the community is losing. Therefore, this study will fill the gap by identifying the

consequence and impact of river ecological practices on the livelihoods of the community living

along the rivers and streams of highlands of Ethiopia.

Objectives of the study

The purpose of this study is to examine and evaluate the impact of delivered aquatic ecosystem

management technique on the livelihoods of rural community of Ethiopian highlands

 Conduct case studies and gender analysis on aquatic ecosystem services and community

benefits,

 Examine acceptance of aquatic resources management tools and their determinants,

 Evaluate the impacts of delivered aquatic ecosystem management techniques on the

livelihoods of the community.

Methods

The study will be undertaken in highlands of West Shoa Zone; two case study sites will be

selected purposively mainly based on the current conditions of the river/stream. One site will be

selected from which the current status is good and well protected and farther used as a reference

site, the rest will select from relatively the degraded area. The required data both qualitative and

quantitative to conduct case study as well as gender analysis will be generated using both rapid

appraisal methods mainly based on focus group discussion (FGDs) and Key Informant

Interviews (KII) with relevant stakeholders and beneficiary in the community. Gender analysis

will be done using Harvard model.

Baseline and end line surveys will be done using structured questionnaire. Respondents will be

selected based on multi-stage sampling techniques. In the first step of the sampling, the study

sites will be selected purposively because this area is under highlands of Ethiopia and believed

that relatively degraded and lose its natural condition. In the second stage again the case study
sites will also selected purposively in order to have representative sites. In the third stage the

number or respondents will be selected randomly based on proportion of the area population size

and interviewed.

The collected data was summarized using both descriptive and econometric method.

Econometric model such as Propensity Score Matching (PSM) and Indigenous Switch

Regression (ESR), to assess the impact of the delivered aquatic ecosystem management

techniques on the livelihoods of the community and Probit model will also used to examine

acceptance of aquatic resources management tools and their determinants. Statistical package for

social scientists (SPSS) and STATA/LIMdep will also used to analyze the data.

Expected output

 Awareness on the aquatic ecosystem management technique

 Gender disaggregated information on aquatic ecosystem management

 Determinants of adopting aquatic resources management tools

 Level of impact on the community livelihoods

Work plan

No Activity Duration

1 Course work Oct 2015------Mar, 2016

2 Data collection Apr 2016------Dec, 2016

3 Data analysis Jan 2017------Aug, 2017

4 Write up Sep 2017------Sep, 2018

Source of budget: Appear scholarship

References

Foley et al. 2011

World Water Assessment Program (WWAP), 2012).