Soil Erosion and Protection Mechanism in Ethiopia: The Legal and Practical Assessment of Amhara National Regional State

Abstract

In the highland areas of Ethiopia, rainfall is more intense and soils are highly erodible due to the relatively shallow depth and low structural stability. The Amhara region, being one part of the highland areas of a country, loss high amount of yield as a result of loss of topsoil each year is increasing substantially. This makes the government due attention to its development and environmental policy on the issue of soil conservation not only necessary, but also a vital concern if the country wants to achieve sustainable development of its agricultural sector and its economy at large. To curb this problem, efforts towards the soil protection were started a decade before. Accordingly, various theoretical and empirical models of soil conservation decisions have been developed be it at the regional, local and farm household level. Thus, in some recent years, the regional government becomes highly motivated to mobilize the public at large and some effective soil conservation activities have been achieved. However, the efforts put towards the promotion of the conservation technologies so far seem to have a little success in achieving sustained use and widespread adoption. This makes the main purpose of this study is, thus, how the law in the book and the law in practice associated with adoption of introduced soil conserving practices and draw conclusions that contribute in the future improvement of the design and implementation of protection programs.

Keywords :- Soil Erosion; Soil Protection; Community Participation; Watershed Development; Amhara and Ethiopia

DOI: 10.7176/CER/12-4-01

Publication date: April 30^th 2020