Intergrated management of land resources in eastern Africa: A review

An overall assessment of current resources in eastern Africa indicates that land degradation has reached a serious stage. This is reflected in the fast declining agricultural productivity, increasing hectarage of agricultural land yearly going out of crop production due to soil degradation and siltation ofdams and productive river valleys, and expansion of cultivation into adjacent forest and pasture lands. Most of the countries in the region do not yet have integrated land resource management policies and legislations that may lead to sustainable development and increased productivity of land resources that is compatible with sound environment management at regional, national and local levels. The World soils policy and National soil policies formulated by UNEP which are very closely linked with World Conservation Strategy and Agenda 21, have laid the basis for the formulation of land use policies, legislation and plan at all levels. To formulate meaningful land use plan at regional and local levels, the acquisition of land resource data base is essential. Intergrated management of land resources should be considered as an inportant step leading to sustainable development resources at all levels. The proposals for improved and strengthened planning, management and evaluation systems of land resources which include developing land resource data base, adopting appropriate farming systems for different agro-ecological zones, technology development and transfer, sustainable managment of plant nutrition and balancing ecological values and food production are some of the major steps recommended as an intergral part of the land resources management

Building Climate Resilience in the Blue Nile/Abay Highlands: A Role for Earth System Sciences

The Blue Nile (Abay) Highlands of Ethiopia are characterized by significant interannual climate variability, complex topography and associated local climate contrasts, erosive rains and erodible soils, and intense land pressure due to an increasing population and an economy that is almost entirely dependent on smallholder, low-input agriculture. As a result, these highland zones are highly vulnerable to negative impacts of climate variability. As patterns of variability and precipitation intensity alter under anthropogenic climate change, there is concern that this vulnerability will increase, threatening economic development and food security in the region. In order to overcome these challenges and to enhance sustainable development in the context of climate change, it is necessary to establish climate resilient development strategies that are informed by best-available Earth System Science (ESS) information. This requirement is complicated by the fact that climate projections for the Abay Highlands contain significant and perhaps irreducible uncertainties. A critical challenge for ESS, then, is to generate and to communicate meaningful information for climate resilient development in the context of a highly uncertain climate forecast. Here we report on a framework for applying ESS to climate resilient development in the Abay Highlands, with a focus on the challenge of reducing land degradation

Validation of the amharic translation of international prostate symptom score in Ethiopian Patients

(Ethiopian Journal of Health Development, 2001, 15(3): 203-208