The Africa Rising project focuses on landscape restoration and water harvesting (LRWH) in the Ethiopian highlands to promote agricultural intensification. It emphasizes the importance of considering biophysical, socio-economic, and institutional factors in the implementation of LRWH strategies at scale. The project adopts a landscape continuum model and engages stakeholders for effective interventions, particularly in regions like Amhara and Tigray.

1. Africa RISING in the Ethiopian Highlands
Landscape Restoration and Water Harvesting (LRWH) and
associated intensification of agriculture requires implementing
appropriate technologies and approaches at scale. Cognizant of
previous interventions, the Africa RISING project has been
implementing innovative LRWH approaches to promote
agricultural intensification in Ethiopia.
Introduction
Achievements
• Promoting effective LRWH at scale need to consider:
• Whole landscape continuum.
• Biophysical conditions of the landscapes: agro-
ecological, land use/cover, soil, geomorphological, geo-
hydrological characteristics of the areas.
• Socio-economic and institutional conditions of specific
landscapes/watersheds.
Promoting Landscape Restoration and Water Harvesting at scale;
the case of Africa Rising project, Ethiopia
Kifle Woldearegay, Lulseged Tamene, Kindu Mekonnen, Zenebe Admassu, Tesfaye Yaekob
• Review of previous LRWH interventions (success and failures).
• Analysis: Governance, Institutional Setup, and Stakeholders.
• Baseline survey and participatory prioritization of interventions.
• Capacity building at different levels.
• Implementation with full involvement of all stakeholders.
• Participatory evaluation of the implemented LRWH.
• Documentation and Learning through research.
Approaches used
Fig. 1. LRWH interventions implemented in Debre Berhan AR climate smart landscape, Ethiopia.
Fig. 2. LRWH interventions implemented in Maychew AR climate smart landscape, Ethiopia.
Plate 1. LRWH interventions in Buso (A) and Zata (B) watersheds, Ethiopia.
Concluding remark
A landscape continuum model was used to implement effective LRWH
(e.g. Fig. 1, 2). At later stage this approach is used to out-scale site-
and context-specific interventions to other areas (e.g. Buso in
Amhara, and Zata in Tigray region; Plate 1).
A B
Core partners
This poster is copyrighted by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). It is licensed for
use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence. November 2016
We thank farmers and local partners in Africa RISING sites for their support