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Land Degradation in the Ethiopian Highlands

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Landscapes and Landforms of Ethiopia

Part of the book series: World Geomorphological Landscapes ((WGLC))

Abstract

The high soil erosion rates in the Ethiopian highlands find their causes in the combination of erosive rains, steep slopes due to the rapid tectonic uplift during the Pliocene and Pleistocene, and human impact by deforestation, overgrazing, agricultural systems where the open field dominates, impoverishment of the farmers, and stagnation of agricultural techniques. Travelling in the Ethiopian highlands, one can see many soil and water conservation structures. Indigenous knowledge and farmers’ initiatives are integrated with these introduced technologies at various degrees. This chapter addresses the status and drivers of land degradation in northern Ethiopia, including changes over the last century.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Jan Nyssen, Sil Lanckriet, Miro Jacob & Amaury Frankl

  2. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Jean Poesen, R. Neil Munro & Jozef Deckers

  3. Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium

    Jan Moeyersons

  4. Department of Land Resources Management and Environmental Protection, Mekelle University, Mekelle, Ethiopia

    Mitiku Haile & Nigussie Haregeweyn

  5. Department of Plant Sciences, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Katrien Descheemaeker

  6. College of Agriculture and Environmental Science, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia

    Enyew Adgo

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  1. Jan Nyssen
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  1. Physics and Earth Sciences, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy

    Paolo Billi

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Nyssen, J. et al. (2015). Land Degradation in the Ethiopian Highlands. In: Billi, P. (eds) Landscapes and Landforms of Ethiopia. World Geomorphological Landscapes. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8026-1_21

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