Assessing the uptake of Sustainable Land Management Towards Food and Tenure Security, South Wollo, Ethiopia : 1. Mapping Land Use Land Cover Changes and Their Determinants: Evidence From South Wollo Ethiopia

Agricultural land is a scarce resource in Ethiopian highlands. Contrary to this fact, Its sustainability is highly threatened by many intertwined problems. Amongst are Tenure insecurity, land degradation, and food insecurity. These problems are the result of many interdependent environmental, social, institutional and economic factors. Comprising 16 woredas, Beshilo sub basin is found in Amhara regional state of Ethiopia. It is one of the sub-basins of the Blue Nile basin known for high prevalence of land degradation and food insecurity. In the sub-basin, a huge volume of soil, water, and forest resource will be degraded annually, resulting in soil nutrient depletion, poor agricultural productivity and thus food insecurity. Land tenure security is entirely hurdled by poor certification program, and it is now at a preliminary stage. The problems have exposed a large number of people to famine, migration, and destitution. Considering these deep-rooted problems, the Ethiopia government has intervened with the Sustainable Land Management (SLM) project to reduce the negative consequences of the above-mentioned problems. This research intends to study how this intervention has contributed rural households to overcome these problems. The study has four specific objectives oriented towards addressing; i) SWC technologies commonly implemented by farmers ii) contribution of successful land certification to tenure security and agricultural productivity iii) land use and land cover changes that come as a result of the intervention, and iv) food security status of people engaged in SLM activities. It will make use of a case study approach in general and exploratory case study in particular, where a combination of qualitative and quantitative data will be used from both primary and secondary sources. Data will be interpreted and analysed using different statistical, econometrics & ArcGIS software and relevant food security tools, models & measurements. The result of the study provides policy-related information and technically feasible remedies that help to prioritize in overcoming food security, land management, and tenure security problems. More specifically, it will develop common language and currency that should be functional among policymakers, donor organizations, academia and development practitioners in the area of sustainable development. Keywords: Land degradation, tenure insecurity, food insecurity, sustainable land management, Land use land cover, Beshilo sub basin.