For the past forty years, Ethiopia has been promoting sustainable land management activities to enhance agricultural productivity. This study was intended to identify the factors determining farmers’ adoption and continued use of soil bund measures in the Handosha watershed, Omo-Gibe river basin. A multistage sampling technique was used to select 340 households using the Heckman sample selection model. A total of 235 (69.12%) households adopted soil bunds, but only 89 (37.87%) of them were sustainably practicing soil bunds on their farm plots. Most adopters widely practiced soil bunds (49.42%), followed by stone bund (15.9%), and Fanyajuu (10%). The empirical results of the Heckman sample selection model showed that the farming experience, land tenure security, and perception of profitability of conservation measures were significantly positively affected the adoption of soil bund. Whereas, farm plot size and participation in off farm activities significantly negatively influenced the adoption of soil bund. Sustainable use of soil bund measures were significantly positively influenced by land tenure security, family size, and frequency of extension contact, whereas the distance between farm plots and home, and farm plot size were negatively affected. As a result, a design of agro-ecological-based soil and water conservation (SWC) measures was essential in reducing farmland vulnerability to soil erosion and food insecurity. It has been concluded that conservation practices should not only focus on the implementation and biophysical factors but also consider the socioeconomic interests of the farmers to improve the sustainable use of conservation technologies.

Urban land leasing is a land monetization strategy that was introduced in 1991 by the contemporary regime. Since then, urban center slum demolitions and their replacement by high-end commercial buildings and urban peripheral low-cost residential condominium expansions have been common occurrences in Addis Ababa. Land rentiers quote extreme land prices at the city center and relatively low prices towards the periphery. Therefore, it has been hypothesized that urban land supply and land prices are determinant factors for urban land use orientations, which have pushed low-end groups towards the periphery. Therefore, based on a lens of land rent theory, 1524 land lease prices and 1038 randomly selected land parcels using Google Earth were used to evaluate locational trends in land prices and land use orientations, respectively. This study revealed that there are significant variabilities between government benchmark land prices and actual quoted land prices. Because of the high rent gaps at the city center, significant land price quotations were recorded, and this overlaps with the urban center slum demolitions and slum resident resettlements at low-cost residential condominiums in the urban periphery. In the first 5 km from the urban economic center, land prices show a declining trend towards the periphery. The central business district is dominated by slums partially under demolition and high-end commercial buildings, while the periphery is dominated by high-rise low-cost residential condominiums. Therefore, the distance from the city center was found to be an explanatory factor of urban land prices. The contributions of other urban utilities to land prices, such as access to transportation routes, could be a future research area.

This study investigated the Water-Energy relationship in the Nile River Basin under changing climate conditions using an energy and water model. Climate change will likely affect both water and energy resources, which will create challenges for future planning and decision making, particularly considering the uncertainty surrounding the direction and magnitude of such effects. According to the assessment model, when countries depend heavily on hydropower for energy, power generation is determined by climate variability. For example, Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan are more hydropower-dependent than Burundi or Rwanda. As a result, the trading relationships and economic gains of these countries shift according to climate variability. Among 18 climate scenarios, four demonstrate a change in climate and runoff. Under these scenarios, trading partnerships and economic gains will favor Ethiopia and Egypt instead of Sudan and Egypt. This study examines the extent of potential climate challenges, their effects on the Nile River Basin, and recommends several solutions for environmental planners and decision makers. Although the proposed model has the novel ability of conducting scientific analyses with limited data, this research is still limited by data accessibility. Finally, the study will contribute to the literature on the climate chamber effects on regional and international trade.