Agro-ecological zoning and socio-ecological landscape assessments are essential for designing context-specific interventions in biodiversity-rich landscapes facing climate and anthropogenic pressures. This study combined participatory GIS mapping with socio-ecological resilience assessment in the Yayo Coffee Forest Biosphere Reserve (YCFBR), Ethiopia, to characterize agro-ecological zones and evaluate landscape resilience. Data were collected across six woredas using field surveys (n = 25 kebeles), focus group discussions (n = 23 groups), key informant interviews (n = 78), and satellite imagery (Sentinel-2, Landsat 9, SRTM DEM). Supervised land cover classification achieved an overall accuracy of 86.7% (κ = 0.84). Agro-ecological zoning following traditional Ethiopian classification identified two zones present in the study area: Kolla (lowland, 500–1500 m, 12.2% of area) and Woina Dega (mid-altitude, 1500–2300 m, 87.8% of area). Land cover analysis showed 65.0% forest cover, 35.0% agriculture, and < 0.1% settlement. Socio-ecological resilience assessment across five dimensions (ecosystem protection, agricultural production, knowledge/innovation, livelihoods, and governance) revealed moderate to low resilience scores (range 2.79–3.16 on a 5-point scale). Key threats identified through thematic analysis included forest degradation, wetland conversion, weak policy enforcement, and limited livelihood diversification. Spatial analysis identified a significant negative correlation between agricultural expansion and forest cover (r = − 0.73, p < 0.01). Integrating participatory and geospatial outputs informed a prioritized landscape strategy encompassing 23 climate-smart interventions across the five resilience dimensions. This study demonstrates the value of mixed-method approaches for evidence-based landscape planning in UNESCO Man and Biosphere reserves and provides a framework for integrated socio-ecological assessment in tropical forest-agriculture mosaics.

Agroforestry, the integration of trees and shrubs into agricultural systems, offers an opportunity to diversify income sources and improve resilience against climate‐related risks such as droughts and soil degradation. In Ethiopia, where agriculture remains a dominant sector for rural livelihoods and economic development, agroforestry interventions are considered crucial for enhancing productivity, improving soil health, mitigating climate change, and diversifying income sources. This study aims to explore the various dimensions through which agroforestry contributes to rural communities in Buno Bedele and Ilu Ababora zones. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from 373 randomly selected households through structured questionnaires, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple regression models in SPSS Version 24. The results regarding community attitudes toward the benefits of agroforestry practices reveal a clear prioritization of economic and food security benefits. Coffee‐based agroforestry is the dominant practice in the study area (75.6%). Agroforestry practice contributed the highest share of total household income (44%), followed by crop production (43%), with the difference found to be statistically significant ( p < 0.05). Regression analysis further revealed that farmland size had a significant positive influence on agroforestry adoption ( p = 0.003), while distance to local markets and high initial investment costs negatively affected adoption ( p < 0.01). Based on the findings, government institutions and NGOs should strengthen agroforestry‐based market linkages and provide financial and technical support, while community‐level cooperatives should play a leading role in product aggregation and collective marketing. Tailored capacity‐building programs across all stakeholder levels are essential for improving the adoption and integration of agroforestry practices.

To minimize severe soil erosion ,Physical soil and water conservation practices are being implemented by community campaign, NGOs and individually by farmers in Ethiopia, because it was resulting in reduction of crop production. Hence, the objective of this study was to assess the role of physical SWC practices mainly soil bund in improving soil fertility. 18 Soil sample were taken from purposively selected four years, two years and non-conserved field. To analyze the collected data; SPSS V.21 and SAS (9.1 Version) were used both for descriptive and inferential data analysis. The study Results showed that significant relationship ( p < 0.05) was found between the plot relative to the soil bund and levels of pH, Available phosphorus,(P-av),Available Potassium(K av),Cation Exchange Capacity(CEC),Elictrical Conductivity(EC,Ntot) and SOC,SOM and Exchangeable bases(Mg,Na,Ca,) which are higher in conserved land which improve soil fertility status of the study area. From the study it was concluded that the conservation practices age have significant effects on selected soil fertilities. As the age of soil bund increase, fertility gain shown increment. The un-expected out come in this study is that available phosphorus showed no significant difference between two years and four years conserved farmland with soil bund. To realize sustainable development goals, it needs integrated planning, selecting the desired SWC structures, implementing and maintaining of soil conservation measures to save its consequence on the life of community .

To overcome the challenges of climate change, this study was intended to identify factors that affect the farmers’ adoption of CSA in the Ilu Aba Bora Zone of Southwest Ethiopia across varying agro-ecological zones. A mixed research design was used for this study. During this study, representative districts (Bure, Hurumu, and Nono Sale) were selected purposely based on their differences in agro-ecology, while rural kebeles and respondents were selected randomly from the districts to minimize the biases of the data. Data collection tools employed were a questionnaire, KKI, FGD, and field observations. A binomial logistic regression model was used to identify the interaction of response and explanatory variables and to draw a conclusion. The findings of this study revealed the majority (63.1%) of farmers did not have an understanding of the meaning, function, and goals of CSA practices. Existing CSA options in the study area were conservation agriculture, crop diversification, agro-forestry, early warning system, livelihood diversification, and improved livestock feed, which were practiced at different levels and by a few households. In particular, the early warning system and improved livestock feed were the least implemented CSA options, whereas livelihood diversification, conservation agriculture, and agro-forestry were the highly adopted practices in the area. Independent variables including on-farm income, farming experience, weather information, agro-ecology, farm land size, age, extension service, marital status, and off-farm income were the factors significantly affecting the adoption of CSA practices in the study area. Experts, governments, and nongovernmental organizations should improve farmers’ awareness of the benefits of CSA practices in ensuring food security, climate mitigation and adaptation through training and capacity building. The result of this study will show the direction for farmers, policy makers, planners, and other stakeholders to set up a solution in order to promote CSA practices and technologies based on agro-ecology.