Effects of soil and water conservation on vegetation cover: a remote sensing based study in the Middle Suluh River Basin, northern Ethiopia

Abstract

Soil and water conservation (SWC) has been implemented in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia since 1985. Besides this, the agricultural development strategy of the region which was derived from the national agricultural development led industrialization strategy formulated in 1993 was focused on natural resources rehabilitation and conservations. Accordingly, each year a 20-days free labor work on SWC activities were contributed by the rural communities. Other programmes such as productive safety net programmes, and sustainable land management project were deploying their resources aiming to reverse the degraded landscape in the region.