IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i15p11613-d1204027.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Drought Characterization and Potential of Nature-Based Solutions for Drought Risk Mitigation in Eastern Ethiopia

Author

Listed:
  • Dejene W. Sintayehu

    (The International Center for Tropical Agriculture, Addis Ababa P.O. Box 5689, Ethiopia
    College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Haramaya University, Dire Dawa P.O. Box 138, Ethiopia)

  • Asfaw Kebede Kassa

    (Haramaya Institute of Technology, Haramaya University, Dire Dawa P.O. Box 138, Ethiopia)

  • Negash Tessema

    (Haramaya Institute of Technology, Haramaya University, Dire Dawa P.O. Box 138, Ethiopia)

  • Bekele Girma

    (Haramaya Institute of Technology, Haramaya University, Dire Dawa P.O. Box 138, Ethiopia)

  • Sintayehu Alemayehu

    (International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Nairobi P.O. Box 823-00621, Kenya)

  • Jemal Yousuf Hassen

    (College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Haramaya University, Dire Dawa P.O. Box 138, Ethiopia)

Abstract

Drought is one of the challenges in Ethiopia that affects the agricultural production. Ecosystems can mitigate the effects of climate-related hazards including drought. For this reason, nature-based solutions (NbS) are becoming more prominent to manage climate-related impacts in developing countries; however, there is still limited empirical evidence, which would inform NbS policy and practices. Thus, the aim of this study was to characterize droughts in Eastern Ethiopia (the case of Erer Sub-basin) and assess the effectiveness of various NbS for drought. The temporal changes in soil moisture deficit index (SMDI) (agricultural drought) and standard precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) (meteorological drought) at various timescales (1, 3, and 6 months) between 1981 and 2020 were analyzed. Qualitative analysis was used to categorize and evaluate the effectiveness of NbS to mitigate drought risk by adopting a Living Labs approach. Overall, the study revealed that droughts showed an increasing trend with more frequency, longevity, and severity. The drought analysis results showed that SPEI’s variants were less reliable than SMDI 0–5 and SMDI 5–100 . With an increase in rainfall, SPEI showed stronger relationships with SMDI 0–5 at one and two-month delays between May and July. SPEI and SMDI 5–100 performed better in terms of capturing actual drought occurrences than SMDI 0–5 . The results of focus group discussions (FGD) suggested NbS such as habitat restoration, structural restoration, reforestation, rehabilitation, revegetation, land enclosures, conservancies, and locally managed areas have been practiced as a strategy to manage drought risks. Overall, the study indicated that a new, comprehensive approach through nature-based solutions to reduce the risk of drought is urgently needed.

Suggested Citation

  • Dejene W. Sintayehu & Asfaw Kebede Kassa & Negash Tessema & Bekele Girma & Sintayehu Alemayehu & Jemal Yousuf Hassen, 2023. "Drought Characterization and Potential of Nature-Based Solutions for Drought Risk Mitigation in Eastern Ethiopia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-22, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:15:p:11613-:d:1204027
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/15/11613/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/15/11613/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Carine Heitz & Sandrine Spaeter & Anne-Véronique Auzet & Sandrine Glatron, 2009. "Local stakeholders' perception of muddy flood risk and implications for management approaches : a case study in Alsace (France)," Post-Print halshs-00624730, HAL.
    2. Hong, Minki & Lee, Sang-Hyun & Lee, Seung-Jae & Choi, Jin-Yong, 2021. "Application of high-resolution meteorological data from NCAM-WRF to characterize agricultural drought in small-scale farmlands based on soil moisture deficit," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).
    3. Chen, Xinguo & Li, Yi & Yao, Ning & Liu, De Li & Javed, Tehseen & Liu, Chuncheng & Liu, Fenggui, 2020. "Impacts of multi-timescale SPEI and SMDI variations on winter wheat yields," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    4. Davide Debortoli & Ricardo Nunes & Pierre Yared, 2017. "Optimal Time-Consistent Government Debt Maturity," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 132(1), pages 55-102.
    5. Vera Ferreira & Ana Paula Barreira & Luís Loures & Dulce Antunes & Thomas Panagopoulos, 2020. "Stakeholders’ Engagement on Nature-Based Solutions: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-27, January.
    6. Keshavarz, Mohammad Reza & Vazifedoust, Majid & Alizadeh, Amin, 2014. "Drought monitoring using a Soil Wetness Deficit Index (SWDI) derived from MODIS satellite data," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 37-45.
    7. Desalegn Edossa & Mukand Babel & Ashim Das Gupta, 2010. "Drought Analysis in the Awash River Basin, Ethiopia," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 24(7), pages 1441-1460, May.
    8. Rasul, Golam & Thapa, Gopal B., 2004. "Sustainability of ecological and conventional agricultural systems in Bangladesh: an assessment based on environmental, economic and social perspectives," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 79(3), pages 327-351, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jale Amanuel Dufera & Tewodros Addisu Yate & Tadesse Tujuba Kenea, 2023. "Spatiotemporal analysis of drought in Oromia regional state of Ethiopia over the period 1989 to 2019," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 117(2), pages 1569-1609, June.
    2. Laczó, Sarolta & Rossi, Raffaele, 2020. "Time-consistent consumption taxation," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 194-220.
    3. Remme, Roy P. & Meacham, Megan & Pellowe, Kara E. & Andersson, Erik & Guerry, Anne D. & Janke, Benjamin & Liu, Lingling & Lonsdorf, Eric & Li, Meng & Mao, Yuanyuan & Nootenboom, Christopher & Wu, Tong, 2024. "Aligning nature-based solutions with ecosystem services in the urban century," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    4. N. Subash & H. Mohan, 2011. "A Simple Rationally Integrated Drought Indicator for Rice–Wheat Productivity," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 25(10), pages 2425-2447, August.
    5. Andrew Scott & Elisa Faraglia & Rigas Oikonomou & Albert Marcet, 2015. "Government Debt Management: The Long and the Short of It (Plus Appendix)," Working Papers 799, Barcelona School of Economics.
    6. M. Ionita & P. Scholz & S. Chelcea, 2016. "Assessment of droughts in Romania using the Standardized Precipitation Index," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 81(3), pages 1483-1498, April.
    7. Javier Bianchi & César Sosa-Padilla, 2024. "Reserve Accumulation, Macroeconomic Stabilization, and Sovereign Risk," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 91(4), pages 2053-2103.
    8. Jindřich Špička & Tomáš Vintr & Renata Aulová & Jana Macháčková, 2020. "Trade-off between the economic and environmental sustainability in Czech dual farm structure," Agricultural Economics, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 66(6), pages 243-250.
    9. Fatih Tosunoglu & Ibrahim Can, 2016. "Application of copulas for regional bivariate frequency analysis of meteorological droughts in Turkey," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 82(3), pages 1457-1477, July.
    10. Abdollahzadeh, Gholamhossein & Sharifzadeh, Mohammad Sharif & Sklenička, Petr & Azadi, Hossein, 2023. "Adaptive capacity of farming systems to climate change in Iran: Application of composite index approach," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 204(C).
    11. Anna Gaviglio & Mattia Bertocchi & Maria Elena Marescotti & Eugenio Demartini & Alberto Pirani, 2016. "The social pillar of sustainability: a quantitative approach at the farm level," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-19, December.
    12. Ashenafi Yimam Kassaye & Guangcheng Shao & Xiaojun Wang & Shiqing Wu, 2021. "Quantification of drought severity change in Ethiopia during 1952–2017," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 5096-5121, April.
    13. Fahad Khan Khadim & Zoi Dokou & Rehenuma Lazin & Amvrossios C. Bagtzoglou & Emmanouil Anagnostou, 2023. "Groundwater Modeling to Assess Climate Change Impacts and Sustainability in the Tana Basin, Upper Blue Nile, Ethiopia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-23, April.
    14. Jens Hilscher & Alon Raviv & Ricardo Reis, 2022. "Inflating Away the Public Debt? An Empirical Assessment," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 35(3), pages 1553-1595.
    15. Shamsheer Haq & Ismet Boz, 2020. "Measuring environmental, economic, and social sustainability index of tea farms in Rize Province, Turkey," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 2545-2567, March.
    16. Davide Debortoli & Ricardo Nunes & Pierre Yared, 2021. "Optimal Fiscal Policy without Commitment: Revisiting Lucas-Stokey," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 129(5), pages 1640-1665.
    17. Dimitrios Myronidis & Konstantinos Ioannou & Dimitrios Fotakis & Gerald Dörflinger, 2018. "Streamflow and Hydrological Drought Trend Analysis and Forecasting in Cyprus," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 32(5), pages 1759-1776, March.
    18. Equiza-Goñi, Juan & Faraglia, Elisa & Oikonomou, Rigas, 2023. "Union debt management," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    19. Ranjan Roy & Ngai Weng Chan, 2012. "An assessment of agricultural sustainability indicators in Bangladesh: review and synthesis," Environment Systems and Decisions, Springer, vol. 32(1), pages 99-110, March.
    20. Pouria Ataei & Hassan Sadighi & Mohammad Chizari & Enayat Abbasi, 2020. "In-depth content analysis of conservation agriculture training programs in Iran based on sustainability dimensions," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(8), pages 7215-7237, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:15:p:11613-:d:1204027. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.