Tropentag 2009 University of Hamburg, October 6-8, 2009 Conference on International Research on Food Security, Natural Resource Management and Rural Development Assessment of soil erosion and soil conservation practices in Angereb watershed, Ethiopia: technological and land user context Gizaw Desta Gessesse a , Andreas Klik a , Hans Hurni b a Institute of Hydraulics and Rural Water Management, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria. E-mail: desta.gizaw@yahoo.com b Centre for Development and Environment (CDE), Institute of Geography, University of Bern, Switzerland Introduction Increased pressure on land use of the hill slopes since the 1970s has resulted in degradation in the highlands of Ethiopia where agriculture is based on small scale cereal production. A large number of studies in the highlands of Ethiopia have been carried out on the causes of environmental degradation, and technical remedial actions have been proposed (Hurni, 1984; Herwege and Lude, 1999; Weldeamlak and Sterk, 2002; Tesfay, 2003; Mitiku, et al, 2006). Soil erosion in association with inappropriate land management practices is one of the main factors causing degradation. Poor land and water management practices and lack of effective planning and implementation approaches for soil conservation are responsible for accelerating degradation on agricultural lands and siltation of lakes and reservoirs downstream. For decades, soil conservation programs in the highlands of Ethiopia were premised on the notion that farmers did not perceive erosion and had little or no interest in combating it. Most soil and water conservation planning approaches rely on empirical assessment methods by experts and hardly consider farmers’ knowledge of soil erosion. Conservation programs relied on coercive approaches and performed poorly (Yohannes and Herweg, 2000). Failure to balance land management interventions with the current level of land degradation is still a growing challenge to small- holder farmers on the hillslopes to meet both immediate economic objectives and sustainable environment. Angereb watershed has experienced visible symptoms of land degradation in the form of soil erosion and sedimentation of Angereb reservoir. Since it is located in the interface between rural and urban areas the issue of watershed management is difficult due to different community interests and diverse environmental factors. Designing an integrated development plan using adaptable approaches as part of a sustainable solution to the ever-increasing burden of reservoir sedimentation, and minimize the pollution and contamination of the water supply to ensure the sustainability of the water supply is thus became an urgent need. This paper therefore investigates the performance of earlier introduced conservation stone terraces and the soil erosion using local indicators and their cause-effect relationship from both technological and land users point of view in order to identify effective erosion control strategies for the watershed. Materials and methods The study area Angereb watershed is located north of Lake Tana basin, near to Gonder town. The study was conducted during July to August 2008 at Angereb watershed on 58 farm plots from three selected case-study catchments in the upper part of the watershed. Assessment of the