The role of institutions and social learning in soil conservation innovations: Implications for policy and practice Yinager Dessie a, *, Uwe Schubert b , Maria Wurzinger c , Michael Hauser a a Centre for Development Research, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria b Institute for the Environment and Regional Development, University of Economics and Business, Vienna, Austria c Department of Sustainable Agricultural Systems, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria 1. Introduction The understanding of soil conservation innovations requires analyzing the complex relationships that occur among various actors and institutions. The behaviors of actors are governed by institutions (North, 1990). Actors consider the costs and benefits of certain behaviors and act according to their underlying values and preferences specifically, based on the information they have about the state of the world, the intention of other actors and the threat of social sanctions (Rudd, 2004). In soil conservation, actors must agree on a number of common rules and procedures that govern their behaviors and facilitate the collective action needed for soil conservation (Spielman et al., 2009). In order to reach an agreement, some form of interaction is needed to allow actors an opportunity to define their interests, to exchange knowl- edge and to mobilize resources. As Rist et al. (2006) suggested e n v i r o n m e n t a l s c i e n c e & p o l i c y 2 7 ( 2 0 1 3 ) 2 1 – 3 1 a r t i c l e i n f o Published on line 23 December 2012 Keywords: Innovation actor Institution Social learning Gully rehabilitation innovation Innovation networks Ethiopia a b s t r a c t Numerous economic, technical, and social challenges hinder farmers from adapting and adopting soil conservation measures in Ethiopia. Yet, some successful soil conservation measures are emerging in projects dedicated to sustainable natural resource management. This paper explores the role of institutions and social learning in changing the conventional top down technology transfer challenges to conditions that are conducive for soil conser- vation. The study was conducted by considering a successful soil conservation case in Ethiopia. Semi-structured interviews and workshops were used to collect data. In addition, the review of pertinent documents and literature was considered to complement this analysis. Innovation history analysis has been used as an approach to analyze the important events in the innovation process. The findings show that social learning has created opportunity for more understanding on soil conservation and the emergence of less hierarchy amongst actors. It has also created space for the application of both indigenous and scientific knowledge in the innovation process. Farmers’ organizations and their institutions are viewed as the core to the innovation process in leading and facilitating social learning, and in the formulation of bylaws. Hence, based on our case study we suggest that social learning and local level institutions may encourage soil conservation whenever lack of common understanding on soil conservation problems and solutions exists among the actors. # 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. * Corresponding author. Tel.: +43 1 47654 2962; fax: +43 1 47654 2969. E-mail address: yingerdessie@gmail.com (Y. Dessie). Available online at www.sciencedirect.com journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/envsci 1462-9011/$ – see front matter # 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2012.10.020