GSJ: Volume 7, Issue 9, September 2019, Online: ISSN 2320-9186 www.globalscientificjournal.com AGRO-ECOSYSTEM RESILIENCE TO CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE KOGA WATERSHED OF THE BLUE NILE BASIN, ETHIOPIA Gebre Tafere 1 *, Aklilu Amsalu 2 1 Department of Geography & Environmental Studies, Debre Birhan Universiy, Ethiopia; taferegebre@gmail.com 2 Department of Geography & Environmental Studies, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia; amsalu.aklilu@gmail.com Correspondence: taferegebre@gmail.com; Tel.: +251911407548 KeyWords Blue Nile Basin, Koga, Watershed, climate change, agro-ecosystem, resilience, Ethiopia. ABSTRACT Enhancing the resilience of social-ecological systems as a critical response option to climate change was cited in the literature, and as- sessing the resilience of agro-ecosystems to climate change in the Koga Watershed of the Blue Nile Basin is the focus of this study. The study compared the resilience of two distinct farming systems (irrigation supplemented downstream and rain-fed upstream) created due to the introduction of the Koga irrigation scheme. Household level data were collected on indicators of agro-ecosystem resilience deter- mined by the results of three focus group discussions and a literature review. Data analysis involved descriptive statistics, independent samples ’t’ test and multiple regression. The results of the study showed significant differences in many of the agro-ecosystem resilience indicators and socio-economic variables between the upstream and downstream Koga Watershed. The study also showed that farming experience by far most strongly determined agro-ecosystem resilience to climate change, followed by age of household head and soil fer- tility. Overall, the irrigation supplemented farming systems of the downstream tended to be more resilient than rain-fed upstream farm- ing systems. Therefore, the study concluded that irrigation schemes not only enhance the adaptive capacity of individual farmers but also the farming system as a whole. Thus, while considering possible measures to build the agro-ecosystems of the watershed as a whole, it should be a priority for stakeholders to enhance the resilience of agro-ecosystems to climate change in the upstream Koga Watershed. GSJ: Volume 7, Issue 9, September 2019 ISSN 2320-9186 751 GSJ© 2019 www.globalscientificjournal.com