Governing synergies and trade-offs with SDG15 in Ethiopia: a local-to-global study of landscape restoration in Lake Tana sub-basin (PhD project - Aytenew Tatek)

Lake Tana sub-basin is one of the crucial growth corridors in Ethiopia for agricultural and horticultural development. Besides the current agricultural production and future potential, it provides local communities with non-crop benefits, spiritual services and is a biodiversity hotspot. Despite the economic, socio-political, and environmental value of this landscape, it is challenged by severe land degradation, resulting from agricultural expansion, overgrazing and forest clearance. Given the economic and ecological importance of the sub-basin regionally, nationally, and internationally, many landscape restoration projects have been implemented by the government and international donors in the last decades. Despite efforts, alignment of stakeholders and interventions to holistically address sustainable development goals (SDGs) within this landscape remains challenging. Most interventions have focused on biophysical aspects, paying little attention to socio-economic and governance challenges of landscape restoration. The links between local initiatives and international landscape restoration policies have been limited. Although methodological tools to analyse the trade-offs and synergies of development interventions have been developed, they have not been tested in an integrated, multidisciplinary approach for a specific landscape. Therefore, this PhD project, using a local-to-global governance lens, will deploy an integrated methodological approach to analyse the underlying issues of land degradation and restoration challenges, the interaction of landscape restoration policies and practices with SDG15 targets and other related SDGs, the interest and paradigms of stakeholders, and how stakeholders and development narratives to address trade-offs and synergies are aligned in the Lake Tana sub-basin of Ethiopia.