Similarity analysis for the Blue Nile Basin in the Ethiopian highlands

Pfeifer, C., Notenbaert, A. and Omolo, A. 2012. Similarity analysis for the Blue Nile Basin in the Ethiopian highlands. NBDC Technical Report 3. Nairobi, Kenya: ILRI.

Up until today, rainwater management practices have been promoted regardless of site-specific biophysical characteristics and regardless of the socio-economic and institutional environment. Therefore, low adoption rates and high disadoption rates of rainwater management practices are observed. In order to promote rainwater management more successfully, a paradigm change towards promotion of location-specific interventions is needed. Beyond biophysical suitability, successful implementation crucially depends on farmers’ willingness to adopt a practice. Therefore, the socio-economic and institutional environment must be taken into account in a spatially explicit way. A first step towards the promotion of site-specific rainwater management requires an understanding of which sites present similar biophysical, socio-economic and institutional characteristics within a basin. The objective of this report is twofold. Firstly, it aims at presenting the available spatial data for the Blue Nile Basin in the Ethiopian highlands. Secondly, it develops a methodology that allows identifying locations within a landscape that have similar biophysical, infrastructure, socio-economics, and governance characteristics relevant to rainwater management.