Integrated watershed rehabilitation activities are advancing across the Hare Catchment through combined physical and biological interventions aimed at rehabilitating and maintaining the landscape, thereby improving ecological health.
One intervention introduces using a low-cost Bamboo Mat (made of locally available bamboo) Check Dam as a reinforcement and potential substitute to gabion check dam structures to enhance gully rehabilitation and landscape stabilisation. Bamboo poles and cuttings used for construction and plantation were sourced from the surrounding Chano Mille, Arba Minch University, and Arba Minch Town nurseries through collaboration with relevant stakeholders. Practical training was also provided on site selection, construction techniques, and stabilisation procedures.
Alongside these efforts, over 4000 cuttings of giant bamboo were planted on severely degraded gullies; and over 300,000 cuttings of Napier grass have been planted across gullies, trenches, canal banks, and other degraded areas as a major biological rehabilitation measure. The interventions are contributing to slope stabilisation, erosion reduction, sediment trapping, and vegetation regeneration, while also providing high-quality livestock fodder.
Complementing these activities, large-scale plantation and degraded land restoration works are underway in six kebeles of Chencha Zuriya Woreda — Mesho, Doshke, Shama, Elo, Godiye, and Yewoyira — where land degradation has been driven by soil erosion, deforestation, and unsustainable land use practices. The intervention has mobilised strong community participation in site preparation, soil conservation, and planting activities aimed at restoring vegetative cover and improving soil stability.