Managing land degradation under changing climate in Ethiopia: a review of soil and water conservation practices, gaps, and pathways toward sustainable landscape

Land degradation, intensified by climate variability and unsustainable land use, poses a persistent threat to agricultural productivity and landscape resilience in Ethiopia. This systematic review synthesizes evidence from 38 peer-reviewed studies published between 2000 and 2025 to assess the effectiveness of soil and water conservation (SWC) practices and to examine the socio-institutional factors constraining their long-term sustainability. The reviewed literature demonstrates that SWC interventions reduce soil loss by 39–91% and surface runoff by 13–85%, while improving soil moisture, soil organic carbon, and crop productivity across diverse agroecological settings. Despite these documented biophysical benefits, sustained landscape-scale outcomes remain limited. This implementation gap is consistently associated with insecure land tenure, high labor demands, weak institutional coordination, short project cycles, and insufficient integration of SWC with livelihood systems and climate adaptation strategies. By explicitly linking biophysical effectiveness to governance and adoption dynamics, this review shows that land degradation persists not because of technological failure but because of systemic socio-institutional constraints. The findings underscore the need to reframe SWC as a co-produced, climate-responsive land management process that integrates technical performance with socioeconomic feasibility, institutional legitimacy, and long-term stewardship.