This paper draws lessons from two years of work with ‘innovation platforms’ that were established by the Nile Basin Development Challenge (NBDC) program in an attempt to strengthen landscape-level rainwater management in Ethiopia. The NDBC’s work included the use of an innovation fund to support pilot interventions.

In the past decades, both upstream and downstream countries ofthe Blue Nile Basin (BNB) had developed and adopted several policies and strategies related to land and water management. Yet there are important policy and institutional gaps that irnpeded adoption of improved land and water management strategies. An example of these gaps is the lack of upstream-downstream linkage and incentive-based policy enforcement mechanisms. In spite of long-standing efforts in improving land and water management in the BNB, achievements have been negligible to date.

Some of the papers in this report deals with nutrient management; land, soil and water management; grain, fodder and residue management; and technology validation and transfer. The other papers looks into development of coordinated research efforts; distribution and importance of Ethiopian vertisols and locations of study sites; a survey of the farming systems of Vertisol areas of the Ethiopian highlands, and modifying the management of vertisols. The report ends with a discussion on retrospect and prospects of the Joint Project on Vertisols management.

Improved water and land management in the Ethiopian highlands and its impact on downstream stakeholders dependent on the Blue Nile – short title Upstream-Downstream in Blue Nile River project is one of the projects in the Nile Basin supported by the CPWF. It was implemented during from 2007 to 2009 through a partnership of 8 institutions. The Blue Nile is the major tributary of the Nile River, contributing about 62% of the Nile flow at Aswan.

The effects of different types of land management on the soil macroinvertebrate communities on acid soil savannas of Colombia have been assessed using the Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility Program (TSBF) methodology. Invertebrates were identified among broad taxonomic units, TU (Orders or Families), counted and grouped in larger units, i.e., earthworms, termites, ants, beetles, spiders, miriapods, and "other invertebrates".

The current paper discusses the use of hydrological modelling tool to understand sustainable land management interventions in the Blue Nile basin of Ethiopia. A micro-watershed named Mizewa with a drainage area of 27 km2 in Fogera district was selected and instrumented with hydrological cycle observation networks in the year 2011. The SWAT hydrological modelling tool was used to simulate landscape-wide Soil and Water Conservation (SWC) investments.