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Payments for ecosystem services have recently been introduced into the ecosystem management landscape to counter ecosystem degradation. This study examines the experiences of sustainable use and management of watersheds using a compensation for ecosystem service model in the Koga watershed, Northern Ethiopia. The study primarily employed qualitative methods. Thirteen informants, chosen from a group of project implementers, were contacted for telephone interviews, and a document analysis was also conducted. Thematic approaches were employed to analysis the data. The study findings revealed that a project had been introduced to implement an innovative payment/compensation for ecosystem services (CES) scheme to manage watersheds and to alleviate poverty in the watershed. The scheme connected upstream and downstream communities and cooperatives through CES, earning praise for its effectiveness in combating dam siltation and watershed degradation. The initiative also established various enabling conditions, such as capacity building, bylaw formulation, and payment procedures for beneficiary communities. However, the CES scheme still has a long way to go to deliver the anticipated positive impacts on local livelihoods and watershed management. It is believed that a comprehensive legal framework, a stable political and social environment, and sustainable financing mechanisms are crucial for the success of any CES project. Therefore, Ethiopia should strive to meet these requirements to ensure that any future CES projects are designed and implemented sustainably.

Since the early 2000s, Ethiopia has been implementing one of the largest land certification and digitalization programs in Africa, underpinned by technological and policy innovations. The reform indicates a promising avenue for increasing the collateralization of land use rights for smallholder households who have been credit constrained. However, there is scant evidence to what extent these reforms have influenced access to credit. To help generate new insights and fill this gap, the study employed administrative data generated from 11 districts’ digital land registers, survey data from 2296 households in 19 districts, key informant interviews, and policy and legal framework review. Descriptive and inferential statistics complemented by qualitative explanations are employed to analyze the results of the study. The results revealed that accessibility of information from the digital rural land registers increased the credit-worthiness of small landholders and reduced transaction costs and risks. The reform related to collateralization of land use rights also incentivizes financial institutions to establish new loan products for small landholders. The study concludes that while the two-stage land certification programs allow smallholders to possess documented land rights, their credit-worthiness may likely remain negligible without further technological and policy innovations. This implies two policy issues: the need to reform secured transaction laws and digitalizing registries for higher land rights trade ability.

Despite the recent successful establishment of systematic land registration programs in some African countries including Ethiopia, updating the land registers has become a growing concern. However, there is limited empirical evidence about whether landholders’ behavior is driving the lack of updating land registers in Ethiopia. Using the theory of planned behavior, this study examines the factors that influence landholders’ behavior of formalizing rural land transactions in Ethiopia. Primary and secondary data were collected using surveys, key informant interviews, and a literature review. A total of 206 respondents participated in the survey from the Basona Worena district of the Amhara region, central Ethiopia. A structural equation model and descriptive statistics were used to analyze the survey data and supplemented by qualitative findings. The study findings revealed that landholders’ attitudes and subjective norms have positively and significantly influenced their intentions to formalize land transactions. However, perceived behavioral control has a negative and insignificant influence. The predictive relevance of the research model is significant and indicates strong intentions to formalize but less actual behavior. This behavior can influence the currency of the information in the land register in the near future and degrade the functions and sustainability of the land registration system in Ethiopia. The study findings recommended facilitating the behavioral changes of landholders to transform their strong intentions into actual practice. Policymakers should develop and implement an innovative information value creation strategy including landholder-oriented services that incentivize the formalization of land transactions and helps landholders overcome hurdles created by subjective norms.

Ethiopia has embarked on one of the largest digitalization programs for rural land registration in Africa. The program is called the national rural land administration information system (NRLAIS). Over the past couple of years, NRLAIS was rolled-out and made operational in over 180 woredas (districts). There is, however, limited empirical evidence on whether and to what extent NRLAIS has been successful. This study explores the factors that influence the acceptance and actual use of NRLAIS to gauge its operational success in Ethiopia. Data were collected both from primary and secondary sources using surveys, key informant interviews, and a literature review. Survey data were collected from 201 staff of 50 woreda land administration offices in three regional states (Amhara, Oromia, and SNNP) and analyzed using a structural equation model. The results revealed that system quality, information quality, service quality, and perceived usefulness of NRLAIS have positively and significantly influenced the acceptance and actual use of the system. However, perceived ease of use has an insignificant influence. The predictive relevance of the research model is significant and indicates substantial operational success of NRLAIS. The quick acceptance and use of NRLAIS will likely improve service delivery, promote data integration, and strengthen informed decision-making. The study recommends strengthening behavioral changes of the land administration experts through two enhanced service quality measures—technical and operational capacity to a robust and sustainable digitalization. Policymakers could leverage operational success to upgrade the NRLAIS into a unified national land registration information system that bridges the urban–rural land governance divide.