August 10, 2026 — The first seedling planting campaign of the Protecting Water Supplies and Catchments in Ethiopia’s Tana Subbasin (ProTana) project took place in July. It’s the project’s first of many restorative measures aimed at rehabilitating land and protecting community water sources within degraded watersheds in the Tana Subbasin.  

This marks an important milestone in the project, formally launched by WRI and partners earlier this year. It aims to strengthen rural water security and livelihood opportunities in the area through improved ecological and catchment health.

The campaign initiates ProTana's field-based watershed management interventions and builds on the positive results of previous efforts in the Minzir 01 micro-watershed of North Mecha woreda (district). After just three years, those efforts showed that landscape restoration has helped revive local water supplies, while also benefiting crop cultivation and the broader environment.

ProTana is a five-year project that seeks to institutionalize stronger water governance practices across the region and basin, and implement community-led watershed restoration measures in three woredas of the Amhara Region that overlap the Tana Subbasin: North Mecha, Farta and Dera. For the watershed component, WRI is working closely with WaterAid Ethiopia and ORDA Ethiopia. Advancing a participatory approach to create enduring incentives for sustainable land and water management is critical to addressing ecological degradation and livelihood pressures. These challenges form a vicious cycle, putting strain on nature and the people who depend directly on natural resources.

Ethiopian community members gather to learn about planting for restoration
Informing and mobilizing community members for the planting activity. Photo by Khedir Dawed

Selecting the Watersheds to Restore

WRI, WaterAid Ethiopia and ORDA Ethiopia spent months in the early phases engaging closely with woreda-level officials and community leaders in the villages in the watersheds, seeking buy-in and planning future interventions.

This followed a long process to identify and select the project’s intervention areas, prioritizing micro-watersheds based on criteria that considered, among others:

  • Hydrological aspects
  • Ecological conditions
  • Level of catchment degradation
  • The needs of the community and their willingness to participate
  • Implementation feasibility

The selected areas have several things in common: They are important to local water supply points, they face high erosion and degradation pressures, and they provide resources that local communities depend on for their domestic, agricultural and livestock water needs. Input from project partners, the river basin organization and regional and woreda representatives guided the final selection during a workshop.

Together, the four selected micro-watersheds span over 2,100 hectares of land and comprise thousands of households. The four are:

  • Workmemash micro-watershed (524 ha) in Farta Woreda
  • Mutansa micro-watershed (695 ha) in Dera Woreda
  • Minzir 02 micro-watershed (538.8 ha) and Minzir 01 (400 ha) in North Mecha woreda

Strong Participation From the Start

Across the watersheds, WRI and partners worked with local communities to initiate the first restorative practices. In July, at the start of the main rainy season in northern Ethiopia, a total of 152,333 tree seedlings were planted. Of those, 93,413 are intended for agroforestry systems on privately managed land, while 58,920 were planted on communal and institutional land.  

A collection of seedlings ready to planted as part of restoration efforts in Ethiopia
A total of 152,333 tree seedlings were planted in July, 2026, as part of restoration efforts. Photo by Khedir Dawed

More than 1,000 people participated in this first campaign, almost half of them women. Many youth and children also attended, observing first-hand the broad participation and enthusiasm and learning more about why land and water degradation must be addressed for future water and livelihood security. This strong turnout demonstrates broad support and involvement from the start, as well as a shared responsibility to restore and protect their environment.

A group of community members plant seedlings to restore degraded land in Ethiopia
More than 1,000 people, almost half women, participated in ProTana's first seedling planting campaign in July. Photo by Awoke Addise
The ground is prepared for planting seedlings in Ethiopia
The ground is prepared for planting seedlings. Photo by Bewuketu Abebe

In the next months and years, many more activities are planned beyond tree planting. ProTana also aims to implement soil and water conservation practices, including terracing, check dams and soil bunds, alongside regenerative agricultural measures. Together, such interventions can both protect the landscape and provide for household needs.

"The success of watershed management depends on the commitment and leadership of local government, communities and strong coordination among project partners," said Muluneh Bimrew, Program and Research Specialist, Water Program, WRI Africa. "In time, restoring watersheds can help supply more reliable water, support better livelihoods and help communities cope with the impacts of climate change. When people realize and experience real benefits firsthand, they are more committed to protecting and caring for the restored landscape."

Seedling monitoring will continue throughout the rainy season. By the end of the project, these measures are expected to contribute to improved water availability and quality, local wellbeing and livelihoods and climate resilience, benefiting present and future generations. 

Preview image by Photo by Bewuketu Abebe

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