The Third International Conference on Sustainable Land and Watershed Management (SLWM3) was, held in Mek’elle in northern Ethiopia, which focused broadly on building resilience in the phace of climate uncertainty.
The conference provided fora for dialogue amongst various stakeholders including research academia, practitioners, and policy makers. The objective was to enhance evidence-based policy making, as well as draw lessons for furthering and improving of the achievements of research in this field so far.
The conference deliberated on sub-themes, including sustainable land and water management, climate smart agriculture, climate change and water, livestock, forests and ecosystem services, and renewable energy resources and technologies.
In addition to the plenary sessions focusing on national and international issues on sustainable land and watershed management, the conference also involved a session dedicated to how these issues pertain to the Tigrai region. Moreover, the conference also involved a discussion session where participants considered the policy implications for agriculture, natural resources management, and energy.
The conference was officially opened by His Excellency Ato Kiros Bitew, Vice President and Head Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Development (BoARD) of National Regional State of Tigrai.
Dr Tesfamichael Gebreyohannes, Vice President of MU on behalf of Dr. Kindeya Gebrehiwot, President, MU and Dr Haileselassie Amaha, Center Director, ECRC/EDRI welcome the participants.
Finally Dr. Gebrehiwot Tadesse, Director of Research and Graduate Programs of MU, gave closing speech of the conference on behalf of Prof Fetien Abay, Vice President for Research and Community Services of MU.
The conference was co-organized by Mekelle University and the Environment and Climate Research Center of the Ethiopian Development Research Institute (ECRC/EDRI). Financial support for the conference was obtained from MoANR/ SLMP.