Jema Integrated Watershed Management Project

The Jema River joins the Gilgel Abbay at Wetet Abbay, about 15km South of Merawi by sealed road. However, access within the ctachment is extremely poor. Therefore, road construction must be the primary intervention to underpin any interventions. Jema watershed is heavily degraded due to wanton cutting, overgrazing and opening the land for cropping

Remnants of the vegetation cover in the Jema Watershed include scattered trees and patches of shrubs and bushes on hills and mountain slopes and along streams. Grasses also occur with bushes and shrubs, around homesteads, on pasture lands, on field boundaries and along narrow valleys. Scattered natural trees are common within homesteads, in crop fields and along streams as traditional agro-forestry species. A large area of arable land on gently undulating terrain towards the Jema River, and severe gully erosion associated with areas of communal grazing in the north-east of the area. The runoff from the hills is channelled into gullies, which are a problem to the community. Flooding and riverbank erosion are also indicated as priority constraints.