Project Motivation 

The Lake Tana Basin in northern Ethiopia faces severe environmental degradation, poverty, and food insecurity—challenges worsened by climate change and population growth. Despite the region's significance as a key freshwater source, issues such as wetland loss, pollution, invasive species, and weak water and waste management threaten both ecosystems and human health.

Bahir Dar University’s current MSc in Agroforestry offers a foundation to address these issues, but lacks applied agroecology, localized research capacity, and inclusive, context-specific knowledge approaches. The prevailing use of top-down, colonial knowledge systems further limits the program’s effectiveness in solving real-world challenges.

The motivation behind this project is to strengthen and transform existing academic structures at BDU—particularly the MSc in Agroforestry—by integrating agroecological principles, enhancing teaching and research methodologies, and promoting sustainable, locally grounded solutions. This approach ensures meaningful engagement with complex problems and contributes to long-term environmental and social resilience in the Lake Tana Basin.