Impacts of anthropogenic activities on the ecology and ecosystem service delivery of Lake Ziway, Ethiopia
Abstract
Ethiopia is a predominantly agrarian country where about 85% of the country’s population is engaged in the agricultural sector. The sector has enjoyed substantial growth during the last two decades. To increasing crop production and productivity to achieve high agricultural growth and alleviate food security problems in the growing population through, for example, intensive use of agricultural inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides are priorities for the Ethiopian government. As a result of this agricultural intensification policy of the Ethiopian government, the use of pesticides and fertilizers has increased year to year and will be expected to further increase in the years to come. The central Ethiopian rift valley region, particularly in the vicinity of Lake Ziway, is amongst the regions where agrochemicals (pesticides and fertilizers) are most intensively used by smallholder farmers producing vegetables and fruits (e.g., tomato, onion, cabbage, green bean and pepper) and by large-scale farms producing horticulture crops (e.g., cut-flowers and grape). Residual concentrations of pesticides and nutrients used by the small- and large-scale farmers may enter Lake Ziway through several routes such as agricultural land runoff, effluent discharge, drift during spraying, and inadequate handling of remnant pesticides and empty pesticide containers. Currently, there is high concern about the pollution of Lake Ziway by residuals of agrochemicals (e.g., pesticide) and their…
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