Wetlands International and Sher Ethiopia launched a new initiative today to restore the health of Lake Ziway and surrounding landscape, which are critical for local communities, the Ethiopian economy and nature.

Supported by The Netherlands Embassy, the three-year Ziway Lives and Landscapes project will help tackle the lake’s most pressing challenges, including accelerating erosion and sedimentation, through improved water management, soil conservation and wetland conservation.

By bringing together Wetlands International’s global expertise and track record in Ziway with the technical and agronomic skills and resources of the area’s largest rose-growing company, Sher Ethiopia, the initiative will co-create and implement solutions that have a measurable impact on the ground and on the systemic drivers of degradation.

For companies operating around Lake Ziway, the lake’s decline is a shared operational risk, and credible, basin‑level action is increasingly expected by customers and regulators. The Ziway Lives and Landscapes initiative provides a practical platform to act together, demonstrate progress, and share lessons. 

Critically, the initiative will catalyze landscape-level action by welcoming additional partners to replicate and scale up these solutions across the Ziway basin.

“Reversing the degradation of Lake Ziway and its impacts on people and nature can only be tackled together – through a collaborative response that mobilises everyone, including communities and companies,” said Simeneh Shiferaw, Programme Coordinator, Wetlands International Ethiopia. “Our groundbreaking partnership with Sher Ethiopia is a pathway to a brighter future because it will not only showcase solutions but also inspire a broader collective effort, which will enhance the health of the landscape and drive sustainable development.”

The initiative will focus on three core pillars: supporting more sustainable water use by collaborating with farmers to implement better practices; investing in nature-based solutions for watershed rehabilitation and wetland protection to reduce erosion and sedimentation; and monitor water quantity and quality to enable more effective decision-making.

It will accelerate landscape level action by demonstrating success at local levels, including:

• Restoring 300 hectares of degraded upland areas through nature-based solutions;
• Establishing 50 hectares of protected buffer zones along the lakeshore;
• Supporting 300 small-scale farmers to improve water-use efficiency by 15% and reduce the use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides by 20%; and
• Engaging communities in removing 50,000kg of water hyacinth from Lake Ziway.

“Ziway lake is critical for local communities, farmers, businesses and biodiversity and Sher Ethiopia is committed to playing our part in the collective effort to restore it and build resilience,” said Lulit Tadele, Director of Sher Ethiopia, part of the Dutch flower company, Afriflora. “This initiative will help underpin the health of the lake that underpins the future of our community, and opens the door to other companies to support the restoration of degraded landscapes, and to help achieve national goals on climate, nature and sustainable development.”

As the biggest challenges in the Lake Ziway basin are system-wide — shaped by many pressures and many actors across the landscape — lasting solutions will not come from any single site, organisation or initiative. That is why the Ziway Lives and Landscapesproject was designed as a scalable “proof‑point” and learning platform: to test what works in practice, generate credible lessons, and accelerate wider collaboration and uptake of the solutions.

“There is no silver bullet for the challenges facing Lake Ziway. We believe the answer lies in unprecedented collective action that includes strong contributions from the private sector. This innovative initiative will kickstart a new era of cooperation and environmental restoration in the landscape, which will benefit communities and economies, reverse nature loss, and strengthen climate adaptation,” said Alwin Quispel, Counsellor for Agriculture and Nature at the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Ethiopia.

The initiative’s innovative approach is based upon the 4 Returns Framework, which focuses on restoring natural, social, financial and inspirational value in the landscape, and on an inclusive and collective approach.

“Join us. If you’re a company, value‑chain actor, local institution, knowledge partner, donor, or community organization, you can contribute expertise, implementation capacity, data, convening power, or co‑funding to help scale what works beyond the initial demonstration sites,” said Shiferaw. “Partners will help accelerate basin‑level impact and shape a credible, shared pathway for long‑term water stewardship and environmental health in Ziway.”