The Adverse Implications of Environmental Degradation on Food Security: The Case of Werebabo Wereda Ethiopia

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of environmental degradation on food security in werebabo wereda.To achieve the objectives of the study descriptive case study was used by the researchers. The necessary data for this study was collected from primary and secondary sources. In this case, primary data were collected from respondents through interview (structured and unstructured), focus group discussion and personal observations. On the other hand, this study used non-probability sampling technique to select the target sites. Among the non-probability sampling techniques researchers used purposive (judgmental) sampling to get the resourceful persons on the issue at hand and to identify the study areas. Accordingly, three kebeles, namely Gedida, Arabati and Chali were selected based on the level of vulnerability to environmental degradation and its severe effect on societal livelihoods. Consequently, the data gained from respondents through primary and secondary sources was analyzed qualitatively in words (through descriptive manner via triangulations).Furthermore, the finding of this study shows that the main factors contributed to environmental degradations were identified as man-made and natural causes, including high population growth, free grazing, deforestation and landslides. On the other hand, the study reveals that desertification, migration, social conflict, unemployment and poverty were the main effects of environmental degradation on food security in the study area. Besides this, Proper land use, integration of farming practices at grassroots level, planting trees and integrated/holistic disaster risk reduction and early warning system were suggested to mitigate the challenges.