**5.1 Success stories for participatory landscape management in Gishwati area**

Gishwati area was restored in a participartory landscape approach within planning and implementation processes at 6,600 ha. It comprises activities of land husbandry on agriculture land, reforestation, and rangeland rehabilitation. The approach also considered the relocation of people from high risk zones to other places and building capacities of farmers through farm-livestock cooperatives. Thus, this approach has successfully facilitated to establish a comprehensive landscape management to effectively address the frequent landslides and flooding and sustainably exploit the land to the profit of local farmers in the livelihoods and the country's economy in general.

The evidences demonstrated how land husbandry interventions within participatory landscape approach especially terraces are very efficient not only in technical aspects of controlling soil erosion and boosting productivity but also improving people's livelihoods. According to Rutebuka et al. [13, 24] in Rwanda, bench and progressive terraces effectively control erosion up to 90% of soil and nutrient losses, once they are well established, managed and regularly maintained by landowners (farmers). The study in Ethiopia highlands substantiated the impact of terracings which reduced loss of soil from 97 to 38 t ha−1 yr−1 during 1984 and 1988 in Minchet catchment [25].

The Government for the sake of promoting agriculture and natural resource management has effectively addressed the challenges linked to bio-physical (land
