Nature-based solutions to freshwater fisheries: challenges and opportunities for their application in Ethiopian fisheries management

Abstract

Nature-based solutions are a new approach to protecting and restoring ecosystems and are crucial for maintaining fish and sustaining fisheries. This review focuses on the potential role of Nature-based solutions in freshwater fisheries management and discusses the challenges and enablers of Nature-based solutions’ implementation and paths in Ethiopian fisheries. Nature-based solutions simultaneously address environmental, social, and economic challenges by maximizing the benefits of nature. Wetlands, floodplains, river restoration, protected areas, and river and lake riparian buffers are the most common types of Nature-based solutions used for fisheries management. The potential pathways for applications of Nature-based solutions in fisheries management include habitat restoration and rehabilitation, water management, aquaculture development, biodiversity conservation, climate change adaptation and mitigation, and creating alternative jobs and food security sources for fishers. In Ethiopia, implementing climate resilience, a blue economy, green legacy efforts, landscape restoration programs, water resource management, and protected areas are some of the enablers for utilizing and addressing Nature-based solutions in fisheries management. Therefore, leveraging finance, creating an enabling regulatory and legal environment, creating awareness, and improving cross-sectoral collaboration are needed to respond to barriers to Nature-based solutions in Ethiopia’s fisheries.

Keywords

• Challenge
• Fisheries
• Freshwater
• Nature-based solutions
• Opportunity