sustainability Article Impact of Land Certification on Sustainable Land Use Practices: Case of Gozamin District, Ethiopia 1, , 1 2 Ayelech Kidie Mengesha * y, Reinfried Mansberger , Doris Damyanovic and Gernot Stoeglehner 3 1 Institute of Surveying, Remote Sensing and Land Information, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, Peter-Jordan-Strasse 82, 1190 Vienna, Austria;
[email protected] 2 Institute of Landscape Planning, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, Peter-Jordan-Strasse 65, 1180 Vienna, Austria;
[email protected] 3 Institute of Spatial Planning, Environmental Planning and Land Rearrangement, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, Peter-Jordan-Strasse 82, 1190 Vienna, Austria;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected] Institute of Land Administration, Debre Markos University, 269 Debre Markos, Ethiopia; y
[email protected]. Received: 28 August 2019; Accepted: 4 October 2019; Published: 9 October 2019 Abstract: Agroforestry is attracting considerable attention in Ethiopia because of its potential for sustainable land use practices. As land tenure insecurity is a major limiting factor for sustainable land use practices in Ethiopia and developing countries in general, the Ethiopian government launched a rural land certification program to secure land tenure. There are limited empirical studies about the impacts of land certification on sustainable land use practices. To fill this knowledge gap, this study was outlined for an area in the Ethiopian Gozamen district. It investigates the impact of land certification on sustainable land use practices and is focused on factors affecting tree plantation based on a household survey, key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and field observations.