In April 2019, Oromia, Addis Ababa University’s Water and Land Resource Center, and Nestlé Waters Ethiopia launched phase two of an Integrated Landscape Management Project for the upper Sululta watershed.
The Reporter Ethiopia said phase one (2016–2018) mapped biophysical and socio-economic baselines. Phase two through 2023 was supposed to coordinate organic farming, green recreation space, water and sanitation access, and local income projects, with a price tag near USD 70 million.
Nestlé framed water stewardship around its bottled-water joint venture. Experts warned that Addis Ababa’s urban sprawl was already converting the watershed’s edge into settlement, threatening recharge and community water unless planning matched growth.
Kept as reference, Sululta is an early case of corporate watershed branding meeting Ethiopian urbanization politics. Who sets the rules when a global bottler, a regional state, and a mega-city all claim the same hills.
Sources: The Reporter Ethiopia
