Introduction

Ethiopia is going through rapid urbanization processes. In the course of such urbanization, land resources undergo continued rapid changes in the form of land reallocation between competing uses of land for urbanization, agriculture, forestry, and industry. A rapid and continuous outward shift of urban boundaries and the expansion of territorial jurisdictions of cities into agricultural and forestry lands happens primarily through the expropriation of surrounding rural lands. Such expansion will have important socioeconomic implications. The loss of agricultural and forestry land due to unplanned urban expansion is a concern as it has implications for meeting key goals of the second Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP II) and the Climate-Resilient Green Economy (CRGE) strategy for the increase of domestic food production that keeps pace with the growing demand for food and increasing forest cover to mitigate emissions. In general, unplanned and poorly managed expansion of cities creates untenable use of land and results in unsustainable economic and social transformation. Therefore, the policy challenge will be to create a better balance between demand for land for use of agriculture, forestry, etc, on the one hand, and land for urban development, on the other hand, through improved planning and utilization of land.