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%0 Thesis %A Gramlich, Richard Jan Michael %T Land suitability evaluation for agriculture: development of an universal approach based on the case of the Blue Nile Basin %I Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen %V Dissertation %C Aachen %M RWTH-2025-03904 %P 1 Online-Ressource : Illustrationen %D 2025 %Z Veröffentlicht auf dem Publikationsserver der RWTH Aachen University %Z Dissertation, Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen, 2025 %X Water, the source of life and key element for economic and population growth, is the reason for many conflicts on earth. In light of climate change and global warming, it is even more important to use it carefully, as it will become even more scarce in countries already facing water scarcity. Ethiopia is facing economic water scarcity as the theoretically water-rich country previously could not store large amounts of water from precipitation in the country’s wet season in late summer due to lacking storage capacities. Since the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and three more dams planned along the Blue Nile, this has changed. As a developing country facing several droughts and famines in the previous years, solid food supply through extensive expansion of agriculture using the newly developed sources for water is assumed to be the key to success. As agriculture by far is the largest consumer of water compared to other industrial sectors, however, large potential for reduced discharges towards the downstream countries Sudan and Egypt emerge. This dissertation examines how large the water abstraction from the Blue Nile river catchment area can be in the future based in a set of boundary conditions. Firstly, starting with the determination of potentially suitable areas for irrigated agriculture performing a Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis. Secondly, developing cropping patterns for the different agro-economical zones considering cash crops and food crops, and thirdly, determining the irrigation water demand for these pattern considered different irrigation methods. The results show large variation depending on the criteria combined. A total of 94.640 km² or 47.47 %F PUB:(DE-HGF)11 %9 Dissertation / PhD Thesis %R 10.18154/RWTH-2025-03904 %U https://publications.rwth-aachen.de/record/1010172