The /{onso people of SNNPR have experienced various SWC practices for severalrncenturies. The practices had enabled the people to obtain yields from hilly and ruggedrnenvironment with poor soils and unreliable rainfall. These days, the sustainability ofrnsuch practices seems to suffer from a number of problems. The main objective of thisrnstudy was to examine factors that undermine the sustainability of SWC practices inrn/{onso Special Woreda, SNNPR. In order to achieve the objective of the study bothrnprimary and secondary data were generated by employing quantitative andrnqualitative methods. The quantitative method involved household survey whilernqualitative methods used included focus group discussion key informant interview andrndirect personal observation. Both probability and non-probability sampling techniquesrnwere used to select the participants of the study. The selection of households included inrnthe sample involved probability sampling (simple random sampling) while the selectionrnof kebeles, the participants of focus group discussion and the key informant interviewrninvolved non-probability sampling (purposive sampling). The process of analysis of thernstudy was carried out using qualitative description and quantitative statistics. Thernquantitative data was analyzed using frequency, percentage and mean wherernappropriate. A Chi-square test was applied to see opinion differences. Qualitative datarnwas discussed to substantiate the study. The findings of the study indicated that thernstatus of SWC practices in the study area was characterized by frequent damage of thernstructures for farmers stress on SWC structures that demand less effort. The overallrntrend of the practices was found to be deteriorating. Socio-culturally, the weakeningrnof the role played by the traditional institutions, decrease in the willingness of thernhousehold members to involve in the practices, decrease in assistance gained fromrnoutside, decrease in the participation of youth in the practices and deterioration ofrnsocial norms important for the practices contributed for undermining the sustainabilityrnof the practices. Economic factors that undermine the sustainability of the practicesrninclude: decrease in farm productivity, involvement in off farm activities during laborrnshortage and increase in labor wages. Concerning institutional support related factors,rnlack of access to extension services, poor attention from Woreda Agriculture and RuralrnDevelopment Office, and lack of access to reliable credit sources were identified Basedrnon the findings of the study the following measures can be taken. In order tornrejuvenate the essential role played by traditional institutions, strong cordialrnenvironment of work has to be created by the government administrative bodies atrnlocal level measures like resettlement program, continuous trainings and awarenessrncreation on family planning, and creating wider opportunities for involvement in offfarmrnactivities can help solve population pressure problems. SpeCific measures to berntaken to improve the participation of the youth in the practices could include:rnorganizing the youth into self supporting groups so that they can have morernopportunity to discuss on their own lives and share experience with adults, encouragingrnthe youth to learn the necessary skills and participate in the SWC practices, andrnpromoting the voluntary effort of NCOs on indigenous knowledge system and localrnpractices.