Identifying the origin of sediment is very crucial for proposing mitigation strategies and guiding the implementation of effective catchment restoration measures. Sediment source fingerprinting is a novel and powerful method to identify hotspots of soil erosion in catchments. It has been increasingly used in the past few decades, albeit with little applications in Africa and has not been used in Ethiopia for soil erosion research so far. Thus, the aim of this study will be to identifying hotspots of soil erosion and propose targeted catchment restoration using an evidence-based approach in the Lake Tana Basin, Ethiopia. The source of sediment will be identified using radionuclide tracers, environmental DNA (eDNA) and farmer’s view. Soil samples will be collected from both top soils and subsoils (along gullies and channel banks) in order to determine source signals for radionuclide analysis. In addition, samples of sediment will be collected following several hydro-climatological events in Gumara River. Similarly, for eDNA analysis, soil and sediment samples characterizing the different land use will be collected in the catchment. Questionnaire will be used to assess the farmers view on sediment sources. Soil and sediment samples will be analysed in order to characterize the source signatures, following standard protocols for eDNA using UGent facilities and at LSCE, Univ. Paris-Saclay, for radionuclides. Before running statistical tests and un-mixing source contributions, data will be visually analysed in order to check data quality. For the eDNA results the dominant mixtures will be derived from scatterplots of eDNA reads above a defined threshold (assigned to certain land use types and vegetation communities). Quantitative source apportions for surface versus subsurface erosion (i.e., mainly gullies) will be done using appropriate models. Once the sources of sediment will be identified, we will propose effective restoration activities.