A Political Ecology Perspective of Land Degradation in the North Ethiopian Highlands

Abstract

Severe environmental degradation in the north Ethiopian Highlands is amongst others the result of mismanagement, overpopulation and droughts. However, here we investigate the linkages of land degradation with the historical dynamics of the political-ecological system and regional land policies. We performed semi-structured interviews with 93 farmers in eight villages in the Tigray region (North Ethiopia), and conceptualized a political-ecological model of land tenure and degradation changes for the region. Results show that different land policies caused and still cause land degradation in several ways. Interviews reveal that the unequal character of land rights during feudal times played an important role in 19 th and 20 th century land degradation. In particular, poor farmers were forced to construct their farms on marginal terrains, such as steep slopes in dry areas and marshes in cold and humid areas, increasing the catchment water runoff and degradation. The interviews further suggest that after the Derg regime (1974)(1975)(1976)(1977)(1978)(1979)(1980)(1981)(1982)(1983)(1984)(1985)(1986)(1987)(1988)(1989)(1990)(1991), environmental conservation strategies were successfully implemented at larger scales. Overall, feudal, Derg, and contemporary land policies have all 2 had impacts on environmental degradation and have left their fingerprints on the physical landscape of Northern Ethiopia.

A Qualitative Evaluation of CSA Options in Mixed Crop-Livestock Systems in Developing Countries

“…Furthermore, water management typically requires investments, capital for technologies such as pumps or boreholes or time for building terraces. In many cases, farmers are hesitant to make such investments without appropriate land rights (Lanckriet et al 2015). Zimbabwe, for example, saw very low levels of adoption of key water saving technologies in the arid and semi-arid zones throughout the late twentieth century due to political instability and insecure tenure rules (Nyamadzawo et al 2013).…”

Enhancing social-ecological resilience through social learning: A case study of communal pasture management in the Highlands of Ethiopia

“…Broadly, three different regimes can be distinguished (Figure 2): the feudal system under Emperor Haile Selassie, who reigned until 1974; the military Derg regime, which embraced communism and ruled Ethiopia from 1974 to 1991; and since then, the Ethiopian People"s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) which implemented a controlled market system and political decentralization (Lanckriet et al, 2015). There have thus been two major breaks (1974/1975 and 1990/1991) which radically changed the broader context and thus the options for pasture management, challenging the community"s adaptive capacity.…”

“…Thus it is important to take a long-term view to understand how the system coevolved with its environment as well as which choices were made by the community and why. Such a longer-term analysis allows appreciating the complex interdependencies between the social and ecological sub-systems (Barton et al, 2012;Butzer, 2012;Lanckriet et al, 2015). Secondly, the fact that a social-ecological system has been fairly stable over a longer term does not necessarily indicate that it is not capable of transformative change.…”

“…This is partly due to its value as a concept that bridges the natural and the social sciences; its emphasis on the unpredictability of change and what this implies for conceptualizing planning (Davoudi, 2012); and the shift in focus it initiated, from the availability of resources towards response options (Cote and Nightingale, 2012). As in many intensely used ecological systems, human activities are the primary driver of change (Beratan, 2014), authors have pointed out that it is important to give due attention to the internal dynamics of the social subsystem and how these shape environmental outcomes (Crona and Hubacek, 2010;Lanckriet et al, 2015). This may contribute towards a better understanding of how communities can structure their management regime to ensure it is responsive and can adapt to changes both in the ecological and in the social sub-system.…”

Sustaining reservoir use through sediment trapping in NW Ethiopia

“…The main causes include erosive high intensity tropical rains, rugged steep topography, extensive deforestation for fuel wood, expansion of cultivation into unsuitable steeply sloping and erosion prone areas, high population pressure and the lack of integrated catchment management (Zeleke, 2000;Bewket, 2002;Nyssen et al, 2004;Mekonnen et al, 2014b). Therefore, a holistic approach is needed to tackle soil erosion in the region (Mekonnen et al, 2014b;Lanckriet et al, 2015;Nyssen et al, 2015;Tesfaye et al, 2015). Soil and water conservation (SWC) structures provide a practical means for reducing soil erosion, enhancing the rate of sedimentation and decreasing local slope gradient (Gebremichael et al, 2005;Mekonnen et al, 2015b).…”