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In urban areas where water is not adequately supplied, women’s efforts to make a living out of water-intensive businesses face many challenges. The study examined how small-scale businesses run by women in Wukro town, Ethiopia are impacted by inadequate supply of water, and what coping strategies are employed. The lived experiences of women involved in small-scale water-intensive businesses, such as traditional beer brewing and coffee shops, were examined. In addition to these women, the perspectives and experiences of selected key informants as well as the officers at the local water utility have been assessed. Whether or not these women secure support from the social networks in their neighbourhood has also been considered. The study revealed that the unreliable supply of water in the town has impacted women involved in small business. It was indicated that some women manage to do well either by borrowing water from neighbours or purchasing from providers. In contrast, others who run businesses in rented houses with limited social networks expressed that they are struggling. Suggestions are made for the water utility to revise its working guidelines related to the provision of water services and to implement a gendered perspective in water management practices.

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Transhumance between the Afar lowlands and Tigray escarpments has been a common practice in northern Ethiopia. However, the impact of transhumance on landscape changes in the marginal grabens has not been significantly researched. Hence, this study aims to understand the process of transhumance and the linkages between social and biophysical aspects of the graben landscapes of northern Ethiopia. Google Earth (2010-2016) and Landsat Imageries (1995-2015) were used to analyse the spatio-temporal landscape changes. Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was applied to measure the change in vegetation cover. Interview and Focus Group Discussions were used to collect perceptions of communities on transhumance and landscape change. The findings reveal that transhumance caused conflicts between the lowlanders and highlanders, which in turn led to displacement of communities. Consequently, the NDVI value of the abandoned settlement increased over time. Conversely, the analysis of Google Earth Imageries and NDVI values show that vegetation cover of the new settlement has decreased. Moreover, the NDVI values of the transhumance areas showed little increase due to the establishments of exclosures in the escarpments. The findings of this study can, therefore, be used to develop targeted interventions aimed at solving transhumance-induced conflicts, displacement of communities and conservation of natural resources.

This chapter shades light on natural resource conservation and management practices in Tigray region, Ethiopia. This was examined in the context of national policies, strategies and laws related to environmental protection and food security. Over the past couple of decades, the Tigray region of Ethiopia has demonstrated effective natural resources rehabilitation and conservation measures that revolved around the principles of grassroots’ participation, stakeholders’ synergy and local innovations that led to successes which were duly recognized in global platforms. The efforts made to synchronize conservation activities with food security have been particularly exemplary. However, recurrent drought, poverty and unviable livelihoods, budgetary constraints to finance large projects, as well as weak and fragile land use and land administration institutions, have hitherto constrained the resilience and proper scaling-up of best practices. Hence, the chapter recommends the need to scale up the Tigray region’s best practice on natural resources conservation and rehabilitation by adopting an integrated national land use and land use change policy. It is also important to apply stringent environmental conservation and rehabilitation measures, including; judicious utilization of already existing human and material resources as well as implementing cost-effective state-of-the-art approaches. Besides, there is also a need for proper coordination among various stakeholders to ensure the economy of scale and achieve sustainable, inclusive and eco-friendly development in the years to come.

We researched how CSO s working in the area of sustainable development responded to regulatory restrictions on advocacy work using Ethiopia as a case study. We found that the restrictive laws had a severe impact: many CSO s had to shut down or limit their operational capacity to service delivery only. Those that survived continued to do advocacy work, disguised as service delivery. This shows that northern stakeholders should not adhere to a strict division between advocacy and service delivery in their funding policy. They also should focus on long-term CSO engagement and long-term CSO funding. In 2019, regulatory reform reopened political space to some extent. The new law envisions a greater role for self-regulation in the civil society sector while still maintaining some degree of State oversight through registration, reporting and funding allocation requirements. Despite these improvements, the sector is still in need of international support and consistent and reliable funding.

Based on primary and secondary data, this paper provides a qualitative account of current changes in the pattern of natural resource management as a result of resource degradation and conflict in the Borana rangelands of southern Ethiopia. Population pressure, recurrent drought and the depleted carrying capacity of pastoral resources, as well as the encroachment of neighbouring ethnic groups, present the Borana community with a significant challenge. The diminishing resilience of traditional politico-judicial institutions under the famous Gada system often result in the rise of new forms of land use such as farming and private enclosures, which compete with the traditional communal tenure system. The gradual collapse of traditional norms and value systems and the apparent inefficiency in the formal administrative structures have exacerbated the problems of resource degradation and conflict between multiple resource-users.

Based on a literature review, this article examines the dynamics in pastoral systems, natural resource conservation and conflict in the drylands of East Africa. It argues that, in the context of East Africa, pastoralism and biodiversity conservation in general are distinct forms of land use that are complementary rather than competitive. The present state of natural resource degradation in the drylands is explained in terms of factors related to ecological and demographic pressures, land use conflicts and inefficient land administration policies. When the customary pastoral institutions of land administration and resource management are threatened, the problem of degradation is further exacerbated and violent conflicts occur among multiple resource users, including pastoralists, farmers and the state. The article recommends the revitalisation, empowerment and recognition of pastoral institutions in a way that ensures effective synergy between the formal and customary structures of resource governance.

A full understanding of the concept of landscape plays a paramount role in sustainable management of natural resources and an increase of landscape studies. However, little is known about the concept of landscape, landscape research and its application in Ethiopia. Hence, the overall objective of this paper is to explore the concept of landscape and review available literatures on landscape research in Ethiopia and to identify research gaps. A questionnaire (n=30) was administered to explore the concept of landscape. A systematic review of available studies on landscape and related concepts has also been made. Out of the 398 papers in which the terms ‘landscape’ and ‘Ethiopia’ appeared in the title, keywords or abstract, 26 papers, having 10 or more keywords related to landscape research were included in this in-depth review. An exploratory study of art and media has been made to examine the perception of artists on landscapes. The results of the study show that the perception of Ethiopian artists on landscape is highly associated with concept of the landscape. The findings of the survey also reveal that the meaning of the term landscape differs semantically. The findings of the review also indicate that landscape studies carried out in Ethiopia do not fully cover the holistic concept of landscape; as they mostly focus more on physical features of the landscape. Moreover, the interdisciplinary approach that integrates landscape ecology, perception and history, which is important for understanding landscapes and landscape changes, is also lacking. Generally, the concept of landscape seems to be misconceived in most studies undertaken in Ethiopia, mainly because it is interchangeably used with land use and land cover. Hence, there is a need for a better understanding of the concept of landscape and the applications of a holistic landscape approach.

Women’s response to poverty and unemployment is a major concern for policy makers. One of the most prominent livelihood strategies used by poor, unemployed and uneducated women in Northern Ethiopia is migration to the Middle East to earn money to support their families back home. Based on qualitative data, the study looks into migrant women’s pre-and post-migration scenarios in terms of their economic, social and psychological wellbeing. The pull and push factors, the challenges and opportunities as well as the pattern of decision making are examined. The migration of large number of women domestic workers into the Gulf States is propelled by the need to earn income to support family and save money to start small businesses in their places of origin. Peer pressure and family influence are also found out to be crucial factors in migration. Despite marginal socio-economic gains, migrants are subject to incidents of domestic violence, rape, harassments or even murder. This calls for an integrated and concerted multi-stakeholder effort to empower women through sound policies and interventions.

This ethnographic study was conducted in Tigray region of Ethiopia with the aim of assessing the problems of rural development interventions during the last twenty yearsi. The main objectives of the study were; to identify major intervention areas, examine community perceptions of government led interventions and examine overall challenges and prospects of the rural development option in Tigray region, Ethiopia. The data for this paper was obtained from the Southern, Eastern and South eastern zones of Tigray region. Field data was collected using qualitative research methods. The specific tools include, key informant interviews, focus group discussions and case studies. The findings of the study revealed that although, there have been tremendous efforts and improved government commitment in Tigray region in the post-1991 period, rural development has been impeded by a number of factors. The challenges identified include, compulsive agricultural extension system, erroneous incentive schedules and lack of proper devolution of power to the grassroots, hasty non-participatory implementation of projects, absence of functional integrations among development agents, lack of proper utilization of public funds, and problems related to evaluation and monitoring activities. Besides, it was evident that poor work ethic, the culture of overconsumption, low adult literacy and lack of proper incentives to frontline workers were also identified as major problems. These together with the challenges emanating from ecological calamities (shortage of rainfall, land fragmentation and population pressures) have impeded rural development in the study area. Key words: Development interventions, community assessment, Ethiopia.