Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Minimizing the Livelihood Trade-Offs of Natural Resource Management in the Eastern African Highlands: Policy Implications of a Project in “Creative Governance”

  • Published:
Human Ecology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The highlands of Eastern Africa are characterized by high population densities and tightly coupled interactions between adjacent landscape units and users. Effective formal or informal natural resource governance is necessary to mitigate the potential negative social and environmental effects of individuals’ behavior. Yet many natural resource management and development problems that require or benefit from collective solutions remain unresolved (German et al. Environ Dev Sustain 8: 535–552, 2006a; German et al. 2006b; German et al. Q J Int Agr 47(3): 191–216, 2008). We argue that many of the more intractable problems in improving governance stem from the trade-offs that underlie them, which may include a loss of livelihood options for at least some households, leading to governance break down. Following a brief introduction to natural resource management and governance in Eastern Africa, we analyze the results of participatory by-law deliberations by distilling the restrictions proposed governance reforms pose to certain local stakeholders. We recommend that future policy for improved landscape governance couple institutional reforms with livelihood alternatives that reduce the burden of good governance on households.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Barkan, J. D. (1984). Politics and Public Policy in Kenya and Tanzania. Praeger, New York, p. 375.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bekele, M. (2003). Forest property rights, the role of the state and institutional exigency: the Ethiopian experience. Ph.D. Thesis, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, p. 220.

  • Bigombé Logo, P. (2003). The Decentralized Forestry Taxation System in Cameroon: Local Management and State Logic. Environmental Governance in Africa Working Paper No. 10. WRI, Washington.

  • Davies, J., and Bennett, R. (2007). Livelihood Adaption to Risk: Constraints and Opportunities for Pastoral Development in Ethiopia’s Afar Region. Journal of Development Studies 43: 3490–511.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fortes, M., and Evans-Pritchard E. E. (eds.) (1940). African Political Systems. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  • Francis, P., and James, R. (2003). Balancing Rural Poverty Reduction and Citizen Participation: The Contradictions of Uganda’s Decentralization Program. World Development 31: 2325–337.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garduño, H. (2005). Making water rights administration work. Proceedings of the international workshop African Water Laws: Plural Legislative Frameworks for Rural Water Management in Africa’, 26–28 January, 2005, Johannesburg, South Africa, pp. 9-1 to 9-16.

  • German, L., and Keeler, A. (2008). Hybrid Institutions: Applications of Common Property Theory beyond Discrete Tenure Regimes. Paper presented at the Twelfth Biennial Conference of the IASC, Cheltenham, UK, 14–18 July, 2008. CD-Rom.

  • German, L., Tolera, T., Alemu, G., and Shemdoe, R. (2004). The Role of Traditional Ecological Knowledge, Beliefs and Practices in NRM: Case Studies from the Eastern African Highlands. Paper presented at the 9th International Congress of Ethnobiology, Kent, UK, June 13–17, 2004.

  • German, L., Kidane, B., and Shemdoe, R. (2006a). Social and Environmental Trade-Offs in Tree Species Selection: A Methodology for Identifying Niche Incompatibilities in Agroforestry. Environment, Development and Sustainability 8: 2006535–552.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • German, L., Masuki, K., Gojjam, Y., Odenya, J., and Geta, E. (2006b). Beyond the Farm: A New Look at Livelihood Constraints in the Eastern African Highlands. AHI Working Papers No. 12.

  • German, L., Taye, H., Ayele, S., Mazengia, W., Tolera, T., Tsegaye, M., Abere, K., Bedane, K., and Geta, E. (2008). Institutional Foundations of Agricultural Development in Ethiopia: Drawing Lessons from Current Practice for Agricultural R&D. Quarterly Journal of International Agriculture 47: 3191–216.

    Google Scholar 

  • German, L., Mazengia, W., Tirwomwe, W., Ayele, S., Tanui, J., Nyangas, S., Begashaw, L., Taye, H., Admassu, Z., Tsegaye, M., Charamila, S., Alinyo, F., Mekonnen, A., Aberra, K., Chemangeni, A., Cheptegei, W., Tolera, T., Jotte, Z., and Bedane, K. (2009a). Enabling Equitable Collective Action and Policy Change for Poverty Reduction and Improved Natural Resource Management in the Eastern African Highlands. In: Mwangi, E., Markelova, H., and Meinzen-Dick, R. (eds.), Collective Action and Property Rights for Poverty Reduction.

  • German, L., Charamila, S., and Tolera, T. (2009b). Managing Trade-Offs in Agroforestry: From Conflict to Collaboration in Natural Resource Management. In Klappa, S., and Russell, D. (eds.), Transformations in Agroforestry Systems, Berghahn Press.

  • Hundie, B. (2008). Pastoralism, Institutions and Social Interaction: Explaining the Coexistence of Conflicts and Cooperations in Pastoral Afar, Ethiopia. Shaker, Aachen.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hyden, G., Court, J., and Mease, K. (2004). Making Sense of Governance: Empirical Evidence from Sixteen Developing Countries. Lynne Rienner Publishers, Boulder, p. 262.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mamdani, M. (1996). Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialis. Princeton University Press, Princeton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meinzen-Dick, R., and Nkonya, L. (2005). Understanding legal pluralism in water rights: Lessons from Africa and Asia. Proceedings of the international workshop African Water Laws: Plural Legislative Frameworks for Rural Water Management in Africa’, 26–28 January, 2005, Johannesburg, South Africa, pp. 8-1 to 8-14.

  • Meinzen-Dick, R., Knox, A., Place, F., and Swallow, B. (2002). Innovation in Natural Resource Management: The Role of Property Rights and Collective Action in Developing Countries. IFPRI, Washington.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meliyo, J., Mansoor, H., Masuki, K., and Mowo, J. (2004). The Baga Watershed characterization: a step for scaling out technologies. In Amede, T., German, L., Rao, S., Opondo, C., and Stroud, A. (eds.), Integrated Natural Resource Management in Practice: Enabling Communities to Improve Mountain Livelihoods and Landscapes. AHI, Kampala, pp. 305–315.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ostrom, E. (1990). Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oyono, P. R., Ribot, J. C., and Larson, A. M. (2006). Green and Black Gold in Rural Cameroon: Natural Resources for Local Governance, Justice and Sustainability. Environmental Governance in Africa Working Papers No. 22. WRI and CIFOR, Washington.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oyugi, W. O. (2000). Decentralization for Good Governance and Development: The Unending Debate. Regional Development Dialogue 21: 13–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pandey, S., and Yadama, G. N. (1990). Conditions for Local Level Community Forestry Action: A Theoretical Explanation. Mountain Research and Development 10: 188–95.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ribot, J. C. (2003). African Decentralization: Local Actors, Powers and Accountability. Democracy, Governance and Human Rights Paper No. 8. UNRISD Programme on Democracy, Governance and Human Rights, Geneva.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ribot, J. C., and Larson, A. M. (2005). Democratic Decentralization Through a Natural Resource Lens. Routledge, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sanginga, P.C., Kamugisha R., Martin A., Kakuru A., and Stroud A. (2004). Facilitating participatory processes for policy change in natural resource management: Lessons from the highlands of southwestern Uganda. Uganda Journal of Agricultural Sciences 9: 958–970.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott, J. C. (1998). Seeing like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed. Yale University Press, New Haven.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shao, J. (1986). The Villagization Program and the Disruption of the Ecological Balance in Tanzania. Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne des Études Africaines 20(2): 219–239.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sheridan, M. (1994). Environmental Consequences of Independence and Socialism in North Pare, Tanzania, 1961–88. Journal of African History 45: 200481–102.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sheridan, M. J. (2004). The Environmental and Social Consequences of Independence and Socialism in North Pare, Tanzania, 1961–88. Journal of African History 45: 81–102.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sheridan, M. (2008). Tanzanian Ritual Perimetrics and African Landscapes: The Case of Dracaena. International Journal of African Historical Studies 41: 3491–521.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stocking, M. (1985). Soil Conservation Policy in Colonial Africa. Agricultural History 59: 2148–161.

    Google Scholar 

  • Therkildsen, O. (1993). Legitimacy, local governments and natural resource management in Sub-Saharan Africa. In Marcussen, H. S. (ed.), Institutional Issues in Natural Resources Management: With Special Reference to Arid and Semi-Arid Areas in Africa. Occasional Paper No. 9. International Development Studies, Roskilde University, Denmark.

    Google Scholar 

  • Therkildsen, O. (2001). Efficiency, Accountability and Implementation: Public Sector Reform in East and Southern Africa. Working Paper No. 3. Programme on Democracy, Governance and Human Rights, UNRISD, Geneva.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tukahebwa, G. B. (1998). The Role of District Councils in Decentralisation. In Nsibambi, A. (ed.), Decentralisation and Civil Society in Uganda: The Quest for Good Governance. Fountain, Kampala.

    Google Scholar 

  • United Nations Capital Development Fund-UNCDF (2000). Africa: Decentralisation and Local Governance Conference Concept Paper. Paper presented at the UNCDF Symposium on Decentralization and Local Governance in Africa, Cape Town, South Africa, 26–30 March, 2000. UNCDF, New York.

  • von Freyhold, M. (1977). The Post-Colonial State and Its' Tanzanian Version. Review of African Political Economy, No. 8, Capitalism in Africa (Jan.-Apr., 1977): 75–89.

  • Wickama, J. (2007). Annual Report for Year 2007. African Highlands Initiative, Lushoto Benchmark Site, Lushoto.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wickama, J., Mbaga, T., Madadi, L., and Byamungu, M. (2006). Assessing Community and Resource Conditions: A Participatory Diagnosis Report for the Baga Watershed, Lushoto, Tanzania. African Highlands Initiative, Lushoto Benchmark Site, Lushoto.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilkes, A. (2005). The Creation of Community Rangeland Management Institutions in Dimaluo: Three Cases of Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM). Working Paper No. 11. Center for Biodiversity and Indigenous Knowledge, Yunnan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wily, L. A., and Dewees, P. A. (2008). From Users to Custodians: Changing Relations between People and the State in Forest Management in Tanzania. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 2569. World Bank, Washington.

    Google Scholar 

  • Young, J. (1996). Ethnicity and Power in Ethiopia. Review of African Political Economy 70: 531–542.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their useful comments on an earlier draft, and acknowledge the assistance provided by Dina Hubudin and Bagus Hargo Utomo in helping to source needed literature for the revision.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for International Forestry Research, Bogor, Indonesia

    Laura German

  2. Southern Agricultural Research Institute, Awassa, Ethiopia

    Waga Mazengia

  3. Agriculture Sector Support Project, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    Hailemichael Taye

  4. International Center for Physical Land Resources, Gent, Belgium

    Mesfin Tsegaye

  5. Ethiopian Institute for Agricultural Research/Holetta Agricultural Research Centre, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    Shenkut Ayele

  6. Independent Consultant, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

    Sarah Charamila

  7. Agricultural Research Institute - Mlingano, Tanga, Tanzania

    Juma Wickama

Authors
  1. Laura German
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Waga Mazengia
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Hailemichael Taye
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Mesfin Tsegaye
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Shenkut Ayele
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Sarah Charamila
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Juma Wickama
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Laura German.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

German, L., Mazengia, W., Taye, H. et al. Minimizing the Livelihood Trade-Offs of Natural Resource Management in the Eastern African Highlands: Policy Implications of a Project in “Creative Governance”. Hum Ecol 38, 31–47 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-009-9291-9

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-009-9291-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation