Case study 3: Redistribution of communal land in Tigray, Ethiopia

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Case study 3Redistribution of communal land in
Tigray, Ethiopia
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Communal natural resources in Tigray
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Land issues in Tigray

• Majority population in Ethiopia relies on largely
  peasant agriculture, but becoming (slowly) more
  market oriented.
• Cultivable land is scarce with growing population
• All land owned by state. User rights given to
  farmers and pastorlists.

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Degradation of communal land

• Degradation of land is a major problem
• Soil erosion
• Reduced soil fertility
• Gully formation
• Deforestation
• (use of dung for fuel, not for soil)
• Mountainous landscape
• Pressure to cultivate sloping land
• Erosion including gully erosion
• Transportation difficult and inputs not easy to
  access
• Poverty
• Unable to afford inputs (because of high risk of
  crop failure)
• Vicious circle of over-use of land in order to
  meet basic food security causing decreased
  fertility

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Land scarcity

• Growing population
• Last distribution of cultivable land happened in
  1991. None since.
• Limited options for off-farm incomes
• So land being farmed in smaller and smaller plots
  by increased numbers in households
• Growing problem of landless youths

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Policies on communal NRM in early 1990s

• Attempts to address land degradation for many
  years from early 1970s.
• Mainly top-down technical approaches of building
  terraces/bunds and tree-planting
• Soil/water conservation (SWC) measures continued
  supported by NGOs as well as regional
  government technical officers
• Included promoting area closures to allow
  regeneration
• Communal resources managed by communities (in
  some cases state managed forests)

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General policy background

• New government took over from Derg regime in 1991
  (many years of conflict)
• Land remained state owned
• Regions authorized to develop regulations on NRM
• Baito system of local democracy
• Decentralisation
• Regular Strategic and Development Plans
• Last land redistribution in 1991
• Land registration and certification

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Hillside distribution

• In 1997, the Guideline for Development and
  Utilisation of Hillsides was included in the
  Proclamation to Decide on Utilisation of Rural
  Lands
• Hillsides under the tabia ownership, but not
  developed so far shall be provided to the
  landless in the tabia so they can benefit by
  privately developing the hillsides
• This has been widely adopted, with communities
  themselves deciding on communal land to
  distribute and establishing byelaws for management

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How did this change happen?
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ROA applied in Tigray case study

• All three ROA components used to produce the
  timeline of events and influences
• Literature review commissioned timeline of key
  events
• Interviews and field visits
• Workshop two levels
• Farmers local-level technical officers
• Map actors and events important for changes in
  local policies and institutions
• Conducted in Tigrinya
• Woreda and Regional-level officials and NGOs
• Map actors, events and behaviour leading to
  development of Hillside Guideline
• Conducted in English
• Follow-up interviews

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Key events and activities

• Large number of small and medium scale
  development projects donor/NGO supported
• Major ILRI/IFPRI research 1996-2002 on
  sustainable land management in Tigray
• Wide range of related research by various actors
  on issues of land degradation and management of
  communal resources
• Tigray Forest Action Plan 1997

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Tigray Hillside Guideline policy process -
simplified
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Policy change process

• Initiative started independently in one village
  Echmare in northeast Tigray
• Pressures of landlessness and poor success from
  previous community-based forest initiatives
• Local Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Development
  (BOARD) supported the initiative
• Word spread
• Externally between communities
• Internally within BOARD
• Case studies done in TFAP process
• Hillside Guidelines passed 1997

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What didnt play a role?

• No evidence that research played a role in this
  regional-level policy change
• Except the BOARD internal case studies.
• NGOs/donors did not initiate the practice,
  though they now support the approach as part of
  integrated SWC measures

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Lessons 1

• Simple initiatives addressing locally-relevant
  NRM issues can result in local policy change.
• Innovative approach to solve a very real problem
  (two)
• If NRM research is more closely linked to
  grass-roots practice communities and service
  deliverers, findings may be more readily taken up
  in policy change.
• Who makes the actual decisions on land
  management?
• Seeing is believing and good news travels when
  people have seen the impact.

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Lessons 2

• Effective internal communication mechanisms
  within government bodies means evidence can
  spread effectively within organisations.
• Policy/institutional changes may need to be
  linked to technical interventions. Either on its
  own may fail to address the problem.
• For role of research or NGOs ?
• Difficult to draw conclusions. No role in this
  case. But
• NGO role in spreading and supporting the practice
• Particular NGO types in Ethiopia
• Research role in wider dissemination beyond what
  can be managed by own-eye experience

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• Thank you!