Alienating Land from People

The concept of wildlife conservation, which originated in the developed countries in the North, has prevailed in the various conservation agencies' in Africa. However, the perceptions and experiences of local people in regard to the conservation of natural resources have been mostly neglected. As a result, the establishment of wildlife conservation areas has fueled the conflicts between local people and conservation agencies. Consequently, many conservation projects have failed.In the 1980s, conservation agencies, began to place importance on the involvement of local people in conservation activities. At the same time the indigenous systems maintained in local societies started to be studied in regard to their social, cultural and ecological perspectives. However, to date only a few studies have been published focusing on the relationship between local people and conservation areas.The aim of this study was to investigate the historical relationships between the livelihood of Oromo people and the conservation policies of Ethiopian governments, using the Senkelle Swayne's Hartebeest Sanctuary as an example. The author also investigated conservation-oriented activities of local people and their indigenous systems for the management of land and natural resources.The establishment of the conservation area in 1976 has resulted in restricted access for local people to ancestral land and natural resources. The establishment of both the sanctuary and a state farm had a marked impact on their livelihood during the socialist regime (1974-1991). In reaction to this, local people have resisted certain policies, and have coped with the changing situations using different strategies to maintain their natural resources.As a basic premise of conservation, it is vital that conservationists understand the structures and customs of local people from a variety of perspective. Moreover, in Ethiopia, comprehensive field studies on natural resource utilization by local people are needed to incorporate their indigenous systems of resource utilization into conservation activities and in order to not alienate the support for conservation activities

Archaeology · Business · Geography · Pure land · Environmental Science · Land Rights and Reforms

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