Human stewardship or ruining cultural landscapes of the ancientTulawells, southern Ethiopia

Bibliographic Data

ID5286500
AuthorsWaktole Tiki (Norwegian University of Life Sciences), Gufu Oba (Norwegian University of Life Sciences), Terje Tvedt (0000-0002-2349-4731, Norwegian University of Life Sciences)
Year2011
Volume177
Issue1
Pages62-78
Publication date2011-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueGeographical Journal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0016-7398 • E-ISSN: 1475-4959
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1475-4959.2010.00369.x
PMID21560273
OpenAlexW1508538802
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited53

This article uses the concepts of 'human stewardship' and 'ruined landscape' as a theoretical framework for analysing the community's perception of landscape change in the ancienttulawell system of Borana in southern Ethiopia. The ancienttulawell system, the main permanent water source, has been in operation for more than five centuries and it closely links human activity and the environment. The welfare of thetulawell system and the performance of the Borana pastoral system are directly related. Borana management of thetulawells uses concepts such aslaaf aadaa seeraaandlaaf badeto differentiate between 'land managed by customary laws' (hereafter human stewardship) and 'lost' or 'ruined' land (laaf bade). The cultural landscapes of the ancient wells have undergone changes from ecosystems featuring 'human stewardship' (before the 1960s), that is,laaf aadaa seeraato 'ruined landscapes' (after the 1960s), that is,laaf bade.Our interest is in understanding how the Borana perceive the impact of land use changes from these two conceptual perspectives. In group discussions, key informant interviews and household surveys across five of the nine well clusters, we found that the society described the changedtulacultural landscape in terms of drivers of well dynamics (i.e. use and disuse), break up of land use zonations, patterns of human settlement (traditional versus peri-urban), expansion of crop cultivation, and changes in environmental quality. Using the two concepts, we analysed linkages between changing patterns of land use that transformed the system fromlaaf aadaa seeraa, which ensured human stewardship, tolaaf bade, which resulted in ruined landscapes. From these we analysed environmental narratives that showed how the society differentiated the past human stewardship that ensured sustainable landscape management from the present ruining oftulawell cultural landscapes

Environmental stewardship · Human settlement · Settlement (finance · Stewardship · African history and culture analysis · Hydropower, Displacement, Environmental Impact · Rangeland Management and Livestock Ecology