The arid and semiarid low lands of Ethiopia: Environments, pastoral economies and issues in natural resources sustainability
Ethiopia has a vast lowland area that is important for human subsistence and the national economy. This paper reviews the physical and biological features of the lowlands and some Development perspectives that have been pursued since the 1970s. As elsewhere in Ethiopia, the lowlands have growing pop...
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| Format: | Conference Paper |
| Language: | Inglés |
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Institute of Agricultural Research
1990
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/51129 |
| _version_ | 1855522153674309632 |
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| author | Coppock, D. Layne |
| author_browse | Coppock, D. Layne |
| author_facet | Coppock, D. Layne |
| author_sort | Coppock, D. Layne |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | Ethiopia has a vast lowland area that is important for human subsistence and the national economy. This paper reviews the physical and biological features of the lowlands and some Development perspectives that have been pursued since the 1970s. As elsewhere in Ethiopia, the lowlands have growing populations of people and livestock that might be responsible for resource degradation in the form of overgrazing and dryland cultivation. A third factor of degradation, bush encroachment, is the combined effect of overgrazing and lack of fire management. The solutions to these problems vary in difficulty, though all would principally involve pastoral participation in problem-solving, local administrative facilitation, and reevaluation of some national resource management policies. The latter includes the need to formulate regional landuse guidelines, with local loosening of restrictions to permit range burning or regulated charcoal production (where appropriate), thereby to enhance the quality of some vegetation communities. Of all problems, overstocking is the most difficult to solve. This arises from a human population that is still subsistence-oriented and has little other alternatives than invest resources in livestock. Options to help ameliorate this problem may include more pay-as-you-go Development activities to stimulate cash demand, and possibly raising livestock prices to increase offtake. Until the economy is in a position to offer attractive alternatives to livestock-based subsistence and investment, the specter of overstocking in some lowland areas will not be avoided |
| format | Conference Paper |
| id | CGSpace51129 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 1990 |
| publishDateRange | 1990 |
| publishDateSort | 1990 |
| publisher | Institute of Agricultural Research |
| publisherStr | Institute of Agricultural Research |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace511292024-03-06T10:16:43Z The arid and semiarid low lands of Ethiopia: Environments, pastoral economies and issues in natural resources sustainability Coppock, D. Layne lowlands environment pastoralism natural resources rangelands climate population development projects cultivation overgrazing Ethiopia has a vast lowland area that is important for human subsistence and the national economy. This paper reviews the physical and biological features of the lowlands and some Development perspectives that have been pursued since the 1970s. As elsewhere in Ethiopia, the lowlands have growing populations of people and livestock that might be responsible for resource degradation in the form of overgrazing and dryland cultivation. A third factor of degradation, bush encroachment, is the combined effect of overgrazing and lack of fire management. The solutions to these problems vary in difficulty, though all would principally involve pastoral participation in problem-solving, local administrative facilitation, and reevaluation of some national resource management policies. The latter includes the need to formulate regional landuse guidelines, with local loosening of restrictions to permit range burning or regulated charcoal production (where appropriate), thereby to enhance the quality of some vegetation communities. Of all problems, overstocking is the most difficult to solve. This arises from a human population that is still subsistence-oriented and has little other alternatives than invest resources in livestock. Options to help ameliorate this problem may include more pay-as-you-go Development activities to stimulate cash demand, and possibly raising livestock prices to increase offtake. Until the economy is in a position to offer attractive alternatives to livestock-based subsistence and investment, the specter of overstocking in some lowland areas will not be avoided 1990 2014-10-31T06:22:07Z 2014-10-31T06:22:07Z Conference Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/51129 en Limited Access Institute of Agricultural Research |
| spellingShingle | lowlands environment pastoralism natural resources rangelands climate population development projects cultivation overgrazing Coppock, D. Layne The arid and semiarid low lands of Ethiopia: Environments, pastoral economies and issues in natural resources sustainability |
| title | The arid and semiarid low lands of Ethiopia: Environments, pastoral economies and issues in natural resources sustainability |
| title_full | The arid and semiarid low lands of Ethiopia: Environments, pastoral economies and issues in natural resources sustainability |
| title_fullStr | The arid and semiarid low lands of Ethiopia: Environments, pastoral economies and issues in natural resources sustainability |
| title_full_unstemmed | The arid and semiarid low lands of Ethiopia: Environments, pastoral economies and issues in natural resources sustainability |
| title_short | The arid and semiarid low lands of Ethiopia: Environments, pastoral economies and issues in natural resources sustainability |
| title_sort | arid and semiarid low lands of ethiopia environments pastoral economies and issues in natural resources sustainability |
| topic | lowlands environment pastoralism natural resources rangelands climate population development projects cultivation overgrazing |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/51129 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT coppockdlayne thearidandsemiaridlowlandsofethiopiaenvironmentspastoraleconomiesandissuesinnaturalresourcessustainability AT coppockdlayne aridandsemiaridlowlandsofethiopiaenvironmentspastoraleconomiesandissuesinnaturalresourcessustainability |