Community Ecological Governance in Action

The Wereda district of north-west Ethiopia has a population of around 16,000 and covers an expanse of 40,000 hectares. In 2004, Fassil Gebeyehu from the Institute for Sustainable Development began working with the community of Keyarata, his own ancestral community, and one in where some traditional practices have remained. A village of around 250 huts in close proximity to each other, Keyarata is located in the highlands of North West Ethiopia, around 600km from Addis. It is sufficiently remote that it can only be accessed via a series of challenging roads and tracks.

When Fassil first returned to his village - the home of his father - in 2004, he was struck by how many traditional customs and daily practices were still carried out in the village. It was clear to him that surrounding villages had been more adversely affected by external modern influences and development. But in Keyarata, Fassil recalls that "every morning and night the community would gather for a coffee ceremony. They had the equivalent of a shaman conducting the ceremony and each member of the village would bring some form of edible contribution to the coffee ceremony".

However, while many of these traditional social customs had been retained, some of the ecological knowledge which helps to guide the communities practices on and with their landscape, had been eroded. Population increase meant greater pressures on the land, and external influences such as religion and western education systems were not reinforcing the value of indigenous knowledge. This loss in confidence and value regarding traditional practices and understandings of the land where being directly reflected in the landscape. The number of trees in the region had decreased, meaning that the forest cover and roots were no longer nourishing, securing and protecting the soil, and so the soil was severely degraded. Furthermore, the community had over-grazed their livestock without fully realising the detrimental impact that this was having upon their environment. Over the months that followed, Fassil and the Institute for Sustainable Development (ISD), supported by the African Biodiversity Network (ABN) and Gaia, began to hold a series of community dialogues within and around Keyarata in order to catalyse the community to begin to analyse what had happened to the land, understand the impacts of their practices, and then begin the process of transforming their landscape. This became one of the flagship examples across the African Biodiversiy Network of the transformative power of community dialogues and Community Ecological Governance. Together with the community, Fassil and ISD identified 3000 hectares of watershed area surrounding Keyarata, and work began to transform this scarred landscape by working with the community to revive traditional knowledge and practices for ecological farming.

Here, Fassil Gebeyehu talks to Gaia about some of the environmental restoration techniques and traditional livelihood options which were implemented in order to transform the region. Simple soil and water conservation methods, forest re-planting and schemes to encourage the diversification of farming practices are just some of the processes which gave this landscape a new lease of life...

Introducing terracing and a 'cut and carry' system

"The first thing that we implemented was terracing. We terraced the area so that the soil would not be able to wash away so easily, and then we planted trees along the terraces, further securing the soil by planting roots to hold it in place. Furthermore, the trees will give nourishment and foliage cover for protection in the long term. Once the forest cover is sufficient, the protected land beneath it regenerates quickly and grasses begin to grow. This enables the farmers to use a 'cut and carry' system to feed their livestock, rather than leading their livestock to the land to graze. Taking their livestock onto the land had led to overgrazing and soil degradation, but now the farmers can simply take what they need to their livestock, and the fodder is far healthier and more nourishing than the dry grasses the cattle were previously foraging from. Because of their improved diets, the cattle are fatter and sell better, produce more milk and so on. The number of people utilising and benefiting from this cut and carry system shifted from just 0.51% to over 40% in just a year!"

Increasing forest cover

"Before 2005 there was just 6% forest cover in the Wereda (or district). We tripled this to 18% in just a year by planting a mixture of indigenous trees, some fruit bearing. Those who planted fruit trees can secure their livelihoods in a very short space of time. They can sell the fruit and with that buy oxon and sheep. Through this work we helped around 18,000 farmers - some with fruit trees, some with other agricultural or livelihood improvements".

Reviving Beekeeping as a traditional livelihood option

"Beekeeping is another area in which we have improved techniques and livelihoods across the district. Before 2005 there were only 3 modern beehives based on stilts on the ground compared to 2341 traditional log beehives which are hung high up in trees. By 2007 we had increased access to both, meaning there were 452 modern hives, and 6441 traditional. All of the farmers now have beehives as a result! Farmers used to deal with farming activities only but now they couple up their activities - they engage with farming but they also have bees, compost, they do cut and carry system. They have diverse farming and livelihood options - and this is the key to resilience. This has never been so critical as it is now, in the face of climate change".

Water harvesting

"Water harvesting is an essential aspect of the conservation principles that we introduced to the area. The farmers were not capturing the vital water that was falling in the area, and so it was not only being lost as it was running down the valley, it was also exacerbating the soil erosion.

We introduced the community to simple harvesting techniques and we had a pilot site at Masha elementary school where farmers and development agents came to learn how they could replicate the experience. Methods such as capturing water running off roofs, channelling water which is running down the hillside into water holes and irrigating the land all played a vital part in this process of working with the land. We also dug wells using the farmers' unrivalled knowledge of the landscape. They know exactly where there are underground sources of water; they are the ones who know the stories and subtleties of the land. Their knowledge had not been completely lost, but their confidence in it had been. They didn't realise that the knowledge needed to restore their degraded landscape was in the community all along, and this indigenous knowledge was vital to the whole process. It formed the basis of everything which we worked on with the community. We would not have known where the water sources were without this rich knowledge which has been passed on between generations.

After all of these processes for capture and storage of water had been implemented, the clean water coverage of the area rose from 0% to over 40%, and even more in some of the small towns whose water systems were affected".

'Model' farmers

"We organised an extensive number of compost-making workshops: almost 25,000 households participated or benefitted as a result. One of the ways in which the benefits of many of these methods spread so quickly and so effectively was through our 'model farmer' scheme. The meaning of a 'model' farmer in this context is a farmer who fulfils at least three or more of the activities I have mentioned. For instance, he or she has a compost pit, water-harvesting and separate houses for cattle and humans. This is the minimum requirement - further they can have beehives, poultry, fruit trees and so on. We encouraged model farmers so that they can promote farmer-to-farmer or 'peer-to-peer' promotion. They are the ones who promote their achievements, not us! Other farmers listen to farmers who have experienced the changes in their lifestyle and they become inspired to do the same.

Over 6000 model farmers were identified across the district between 2005 and 2007 as a result of the process. That's 6000 farmers who had diversified their means of livelihood and contributed to the restoration of their previously degraded landscape. Almost all 1000 farmers managed to send their children to school as a result of this because of the additional income they generated through their improved practices. Almost 2000 farmers who had not had any cattle now have livestock. 104 farmers purchased a mule: Mules are expensive animals in Ethiopia so it's the sign of a rich man! And 60 farmers managed to buy their own mill! They now serve their community with milled flour, not just themselves. This also lifts a huge burden from the women who were the ones who would manually grind the grain. This is a significant change for the women of the community.

The whole process has been recognised by the Federal Environmental Authority and Ministry of Agriculture in Ethiopia. People from all over the country have been invited to the district to see the impressive transformation of both the landscape and livelihoods which has taken place here in such a short space of time".

Click to read the full interview with Fassil Gebeyehu and find out more about the experiential learning process in Botswana which inspired Fassil's journey to Keya Rata.