The Environmental Consequences Of Dependent Development In The Upper Awash Valley And The Predicaments Of The Kereyu

Traditional Ethiopian thought, which, on the main, was either limited to religious themes or confined tornmaterials befitting chronicles, started to cede ground to thinking in modern lines with the coming ontornthe scene of the writing of Aleka Zeneb Etiopia. Subsequent developments, among others, ushered in arnbody of development thought that attained its apogee in the works of Negadras GebreHywot Baykedagnrnin the first quarter of the last century. In his two works, Atse Menelik-na Ithiopia (1912) and Mengst-narnYe-hzb Astedader (1924), GebreHywot, grappled with the trio: development, environment andrninternational trade, concerns which are not only of universal in appeal and, consequently, relevant tornthis date, but to a certain extent unsurpassed. This study takes its cue as well as draws its inspirationsrnfrom these works of GebreHywot to investigate the type of development path subscribed to in this countryrnand the environmental, social and economic consequences thereof with focus on the Awash Valley and,rnin particular, with a close-up look in the fate of a local community there, the Kereyu.rnSuch phrases as ‘sustainable development’, ‘the rights to development’, ‘community rights’, ‘selfdetermination’rnor ‘benefit sharing’ appear, on the one hand, as though they are domesticated householdrnitems, while, on the other, they are rarely understood for what they are and instead tend to be eitherrnbaffling or rarely properly appreciated, leave alone, inform or mother a worthwhile body of action forrnanyone to change the world or assert one’s rights in any meaningful way. The main objective of thisrnstudy is to assess the environmental consequences of the development that the country came to subscribernto or to discern the impacts ensuing from integration in the world market with the following four specificrnobjectives: capture the thought development and, in particular, the development thought as well as tracernthe development measures that transpired in the country and weight their present-day plausibility andrnsignificance; bring out the environmental, social and economic transformations and the various fortunesrnand misfortunes pastoralist communities inhabiting the Upper Awash Valley are undergoing; comparernand contrast the various policy measures, institutional developments, legislative achievements, etc.rngarnered all along with the precepts of sustainable development, and indicate all possible areas ofrnintervention that may foment positive environmental improvement in the study area.rnThe study was preponderantly designed to portray the environmental history of the study area; it was sorndesigned as to rely on records and other documentations available as well as generate primary datarninvolving measurements of relevant physico-chemical environmental parameters analyzed in accreditedrnlaboratories. The first of these measurements pertains to the environmental quality of the Awash Riverrnbased on sample sites extending from Addis Ababa to the Awash Station. The second physico-chemicalrnmeasurement regards soil analysis to possibly characterize the degree of range transformation in thernstudy area. In addition, unstructured interviews have been utilized to generate other relevant primaryrndata.rnThe results of the sudy have indicated that the development that transpired in the valley over the yearsrnsevered the Kereyu from the resources, which constituted their sole lifeline. Actually, it ended up withrnuntoward impacts, which, inter alia, confined the Kereyu within less and less space in mostly marginalrnland characterized with less and less carrying capacity, perpetrating, in turn, a situation of where thernland remaining to the Kereyu is alarmingly devegetated and the soil compacted and the Awash Riverrnpolluted. The environmental disruption had both distant and proximate causes. The former is attributedrnto the global climate change fawning desertification while the latter owes itself to the variousrndevelopment activities that came into the valley or impinged upon it. The Awash River and its affluentsrnsuffered in terms of pollution. The level of some cations and anions in this river are well above standardrneither seasonally or throughout the year vis-à-vis various environmental standards, owing to eitherrnnatural or anthropogenic causes. Fluoride is a good example of the first type and its level was above 4rnmg/L (more than 2.5 mg/L above standard) in the dry season. The level of land degradation, in terms ofrndevegetation manifested itself in a variety of range conditions, consisting of either bare ground cover,rngrass or non-grass species. The difference in range condition evident was neither due to variation in soilrnnutrients nor due to change in such physical parameters as soil bulk density, but owes itself tornovergrazing and other forms of devegetation.rnThe major policy implications of the study constitute: putting a stop to any further alienation of naturalrnresources pastoralist communities are entitled to and the restoration of what was lost to them in the pastrnin accordance to the Constitution of the land. The latter can best be accomplished, among others, byrninstituting benefit-sharing mechanisms with developments projects already in full swing in the area

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