Climatic and Environmental Challenges: Learning from the Horn of Africa
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Climatic and Environmental Challenges: Learning from the Horn of Africa David Ambrosetti, Jean-Renaud Boisserie, Deresse Ayenachew and Thomas Guindeuil (dir.) DOI: 10.4000/books.cfee.101 Publisher: Centre français des études éthiopiennes Place of publication: Addis-Abeba Year of publication: 2016 Published on OpenEdition Books: 28 July 2016 Serie: Corne de l’Afrique contemporaine / Contemporary Horn of Africa Electronic ISBN: 9782821873001 http://books.openedition.org Electronic reference AMBROSETTI, David (ed.) ; et al. Climatic and Environmental Challenges: Learning from the Horn of Africa. New edition [online]. Addis-Abeba: Centre français des études éthiopiennes, 2016 (generated 02 octobre 2020). Available on the Internet: <http://books.openedition.org/cfee/101>. ISBN: 9782821873001. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/books.cfee.101. This text was automatically generated on 2 October 2020. It is the result of an OCR (optical character recognition) scanning. © Centre français des études éthiopiennes, 2016 Terms of use: http://www.openedition.org/6540 1 In the prospect of the COP21 held in Paris in December 2015, the French Centre for Ethiopian Studies (CFEE) organised a scientific conference on environmental and climatic changes in the horn of Africa, with a decisive financial support of the Institut français (Fonds d’Alembert), Paris. The conference was part of a larger event, called “the Road to Paris” and organised by the French Embassy to Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa Regional Environment Centre and Network (HoA- REC&N), Addis Ababa University, in HoA-REC&N headquarters at Gullele Botanic Gardens, Addis Ababa, from 7 to 9 April 2015. In this event, our first purpose was to set aside from the pressure of short-term and policy- oriented concerns raised by the international bureaucracies and bilateral donors, as to try to explore diverse, cross-disciplinary dimensions related to environmental change in the region in a wider way, wider in time and also wider in the elements observed. In a way, the Road to Paris event has also showed, with the various stakeholders and speakers it has gathered, that the issue of climate change has “solidified” automatic discourses, supporting wishful intentions and thinking, and clearly embedded in the building of professional opportunities and international careers. These discourses, indeed, are everything but close to the reality observed on the ground. In this new, competitive, social field, priority may not be easily given to scientific exploration that is not directly policy-oriented and that requires a longer time to produce strong data than what the political and bureaucratic agendas allow. One could not state, though, that interest for science is totally absent in these arenas on climate change. But, invariably, public expectations appear to be much too high in scope and in time, compared to what intellectual curiosity and scientific processes and protocols can produce on a day-to-day basis. Improving awareness on environmental changes should start here: to give a better understanding on the complexity and multiplicity of factors involved in the relation between human evolution, societal choices and developments, and natural environments. The French Centre for Ethiopian Studies (CFEE) in Addis Ababa was quite well equipped to initiate, with its partners, such a cross-disciplinary exploration. DAVID AMBROSETTI Director, CFEE JEAN-RENAUD BOISSERIE CNRS (CFEE & IPHEP) DERESSE AYENACHEW Debre Berhan University/Associate researcher at CFEE THOMAS GUINDEUIL Project officer, CFEE/Associate researcher at IMAF 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction David Ambrosetti, Jean-Renaud Boisserie and Thomas Guindeuil African States, Climate Change and the COP21 Interview with Dr. Wilfran Moufouma-Okia David Ambrosetti Environmental Changes and Their Impacts on Life: A Paleontological Approach Jean-Renaud Boisserie The “Fossil Earth” Serial apocalypses Humankind facing environmental changes in the Fossil Earth Lessons from extinct worlds Links between Solid Earth, Climate Changes, and Biodiversity through Time: Insights from the Cenozoic Pierre Sepulchre The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum From the Eocene to the Oligocene: Descent into the Icehouse Miocene climate changes and vegetation revolution Pliocene warm period and the role of seaways Environmental Descriptions of European Travelers in Ethiopia (16th-19th c.) Deresse Ayenachew Early 16th-century descriptions Post 16th-century Ethiopia Conclusion Water always Flows Downhill: A Case for Participatory Forest Management (PFM) and Decentralization of Forest Governance in REDD+ Implementation Julia Blocher Goals of REDD+ and its importance in East Africa for mitigation of carbon emissions Think global, act local: incoherencies and Inadequacies of REDD Participatory Forest Management and REDD+: Lessons from Tanzania Seeds of change? Participatory forest management in Kilosa district Case study Analysis Conclusions and recommendations Investment in the National Park? Encounters between Land Investment and Wildlife Conservation in Gambella Regional State Mehdi Labzaé Leasing land to private investors in the peripheries Official procedures and informal practices: who transfers land, and how? Land issues and the national park University Museums and the Promotion of Conservation Policies on the Pre-Revolutionary Campus of Addis Ababa (1950-1974) Thomas Guindeuil “Traditional” furniture, stuffed animals and butterflies at the Addis Ababa University College (1952-1963) The development of modern research facilities and the influential “hard” sciences Chojnacki takes the lead in the Ethiopian cultural heritage policy (1963-1974) The Natural History Museum: A project linked to the development of national parks (1964-1974) Conclusion 3 Knowledge Management on Climate Change Adaptation Analysis of Information Exchange Processes and Collaboration Networks in Rural Ethiopia Maxi Domke and Jürgen Pretzsch Ethiopia’s background on climate change and agricultural extension Methodology Results of the case study analysis in Adami Tulu Jido Kombolcha Woreda Discussion Conclusion and outlook Women and Climatic Changes in Ethiopia: A Gendered Assessment Margaux Herman History of the gender approach to development projects The critical intersection of climate change and gender mainstreaming: a financial opportunity for Ethiopia? List of abbreviations Indigenous Cosmological Paradigms for Popularizing Ecological Ethics in the Ethiopian Context Joachim Gregor Persoon Ecology and Indigenous Religious Thinking in Ethiopia Monastic Spirituality (Asceticism) and Ecology Conclusion 4 EDITOR'S NOTE This publication has been supported by the French Embassy to Ethiopia and the Institut français (Fonds d'Alembert). 5 Introduction David Ambrosetti, Jean-Renaud Boisserie and Thomas Guindeuil 1 In the prospect of the COP21 held in Paris in December 2015, the French Centre for Ethiopian Studies (CFEE) organised a scientific conference on environmental and climatic changes in the horn of Africa, with a decisive financial support of the Institut français (Fonds d’Alembert), Paris. The conference was part of a larger event, called “the Road to Paris” and organised by the French Embassy to Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa Regional Environment Centre and Network (HoA-REC&N), Addis Ababa University, in HoA-REC&N headquarters at Gullele Botanic Gardens, Addis Ababa, from 7 to 9 April 2015. 2 In this event, our first purpose was to set aside from the pressure of short-term and policy-oriented concerns raised by the international bureaucracies and bilateral donors, as to try to explore diverse, cross-disciplinary dimensions related to environmental change in the region in a wider way, wider in time and also wider in the elements observed. In a way, the Road to Paris event has also showed, with the various stakeholders and speakers it has gathered, that the issue of climate change has “solidified” automatic discourses, supporting wishful intentions and thinking, and clearly embedded in the building of professional opportunities and international careers. These discourses, indeed, are everything but close to the reality observed on the ground. 3 In this new, competitive, social field, priority may not be easily given to scientific exploration that is not directly policy-oriented and that requires a longer time to produce strong data than what the political and bureaucratic agendas allow. One could not state, though, that interest for science is totally absent in these arenas on climate change. But, invariably, public expectations appear to be much too high in scope and in time, compared to what intellectual curiosity and scientific processes and protocols can produce on a day-to-day basis. Improving awareness on environmental changes should start here: to give a better understanding on the complexity and multiplicity of factors involved in the relation between human evolution, societal choices and developments, and natural environments. 4 The French Centre for Ethiopian Studies (CFEE) in Addis Ababa was quite well equipped to initiate, with its partners, such a cross-disciplinary exploration. In its 25-year long 6 history (not mentioning here its own “prehistory” bringing back to the permanent presence of French archaeologists in Ethiopia from the 1950s till 1974), it has been leading and supporting research in the Horn of Africa in various topics of direct or indirect interest for the matter of environmental changes, notably: 5 - the “deep past” of the humankind and its environments, thanks to the paleo-