Natural Resource Degradation and Famine in Ethiopia Assessment of Students’ Awareness and Views By Aklilu Dalelo A Dissertation Presented as a Fulfilment of the Requirements for a Doctor of Philosophy (Dr. phil) Degree in Geography and Environmental Education Flensburg University, Institute of Geographic Education and Regional Science June, 2000 DEDICATION This work is dedicated to my teachers at Gerema, Damboya and Durame primary and secondary schools who laid a foundation for my further education. CONTENT 1 INTRODUCTION 13 1.1 BACKGROUND 13 1.1.1 Centuries of Continuous Degradation: The State of Natural Resources in Ethiopia 13 1.1.2 The Premise 13 1.2 THE PROBLEM AND AIM OF THE STUDY 14 1.3 VARIABLES AND HYPOTHESES 15 1.4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 16 1.4.1 Document Analysis 16 1.4.2 Field Research 17 1.4.2.1 Preparation of Data Gathering Instruments 17 1.4.2.2 Administration of the Instrument (Post-test Version) 20 1.4.2.3 Methods of Data Analysis 21 1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 22 2 LAND DEGRADATION: A THREAT TO LIFE IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD 23 2.1 THE VALUE OF LAND AS A NATURAL RESOURCE 23 2.2 PROBLEM OF LAND DEGRADATION 23 2.2.1 Land Degradation: The Oldest of the Environmental Problems? 23 2.2.2 Causes of Land Degradation 25 2.2.2.1 Land Degradation through Soil Erosion 26 2.2.2.2 Land Degradation through Overgrazing 28 2.2.2.3 Land Degradation through Sedimentation 29 2.2.2.4 Land Degradation through Intensive Farming 29 2.2.2.5 Land Degradation through Pollution 30 2.2.2.6 External Debt and Trade Barriers as Causes of Land Degradation 30 2.3 CONSEQUENCES OF LAND DEGRADATION 30 2.3.1 Desertification 30 2.3.2 Population Displacement 31 2.3.3 Poverty and Malnutrition 31 3 THE PROBLEM OF NATURAL RESOURCE DEGRADATION IN ETHIOPIA 32 3.1 BACKGROUND TO THE PROBLEM OF NATURAL RESOURCE DEGRADATION 32 3.1.1 Physical Characteristics 32 3.1.2 Pattern of Population Distribution 33 3.2 EXTENT AND SEVERITY OF NATURAL RESOURCE DEGRADATION 34 3.2.1 Depletion of Forests 35 3.2.2 Degradation of Farm Land 37 3 3.2.3 Degradation of Grazing Land 40 3.3 TENURE RIGHT AND THE PROBLEM OF NATURAL RESOURCE DEGRADATION 42 3.4 LACK OF AWARENESS AS FACTOR FOR NATURAL RESOURCE DEGRADATION 42 3.5 CONSEQUENCES OF NATURAL RESOURCE DEGRADATION 43 3.5.1 Non-Economic Consequences 43 3.5.2 Economic Consequences 45 3.6 MEASURES PROPOSED AGAINST NATURAL RESOURCE DEGRADATION 46 3.6.1 Afforestation and Reforestation 46 3.6.2 Conservation Oriented Crop Combination and Land Management 47 3.6.3 Agroforestry 47 3.6.4 Ensuring Rights of Tenure 48 3.6.5 Controlling the Rate of Population Growth 48 4 FAMINE IN ETHIOPIA: CAUSES, CONSEQUENCES AND CURES 49 4.1 A DISTRESSFUL ASSOCIATION TO FAMINE 49 4.2 FAMINE IN ETHIOPIA: A HISTORICAL ACCOUNT 49 4.3 MULTIPLE CAUSES OF FAMINE 51 4.3.1 Famine as a Result of Natural Factors 51 4.3.2 Famine as a Result of Socio-economic and Political Factors 52 4.3.2.1 Gap between Rates of Food Production and Population Growth 53 4.3.2.2 System of Production 53 4.3.2.3 Deterioration of Household Resources 54 4.3.2.4 Shortage of Alternative Employment Opportunities 54 4.3.2.5 Taxes and Payments Imposed on Peasants 54 4.3.2.6 The Market 54 4.3.2.7 War and Political Instability 55 4.4 CONSEQUENCES OF FAMINE 55 4.4.1 Death of People 56 4.4.2 Long Ranging Economic Effects 56 4.4.3 Socio-psychological Effects 56 4.5 MEASURES TO PREVENT THE OCCURRENCE AND CONTROL THE EFFECTS OF FAMINE 56 4.5.1 Protection of the Right to Food and Provision of Famine Relief 56 4.5.2 Long-term Strategies against Famine 57 4.5.3 Increasing food production 57 4.5.4 Monitoring of Household Food Security: A Strategy for Preventing Occurrence of Famine 57 4.6 FIGHT AGAINST FAMINE: PRACTICAL SIDE OF THE MATTER 58 4 5 GEOGRAPHY CURRICULUM AND ISSUES RELATED TO THE USE AND MANAGEMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES 59 5.1 HISTORICAL TIES BETWEEN GEOGRAPHIC EDUCATION AND NATURAL RESOURCE USE AND MANAGEMENT 59 5.1.1 What is Geographic Education all about? 59 5.1.2 Geographic Education and Environmental Awareness 59 5.1.3 Geographic Education of Tomorrow 60 5.2 ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES IN GEOGRAPHY CURRICULUM: THE CASE OF GERMANY 60 5.2.1 Environmental issues well addressed 60 5.2.2 Environmental Issues in Geography Syllabus for Schools in Schleswig- Holstein 61 5.3 NATURAL RESOURCE USE AND MANAGEMENT IN GEOGRAPHY CURRICULUM FOR ETHIOPIAN SCHOOLS 64 5.3.1 Geographic Education in Ethiopian Schools 64 5.3.2 Analysis of Objectives 64 5.3.3 Analysis of Students’ Textbooks 66 5.3.4 Ample but Unused Opportunity 69 5.4 THE PROBLEM OF NATURAL RESOURCE DEGRADATION IN THE REVISED SYLLABI 69 5.4.1 A Beginning that Could Transform Geographic Education in Ethiopian Schools 69 5.4.2 The Revised Geography Syllabi 70 6 STUDENTS’ AWARENESS OF AND VIEWS ABOUT ISSUES RELATED TO NATURAL RESOURCE USE AND MANAGEMENT 72 6.1 A BRIEF REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 72 6.1.1 Poor and Discouraging Results 72 6.1.2 Very General and Uncritical Knowledge 73 6.1.3 Great Concern for the Ennvironment 73 6.1.4 Knowledge-Attitude-Behaviour Relationship 74 6.2 RESULTS OF THE PRESENT STUDY 74 6.2.1 A Preliminary Analysis 74 6.2.2 Causes of Land Degradation 75 6.2.3 Consequences of Land Degradation 76 6.2.4 Measures against Land Degradation 77 6.2.5 Natural Resource Use and Management 77 6.2.6 Analysis of Individual Items 78 6.3 VIEWS ABOUT NATURAL RESOURCE USE AND MANAGEMENT 81 6.3.1 Environmental Problems Rated on the Basis of Seriousness 81 6.3.2 Views about the Specific Issues 83 5 7 STUDENTS’ VIEWS ABOUT FAMINE IN ETHIOPIA 88 7.1 WHAT DO EXPERTS AND THE ACADEMIA SAY? 88 7.2 A PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS 88 7.3 CAUSES OF FAMINE 89 7.4 SOLUTIONS TO FAMINE 90 7.5 VIEWS ABOUT SPECIFICS FACTORS RELATED TO FAMINE 90 7.5.1 Drought as a Factor 91 7.5.2 Government Officials and Policies as Factors 91 7.5.3 Famine and Hard work 93 8 FACTORS INFLUENCING AWARENESS OF AND VIEWS ABOUT NATURAL RESOURCE DEGRADATION AND FAMINE 94 8.1 A BRIEF REVIEW OF LITERATURE 94 8.1.1 Curricular Focus and Teaching Strategies 94 8.1.2 Age/Grade Level 94 8.1.3 Sex 95 8.1.4 Place of Residence 95 8.1.5 Academic Stream 95 8.2 IMPACT OF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION ON STUDENTS’ KNOWLEDGE 96 8.3 FINDINGS OF THE PRESENT STUDY 96 8.3.1 Difference in Grade Level 96 8.3.2 Difference in Sex 97 8.3.3 Difference between Students with and without Geography Background 99 9 SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 101 9.1 SUMMARY 101 9.2 CONCLUSION 106 9.3 RECOMMENDATIONS 108 9.4 ZUSAMMENFASSUNG, FOLGERUNGEN, EMPFEHLUNGEN (Summary, Conclusion and Recommendations – German Version) 110 9.4.1 Zusammenfassung 110 9.4.2 Folgerungen 116 9.4.3 Empfehlungen 117 A. REFERENCE 120 B. APPENDIX I 129 C. APPENDIX II 132 D. APPENDIX III 135 6 TABLES Table 1.1 Check-list for reviewing the place of ‘issues related to the use and management of natural resources’ in the syllabi and student textbooks of Geography for Ethiopian secondary schools 17 Table 1.2 Number of students who participated in the study by grade level 21 Table 2.1 The state of soil degradation in the world 24 Table 2.2 Land degradation by type of land use 25 Table 2.3 The dominant forms of soil degradation in the world 25 Table 2.4 Extent of soil degradation by form and degree of seriousness 26 Table 2.5 Extent and seriousness of soil erosion by water 26 Table 2.6 Extent and seriousness of soil erosion by wind 27 Table 2.7 Causes of soil degradation (Area in Mill. km² and %) 27 Table 2.8 Amount of rainforests cleared annually during the 1980’s in selected tropical countries 28 Table 3.1 Altitude-population relationship in Ethiopia 34 Table 3.2 Forest loss by source 35 Table 3.3 Household energy consumption as a percentage of total biomass consumption in a number of selected African countries 36 Table 3.4 Estimates for household energy consumption by source (percent of total energy consumption) 37 Table 3.5 Estimated rates of soil loss on slopes in Ethiopia dependent on land cover 39 Table 3.6 Social costs of resource degradation in selected countries 45 Table 4.1 Time of occurrence of famine in Ethiopia and areas affected 50 Table 4.2 Population at risk of famine in Ethiopia (1977-1991) 50 Table 4.3 Average annual growth rates of total and per capita food production in % 53 Table 5.1 Themenübersicht (Topic Overview) 62 Table 5.2 Topics related to the use and management of natural resources that are integrated into the revised geography syllabi for Ethiopian secondary schools 71 7 Table 6.1 Table 6.1 Awareness about land degradation: Performance by grade level 74 Table 6.2 Awareness about land degradation: Performance of junior secondary schools 75 Table 6.3 Awareness about land degradation: Performance of senior secondary schools and the TTI 75 Table 6.4 Causes of land degradation as expressed by the respondents 76 Table 6.5 Consequences of land degradation as expressed by the respondents 76 Table 6.6 Measures against land degradation as expressed by the respondents 77 Table 6.7 Awareness about issues related to natural resource use and management: Performance by grade level 77 Table 6.8 Awareness related to natural resource use and management: Junior secondary schools 78 Table 6.9 Awareness related to natural resource use and management: Senior secondary schools and TTI 78 Table 6.10 Items correpoding to the codes (A1-5 and B1-10) 79 Table 6.11 Performance of students in both general and specific items 79 Table 6.12 Performance in general items (A1-A5) 80 Table 6.13 Performance in items related to the problem of natural resource degradation in Ethiopia (B1-B10) 81 Table 6.14 Some environmental problems (1,2,3..