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The effectiveness of village bylaws in sustainable management of community-managed exclosures in Northern Ethiopia

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Abstract

Communities in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia, have established exclosures on formerly degraded grazing lands and other land uses to promote natural regeneration of plants. Village bylaws devised by communities govern the management of exclosures. We analysed the effectiveness of village bylaws that are used to manage exclosures in addressing forest degradation, resolving conflicts among users over natural resource use, and meeting high expectations of users to realise economic benefits from exclosures through enhancing revenue from sale of grass and dry wood. We collected data using qualitative methods during July and November 2008 in two villages of Tigray. The village bylaws mitigated forest degradation by facilitating users to have common goals in the management of exclosures, and resolved conflicts among users by using monetary sanctions including penalties. The village bylaws were not effective in meeting the high expectations of users to realise economic benefits from exclosures. In some cases, the enforcement of village bylaws was constrained by high social capital, which resulted in the negligence among users in exposing free riders. This indicates that high social capital does not always enhance communal resource management. Moreover, recurrent drought, shortage of fuel wood, and the growing number of landless youths in both villages constrained the effectiveness of village bylaws and further expansion of exclosures. Village committees should focus on addressing the low level of rule enforcement and minimise negligence among users of exclosures through developing a sense of responsibility among users rather than focusing on penalties.

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Notes

  1. “Baito” refers to a system of political leadership and administration at the “Tabia” level, the lowest administrative level in Tigray or “Wereda” level (Milas and Latif 2000). Wereda is an administrative region comprising of a number (approximately 20) of villages (locally called Tabias). Wereda is often described as synonymous with district (Gebrehiwot2003).

  2. The “Derg” regime was a military government that ruled Ethiopia from 1974 to 1991.

  3. Village bylaws are subsidiary laws that are enacted at local level by elected or executive bodies (Nkonya et al. 2008).

  4. A challenge in managing an exclosure is defined by villagers in the study areas as a constraint, such as deforestation, that will result in erratic and insufficient rainfall and that aggravates shortage of fuel wood (informal discussions in the villages of Laelay Ayadim and Haikhilet in July 2008).

  5. Taboos are prohibiting mechanisms imposed by social custom on users for managing resources at local level (Colding and Folke 2001).

  6. Sustainability of exclosure management is contextualised as the prevention of forest degradation, improvement of the conditions of forest resources, both in quality and quantity, and the availability of the forest resources to meet wood and feed requirements of local communities.

  7. Average exchange rate in 2008 was 1 ETB = 0.11 USD.

  8. In 2008, the price for 1 “shekim” of grass (equivalent to 25 kg on average) was 70–80 ETB. The average weight of a goat/sheep in the study area was 20 kg (Yayneshet et al. 2008). The daily forage requirement of a goat/sheep is calculated using the average animal weight method (AAW) as: average animal weight × 0.02667 (Pratt and Rasmussen 2001), daily forage requirement = 20 kg × 0.02667 = 0.5334 kg. Therefore, 25 kg of grass was estimated roughly to cover the forage intake of 20 sheep/goats for only 2 days. This indicated that a free rider that let in 20 sheep/goats spent only 12.5 % of the market price of the grass, demonstrating the weakness of setting low fines in village bylaws.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge Lorenz Probst for his comments on earlier versions of this article. We would like to thank Yenenesh Abebe for mapping the study area. We are thankful to all the villagers and development agents of Haikhilet and Laelay Ayadim for their time, kindness, and cooperation throughout the field work. We also acknowledge North–South Scholarship Program of the Austrian Exchange Service for financial assistance and Mekelle University for the logistical support provided for this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Water Management Institute (IWMI), P.O. Box 5689, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    Mastewal Yami

  2. International Water Management Institute (IWMI), P.O. Box 4199, Ban Nongviengkham, Xaythany District, Vientiane, Lao PDR

    Wolde Mekuria

  3. Centre for Development Research, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU), Gregor-Mendel Strasse 33, 1180, Vienna, Austria

    Michael Hauser

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  1. Mastewal Yami
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Correspondence to Mastewal Yami.

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Handled by Elias T. Ayuk, Institute for Natural Resources in Africa (UNU-INRA), Ghana.

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Yami, M., Mekuria, W. & Hauser, M. The effectiveness of village bylaws in sustainable management of community-managed exclosures in Northern Ethiopia. Sustain Sci 8, 73–86 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-012-0176-2

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