CUSTOMARY FOREST TENURE IN SOUTHWEST ETHIOPIA

Abstract

ABSTRACT The importance of forests and forest products for the livelihood of many poor rural people in tropical forest areas is indisputable. In most parts of Africa the forest is a common resource controlled by a mixture of tenure systems involving individual, family, subgroup and larger group rights and duties that operate depending on the product or natural resource concerned. In many cases customary land tenure constitutes a way of managing relationships to forest land in a more flexible, locally adapted way than would be possible under a more centralized approach. This paper explores a customary tenure system of forestland in the Sheka Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples (SNNP) regional state, southwest Ethiopia. This study attempted to define and understand the roles of the customary tenure systems and institutions in conserving forest and improving the livelihood of the local community. A customary forest tenure system, called Kobo, has been practised for over a century by the people in Sheka, regardless of changes in the forest or land use policies at government level. However, apart from recognition of use rights by the central government, the Kobo system has not been, and is not, legally or institutionally supported. Nevertheless, Kobo is recognized by the local community, and has played an important role in maintaining the forest cover of the area. Such a customary tenure system forms a platform from which a participatory forest management approach may be built; such an approach is likely to be more effective than establishing a new institution with new user groups. However care must be taken to include socially excluded members of the community. Customary tenure systems and local differences in forest or land policies need to be recognized for the sustainable use of the forest resources. Presently, in Ethiopia, this recognition is de facto limited to local government institutions.