Community Participation in the Reduction of Land Degradation: The Case Study of Shebel Berenta District, Amhara National Region State

Abstract

Shebel Berenta district is one of the highland areas of Ethiopia highly prone to land degradation and drought by the report of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, (OCHA). Assessment of community participation to combat land degradation was the main objective of this study. Mixed research approach with concurrent triangulation design was followed. The target kebeles and the number of respondents were selected purposively. The sample size was found to be 368, which was determined by the Yemaneh (1967) formula and addressed through geographical listing method. Primary data was collected through Questionnaire, interview and FGD; whereas secondary data was also gained from researches, reports and different documents. The quantitative data was analyzed descriptively, and the qualitative data was analyzed using thematic analysis. The result shows that the trend of community participation is found to be decreasing/passive and dominated by the top down or planner centered approach of community participation as it was supported by 72.4% and 86.3% out of 149 and 219 total respondents from vulnerable and less vulnerable kebeles respectively. Incentives to inspire community participation are low and not adequate and resulted in the lack of willingness of the community. Lack of awareness, expansion of open grazing lands, lack of commitment from the people and government side, lack of consistency of Sustainable Land Management Practices (SLM), geographical barriers and others are the observed challenges of CP in the area.

Keywords

• community
• participation
• land degradation
• ethiopia