Since the Omo supplies 90 per cent of the water entering Lake Turkana, the regulation of the Omo flows and the abstraction of Omo water for large-scale irrigation will alter the hydrological inflow patterns to Lake Turkana, the world’s largest desert lake. The consequences of large irrigation abstractions were not mentioned in any of the environmental impact assessments commissioned by the Gibe III dam builders. In a report submitted to the African Development Bank in 2010, however, Dr Sean Avery, a Nairobi-based consultant hydrologist and civil engineer,  estimated that the level of the lake could drop by up to 20 meters, causing a significant reduction in the productivity of its fisheries.

A few months after this report was submitted, the full extent of planned irrigation development in the lower Omo became clear, with the announcement that the state-run Ethiopian Sugar Corporation would soon begin developing 150,000 hectares of irrigated sugar plantations. This was in addition to land which had already been allocated to, or earmarked for development by, private investors. It appeared that the lower Omo was set to become by far the largest irrigation complex in Ethiopia. The African Studies Centre at the University of Oxford therefore asked Dr Avery to undertake a second study to update and consolidate his earlier findings. His final report is now available. It provides the most up to date, detailed and authoritative assessment yet made of the likely impact of river basin development in the Omo Valley on the Lake Turkana Basin.

Click here to download the report.

A member of the Benna age set, his family name was Konyonomora and his personal name Ulikoro. He became Komoru unexpectedly and at a relatively young age in the early 1960s, following the death of his older brother, Ulibala (Komorabala). But although initially unprepared for the office, the calm and measured way in which he responded to a succession of crises, which began soon after his installation, gained him the respect and support of the community.

It happened that his period as Komoru was also a period during which three successive Ethiopian governments made concerted efforts to extend their political control over the Lower Omo Valley, an area which had been only nominally incorporated into the Ethiopian state at the end of the nineteenth century. The creation of the Omo National Park in 1966, soon after his installation, represented the most significant incursion of state power into the Lower Omo since the military campaigns of the Emperor Menelik II in the 1890s. The Omo and later the Mago National Park (established in 1975) permanently deprived the Mursi and their neighbours of valuable pastoral, agricultural and hunting resources and made their subsistence economies more vulnerable to drought and famine. In the early 1970s three years of poor rainfall led to a period of hunger in which death by starvation occurred in Mursiland for the first time in living memory. At the end of the decade, Komorakora led a successful migration of Mursi to higher, better watered land in the Mago Valley where a large population subsequently settled and a protestant missionary organisation, SIM, established a clinic (in 1987) and later a school.

The extension of state power into the southwest accelerated under the system of ethnic federalism introduced by the EPRDF in 1995. The increasingly beleaguered position which the Mursi now saw themselves occupying was summed up as follows by Komorakora in a public meeting at Gorobura in 2001.

Ba te nguchui

Our land has shrunk.

Ko huli nyu bwe eleheni ninge

If we wanted to run, there would be nowhere for us to go.

Ba tanunu lom kuchumba kip!

On that side, the land is full of kuchumba [highlanders]

Tana lo kuchumba kip!

On this side the land is full of kuchumba.

Na age kel bwe tini gure ko nganga.

All we are left with is this tiny bit of land here.

Koi ori?

Where shall we go?

He lived long enough to see the beginnings of the final stage in this process of state incorporation and land alienation. Under plans now being implemented by the government, in conjunction with the Ethiopian Sugar Corporation, the Mursi will be expected to give up their land and herds, move into resettlement villages, take up sedentary irrigated agriculture and work as wage labourers on commercial sugar cane plantations.

Komorakora died in the SIM clinic at Makki, in the Mago Valley, on 22 January 2012. He was buried at Kolai in the Elma Valley and nineteen oxen were sacrificed at his funeral. His successor, Ulijeholi Konyonomora (Komorajehola), a member of the Geleba age set, was installed shortly afterwards by popular consent.

One of the decisions made by UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee at its 35th session in June 2011 concerned threats posed by the Gibe III Dam to Kenya’s Lake Turkana World Heritage Site. The decision was based principally on information contained in a letter of concern from the NGOs International Rivers and Friends of Lake Turkana and in a report commissioned by the African Development Bank on the hydrological impacts of the Omo Basin on Lake Turkana water levels and fisheries.

The committee concluded that the dam is likely to ‘significantly alter Lake Turkana’s fragile hydrological regime’. It expressed its concerns about the potential cumulative impacts of large-scale irrigation in the Lower Omo Valley and of the Gibe IV and Gibe V dams, which are still at the planning stage. It urged the Ethiopian government to ‘immediately halt’ construction of the Gibe III dam and asked both the Ethiopian and Kenyan Governments to report back to it by 1 February 2012.

Comments on the Ethiopian response

In its response, the Ethiopian Government dismissed all the committee’s concerns. Even the statement that the lake ‘draws almost 90 per cent of its inflow’ from the Omo was described as ‘difficult to establish’, on the grounds that ‘there is no information about the Kenyan part of the Basin’ (p. 5). It has long been the established scientific consensus, however, that over 80 per cent of the inflow to the lake comes from the Omo-Gibe basin. This is indicated by the following quotation from Karl Butzer’s classic 1971 study of changes in the level of Lake Turkana (then known as Rudolf).

..most of the water of Lake Rudolf – in the order of 80 to 90% - appears to be derived from the Omo River. The Turkwell and Kerio [in Kenya], the only other affluents of any significance, are dry in their lower courses for most of the year...Consequently the seasonal and longer-term fluctuations of Rudolf must in large part be controlled by the duration and intensity of the rainy season in highland Ethiopia. (Recent History of an Ethiopian delta: the Omo River and the level of Lake Rudolf (University of Chicago Dept. of Geography, 1971, p. 37).

The Ethiopian government also accused the committee of failing to recognise the contribution of the proposed ‘controlled flood’ to (a) maintaining the lake level (p. 6), (b) boosting the nutrient needs of the lake (p. 8) and (c) providing a ‘reliable and timely water supply for recession agriculture’ (p. 10). These points would have been worth making, if the controlled flood were indeed to become the major ‘mitigating measure’ it was described as in the 2009 Economic and Social Impact Assessment, commissioned by the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation. It now seems clear, however, that this was never the intention.

In the first place, a press release issued by the dam builder, Salini Costruttori, in March 2010 revealed that the controlled flood was intended as a temporary measure only, which would ‘enable the local people to have a transitory period of a suitable duration when it is deemed opportune to switch from flood-retreat agriculture to more modern forms of agriculture.’ In the second place, the large-scale irrigation development in the lower basin which was announced by the Prime Minister in January 2011 will rule out a controlled flood of any kind, whether temporary or not.

This leads to the most baffling aspect of the Ethiopian government’s response to the WHC, namely the way it seeks to dismiss the committee’s concerns about the impact on Lake Turkana of irrigation development in the lower Omo.

The Omo Basin has long been seen as offering substantial opportunities for large scale irrigation, provided the highly seasonal flow of the Omo could be regulated. This will now be achieved, for the first time, by the Gibe III dam. As a result, the Ethiopian Sugar Corporation has already been allocated 245,000 ha. in the lower basin, of which 150,000 ha will be devoted to irrigated sugar cane production. At least another 150,000 ha have been leased to private investors for a variety of other irrigated crops. According to the AFDB study, ‘with the potential abstractions that might be implemented [through irrigation development in the lower basin] the lake could drop up to 20 metres’ (Executive Summary, para. 33, p. 5).

Despite this, the government claims in its response to the WHC that irrigation development is not relevant to the committee's concerns, because it is 'not part of the Ghibe III Dam' (p. 9). On page 7 of the response, the following passage is quoted from the AFDB study.(1)

Development within the Omo-Basin, which removes water for consumptive use especially through irrigation abstraction, will impact the lake through reduced inflows and a reduction in lake levers [sic], [and] associated with this, there will be a reduction in the water table. Since irrigation is not part of the Ghibe III Dam, the assumed reduction will not happen [emphasis added]. However, the extent and effect of the reduced flows have not been fully assessed, and they are to some extent offset by increasing runoff due to catchment change.

No page reference is given for this quotation but it is nearly identical to a passage on p. 4-2 of the final version of the AFDB study in which, however, the  sentence shown above in bold does not occur.(2) Wherever this sentence came from, it is clearly meaningless. It could be made meaningful, however, by adding the words ‘......as a direct result of the operation of the dam’. Any reduction in lake level due to large-scale irrigation development, in other words, will be an indirect, rather than direct result of the dam, since without the regulated flow sequence created by the dam, large-scale irrigation in the lower basin would not be feasible. The puzzling position of the Ethiopian government, then, appears to be that large-scale irrigation in the lower Omo should not be considered a danger to the Lake Turkana World Heritage Site, because it will be an indirect rather than a direct result of Gibe III.

The Ethiopian government’s response to international criticism of the Gibe III Dam project has, from the start, been highly defensive. Critics tend to be portrayed as enemies of Ethiopia who want to hold back economic development in the country and keep its citizens in a state of ‘backwardness and poverty.’(3) In the present document, the Ethiopian government not only describes the decision of the WHC as ‘one sided and highly biased’ but confesses itself unable to understand the reasons behind it, thereby hinting at ulterior motives (p. 10). This mode of response makes it difficult for a constructive dialogue to take place between the government and its critics and often makes it appear (as in this case) that government spokespersons are wilfully out of touch with reality.

The 36th Session of the World Heritage Committee.

Between 14 and 22 March 2012, a joint monitoring mission from the World Heritage Centre and the IUCN visited the Lake Turkana World Heritage Site, at the invitation of the Government of Kenya. The mission had meetings with various ‘stakeholders’, including the Prime Minister. Based on the mission’s report, a draft decision has been included in the provisional agenda for the 36th session of the WHC, which would add the Lake Turkana World Heritage Site to the ‘List of World Heritage in Danger’.

The draft decision repeats the committee’s concern about the ‘potential and ascertained cumulative impacts’ on Lake Turkana of the Gibe III dam and ‘related on-going and planned irrigation projects’; asks the Governments of Ethiopia and Kenya to carry out a ‘Strategic Environmental Assessment’ (SEA) to assess the ‘cumulative impacts of all development projects impacting on the Lake Turkana Basin’; and once again urges the Ethiopian government ‘to immediately halt all construction on the Gibe III dam and related irrigation projects until the SEA has been completed’ (Item 7B of the Provisional Agenda: State of conservation of World Heritage properties, WHC-12/36.COM/7B.ADD, pp. 10-16).

The 36th session of the committee will be held in Saint Petersburg between 24 June and 6 July 2012.

Notes

Related documents

This will be made possible by the completion of the Gibe III hydroelectric dam, which is expected to begin operations in September 2013 and which will eliminate the annual flood. The reservoir is due to start filling in June 2012.

The announcement was made during the 13th Annual Pastoralists' Day Celebrations, organised by the Ministry of Federal Affairs, the Pastoral Affairs Standing Committee of the House of Peoples' Representatives, the Southern Regional Government and the Pastoralist Forum of Ethiopia. The motto chosen for the celebrations was 'We will bring Ethiopia's renaissance to an irreversable point by realising the Growth and Transformation Plan in pastoral areas'.

Human rights organisations have expressed concerns that the Gibe 3 dam could have a devastating impact on the livelihoods of over half a million people, in both Ethiopia and Kenya, who depend on the Omo flood and on Lake Turkana for cultivation, pastoralism and fishing. It has also been predicted that the level of the Lake, which receives most of its water from the Omo, could be drastically reduced by large-scale irrigation schemes in the lower valley.

In his speech, the Prime Minister dismissed such concerns, saying they came from ‘the friends of poverty and backwardness’ who wanted to keep pastoralists as ‘a case study of ancient living’ for the benefit of tourists, scientists and researchers.

More information

The Prime Minister's speech in English

The downstream impact (David Turton)

The impact on Lake Turkana (Sean Avery)

USAID Ethiopia trip report (Leslie Johnston)

USAID Kenya trip report (Leslie Johnston)

Achieving sustainable conservation without sacrificing social justice has been a long standing challenge. Poorly designed or badly managed conservation work can damage people's legitimate interests and involve human rights’ violations. For more information and to learn how to take part in the network, go to: www.facebook.com/JustConservation

Comments: We now have an interactive comments section, accessible wherever you are on the site. Please use this to give us your opinions, advice and corrections; to up-date information on topics already covered; and to suggest new topics and material that might be included.

Oral Texts: We have added a new section, Oral texts, which will be devoted to transcriptions, in Mursi and English, of a wide variety of texts, including myths of origin, accounts of the remembered past, songs, life histories and speeches given at public meetings. This will become, in due course, an online archive of Mursi oral literature. We have started this section with two texts, one consisting of a version of the Mursi myth of origin, told by Bio-iton-giga Konyonomora (Komorajehola), and one an account by Kirinomeri Tuku of his family history. We would be very happy to receive suggestions for new material to be added to this section.

Documents: We have reorganized the Documents page, one of the most frequently visited on the site, to make it more user-friendly, and have added new documents.

People and Parks: We have added a clip from the film ‘Shooting with Mursi’ to the ‘Film clips and video footage’ section. This is the first statement, available on the internet, of Mursi views on the way national parks and hunting concessions have encroached on their land since the 1970s.

Mursi Online Administration

Olisarali received an ‘Honourable Mention’ for his work on the film from the Cinéma du Réel judges. In Göttingen, he made a presentation on the film at an accompanying three-day symposium, and showed some of his latest footage, illustrating various aspects of Mursi life and culture. Ben Young is a London-based documentary film maker who has made many films amongst groups living in remote rural areas of Africa and South America. He writes as follows of his collaboration with Olisarali: ‘He has natural ability both in front of the camera and behind it. His camera work is excellent and he is able to film things that would not be possible for anyone who was not a local resident. He is both a charismatic presenter and a good writer. When he was given his first video camera he decided to use it to make a record of Mursi life and customs and to film neighbouring groups for a Mursi audience. He believed this would help to bring peace through better understanding. His brother, Milisha, told me: “Oli is the first Mursi to use a camera. We wanted to make a film to show something about our culture because, in future, it may disappear”’.

For more information about the film and the film makers please visit the ‘Shooting with Mursi’ website at http://www.shootingwithmursi.com/

To watch a clip from the film, click here.

It was also reported that the Dongfang Electric Machinery Corporation Ltd of China will take over electrical and hydro-mechanical work on the dam from Salini Construttori, the Italian Company which was awarded the construction contract in 2006.

The dam in now expected to be completed in 2013/14. At 240 metres in height, this will be the highest dam, and the second largest dam reservoir, in Africa. It will take Ethiopia’s electricity generating capacity to a level far exceeding domestic demand, allowing the country to become a significant exporter of electricity.

Like most big dams the world over, however, Gibe III comes with significant social and environmental costs, virtually all of which will be borne by the peoples of the lower Omo, whose livelihoods depend on the annual Omo flood, both for flood-retreat cultivation and dry season grazing. As yet there is no evidence of detailed and systematic planning to ensure that local livelihoods are not adversely affected by the dam.

For more information, please follow these links:

• Project Progress, Gibe3 Hydroelectric Project
• Ethiopia’s Gibe 3 Dam: Sowing Hunger and Conflict (PDF file 591 KB), International Rivers

We don’t chat. We are too hungry. If someone comes we just say, “Where did you come from?” and they just say “I came from Mi” [the plains east of the Omo].  And then they go off. That’s all. The big rains haven’t come for three years.  And now, when we come here to the Omo, there’s no water – where did it go?’ 

Linasi, a Mursi man, 28 December 2009

Reports of a very serious food shortage continue to come from northern Mursiland. The Omo flood last year (August 2009) was exceptionally low, so low that many local people  are answering Linasi’s question by pointing to the hydro-electric dam, known as Gibe III,  which is under construction in the upper Omo Basin.  Whatever the real explanation - and low rainfall in the Ethiopian highlands must be an important part of it - the result has been that large areas of riverside land have not been cultivated this year because the flood waters did not reach them. 

Such places as Kuduma, Alaka and Golati which, in  normal years, produce good crops of sorghum and maize in January and February, now lie overgrown and virtually abandoned. Children are showing unmistakable signs of malnutrition “Now the stomachs of our children are swollen’ said one man. ‘Some sorghum has just ripened, but when they eat it their stomachs do not become normal again. They have diarrhoea. Will they recover or die? We don’t know.’

Other groups who depend on the flood, living along the Omo all the way down to Lake Turkana (Bodi, Kwegu, Nyangatom, Muguji, Kara and Daasanach), have been at least as badly affected. Those with no cattle to exchange for grain with highland traders, have been the hardest hit. This applies to the Kwegu, who live mainly by fishing and cultivation and amongst whom six people, including two children, are said to have died of starvation in recent months. 

With virtually no harvest this year at the Omo, the Mursi have now experienced three successive crop failures. According to local reports, the relief food delivered so far, although obviously welcome, has been far from adequate. All the signs are that,  unless these supplies can be stepped up considerably, the Mursi and their neighbours will face a famine of catastrophic proportions over the next six months.


David Turton
23 February 2010

According to information recently received from Mursiland, the people of the Lower Omo are amongst those who have been badly affected  by these events and prospects for the next harvest, due in January/February, are extremely poor.

The main rains this year (March/April) lasted only about three and a half weeks in Mursiland and the crops were destroyed by drought. Those who have cattle are selling them in the nearest town, Jinka, to obtain grain. Jinka is about one and a half days walk from northern Mursiland and three days from southern Mursiland.  Traders are also taking grain to the Mursi to exchange it for cattle.

The price of a large ox has more than halved over the last six months, falling from around 240 USD (3000 Birr) to around 112 USD (1,400 Birr). The cost of 100 kg. of maize is now between 28 and 32 USD (350 to 400Birr).

Approximately one month ago, a very welcome delivery of relief food, totaling 26,500 kg. of wheat, was delivered by the government to three locations in northern Mursiland (Maganto, Dargush and Mirolu) which are accessible by truck. ‘Large’ families received 200 kg. and ‘small’ families received 100 kg.

According to Mursi tradition and custom, however, those families which received grain have been obliged to share it with relatives and friends from other parts of Mursiland which the food distribution could not reach.  Total relief grain distributed so far to the Mursi amounts, at most, to 4kg. per head of population.

The Omo flood level this year was unusually low - so low that the cultivation plots of many people received no flood water at all. These people will not be able to plant and the overall size of the next flood-retreat harvest, due in February, will therefore be much smaller than usual.The next rain-fed harvest is not due until June 2010.

Other groups in the Lower Omo who are at least as badly affected as the Mursi include the Bodi, Surma, Kwegu, Nyangatom, Muguji and Kara. One report suggests that, amongst the Surma, many people have only wild leaves to eat and another that symptoms of severe malnutrition (kwashiorkor), have been observed amongst Nyangatom.

David Turton

5 November 2009

KENYA TRIP NARRATIVE

17th May 2008 – Drove from Nairobi to Nanyuki.

18th May 2008 – Drove from Nanyuki to Marsabit.

19th May 2008 – Drove from Marsabit to Moyale. Picked up Mursi group from Moyale and took them to Moyale Catholic Mission for accommodation.

20th May 2008 – Travelled from Moyale to Marsabit and camped at Marsabit National Park. Met with the other team from Nairobi.

21st May 2008 – At MELAKO community conservancy, the team was met by Mr. Tom Ole Salegei , manager Northern Range Land Trust, (NRT) Mr. Edward, Manager of Melako community conservancy, Mr. Jonathan Galuwaha, Treasurer, and Mr. Kolima, Asst. Chief,  Koya sub location. The manager, elders, women and school children were interviewed. (MeLaKo stands for Merile, Laisamis and Koya group ranches).

• The team was taken on a village visit, during which most of the questions from the Mursi revolved around the many similarities between them and the Rendile. It was traced down to history, which indicates that Rendile ancestors moved up Lake Turkana and settled where the Mursi live today.
• Questions from Mursi relating to marriage procedures, cultural practices, similar activities like tobacco chewing, playing Horoi, tattooing, beading, clothing, tools and house building.

22nd May 2008 – At MELAKO - morning discussion.

• The role of NRT in the provision of expertise, good governance, fund raising, livestock marketing, entrepreneurship activities and guidance on management.
• The idea to establish MELAKO was brought about by persistent conflicts between Rendile and Borana over grazing land.
• The establishment of the conservancy block was difficult since the community believed that their grazing land was being sold out. It took two years of community mobilization.

Management

• Locally hired scouts monitor wildlife using GPS.
• Board members are appointed from the three group ranches to oversee the general running of the conservancy block.
• Tough rules to deal with cattle rustlers.
• Revenue is generated from bird shooting, which earned approximately Ksh. 1 million last year. It is shared in a ratio of 4:6 – 6 goes to community projects while 4 goes to running the conservancy.

Benefits

• Locals found watering their livestock from side wells at a dry river bed explained to the many benefits they are getting from the conservation, like money for water projects, school fees, building of schools and improved security.
• We also found a group of women undergoing training in micro-finance and entrepreneurship under the sponsorship of NRT. The Mursi were entertained with Rendile traditional songs by the women.

The Mursi asked the following questions: What do you think of the park? Do the families get a share of the park money? Do they receive vetenary medicines from the park? How has the grazing changed with the introduction of conservancy? Did they hunt before and why? All the people interviewed were positive, and are pleased by the establishment of the conservation block. The Mursi were impressed and said they would mobilize their communities to establish the same in their home area. The same evening, the  team traveled to SERA community conservancy and visited a local Samburu village.

23rd May 2008 – At SERA community conservancy. (SeRa stands for Serolevi and Rasusia group ranches). The team was met by Mr. Shadrack Lolosoli, conservationist. The team visited a site called 50 springs, which is an area characterized by a shallow aquifer with multiple shallow wells. The manager was absent. This is a fully community owned set up, started by the two group ranches with no  government input apart from the provision of a permit. It was started in 2002. It covers 33000 ha of land and has employed armed scouts with radio communication equipments and GPS equipment.

Management
The conservancy receives donations from US AID, US fish and wildlife and FFI. 60 village representatives were appointed, who then chose 12 board members, and a grazing committee of 12 members. All resources received from the conservancy is shared equally between the two group ranches.

Challenges
The community did not accept the idea for a long period, Livestock theft. Low level of awareness,  high community expectations and donor pressure.

Achievements

• Employment of locals.
• Improved security due to provision of two vehicles, armed scouts and radio communication equipments.
• Monetary benefits from tourism and a lodge.
• A good relationship with the Kenya Wildlife Services.
• Reduced poaching and conflict..

The Mursi asked how the people who had been living in the conservation area agreed to move out of it. The answer was that it took two years of ‘sensitization’ before they realized that the establishment of the conservancy  would be to their own benefit.

23rd May 2008 – travelled to Namunyak community conservancy.

24th May 2008 – at West Gate community conservancy.
The team was met by Mr. Daniel Letuya, Manager, Mr. Sammy Lekelnui,  Vice chairman, Mr. Jackson Letuiye, Board member, and Mr. Latisi Letur, Chairman of the Grazing Committee.
The Samburu, who own the project and the entire land, consist of 9 clans.
They depend on pastoralism and tourism on community land, commonly called a group ranch
All species of wild life are present in this conservancy.
The idea was borrowed from Samburu national reserve owned by Samburu county council.
To a larger extent, the conservancy relies on donations through NRT or from direct donations.
The conservancy also generates its own revenue through hiring out  the lodges to private investors.
The income generated is managed by the community and is used to pay school fees (bursaries), construction of schools, construction of water projects and other community projects. Currently, 4 primary schools and 9 nursery schools are benefiting from the conservancy.
The conservancy was set up in year 2004

Management
The West Gate Community Conservancy is made up of two group ranches called Ngutuk and Ong’irong.
The whole conservancy area is 32000 ha. 880 ha is the core area reserved for wild life. 700 ha. is a buffer zone for grazing only while the rest is divided into grazing blocks where the community are allowed to build.
If one transgresses into core area without permission from the grazing committee, a fine of one goat for a first offense, two goats for a second offense and one cow for a third offense is applied.

The Mursi asked questions relating to land ownership, grazing land management, the Kenya government involvement and the ancestral origin of the Mursi, Samburu and Rendile communities.

25th May 2008 – at Kalama community conservancy. The team was met by Peter Lonte, Conservancy Manager and Mr. John Lamaramba, Chairman of the grazing committee.
The Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) noticed a decrease in wild life within this area and  started a community conservancy to check this.
The communities were resistant at first, fearing a replica of the nearby Samburu National Reserve where they are not allowed to graze or even pass through.
The area was hitherto a battle ground between Rendile, Borana and Samburu and was not conducive for grazing or tourism.
It took 2 years of community mobilization with donations from KWS and LEWA among others to persuade the community of the importance of establishing the conservancy.
The conservancy covers 32000 ha. with 8000 ha. reserved as a core area.
Kalama community conservancy is 6 years old.

Management

• The area is under two group ranches. It is divided into four blocks from which the board members are appointed. The area chief, area councilor and Samburu National Reserve representative are bona fide members. The grazing land committee is chosen from the board members,
• A camp site was opened one year ago to raise funds, and a private investor is currently building a lodge that will be leased or hired out. The conservancy also diversifies its economic base by investing in small entrepreneurships.
• Penalties for grazing in the core area is Ksh. 100 per cow.

Benefits

• One of the locals, who originally rejected the idea, explained how he was taken on an exchange tour to other successful conservations.
• 500 people have benefited from the conservancy through employment. There is a vehicle available to the community for use during emergencies. Scouts, on a monthly  payroll, patrol the entire area, using radio communication,  and the conserved pasture land saves the livestock during drought.

Challenges

• Community suspicions over the management of funds.
• Donor pressure.
• Pressure from community members over suspicions of electoral positions and individual benefits going to board members.
• Community fights over the little funds availed to them for projects.

 
The MURSI explained that the government had leased part of Mursi territory to a private safari operation and allowed tourists to shoot wildlife. This generated an argument between the Mursi and the government that is not yet solved . They had come to Kenya to learn how to solve this problem.

Compiled by Geoffrey K. Gichuki
Tel. 0721624220
Email: gichukidom@yahoo.com

7th December 2007
Summary

African Parks Network has decided to terminate its management activities in Nech Sar National Park and Omo National Park in Southern Ethiopia. Both parks face considerable challenges arising from the unsustainable use by one or more ethnic groups, often in competition and conflict with each other. In order for a sustainable solution to be achieved, formal agreements on the limits of resource utilisation need to be discussed and agreed with the various ethnic groups, paving the way for a land use plan recognised and respected by all stakeholders. African Parks attempted to achieve such a situation in Nech Sar but the outcome was not sanctioned by the authorities. In the case of Omo the situation is more complicated and a similar result is inevitable. Compromises will be necessary and therefore such a process needs to be fully sanctioned by Government and supported by human rights organisations to ensure that the ethnic groups are properly consulted and represented. Such a process will pave the way for the formal gazetting of the protected areas and will form the foundation of a sustainable management solution for the benefit of both people and nature. Failure of the process will almost certainly result in the permanent loss of the parks and continued conflict amongst ethnic groups.

Nech Sar National Park

In February 2004 African Parks signed an agreement with the Federal Government of Ethiopia and the Southern State, People and Nationalities for the management of Nech Sar National Park. At the time the Governments had expressed their prior intention to resettle two groups of people inhabiting the park because of their unsustainable impact on the Parks. Nech Sar is only 50,000 hectares in extent, a large portion of which is water, and the plains from which the park derives its name were being extensively grazed by as many as 7,000 cattle with consequent degradation of habitat, erosion, and pressure on critical species such as the endemic Swayne’s hartebeest. The resettlement was partially accomplished with the Kore community being resettled to the South of the Park. However, 3 years into the project one of the communities still remains in the Park, and the increased use by them and their livestock herds are further threatening the sustainability of the park.

In the first two years of the project the authorities made little progress with negotiating an acceptable compromise to the mutual benefit of both the community and the park. Therefore this year African Parks decided to make a concerted effort to negotiate, with independent specialist advice, an agreement with the Guji on the limits of use of the park. External organisations were invited to participate in and witness the negotiations. To an extent this process was successful, and a formal agreement was reached on 30 September with the Guji defining a core area which would be free from both people and cattle, with use permitted in the remainder of the park. The authorities were requested to recognise this agreement as an acceptable and practical compromise for the benefit of both people and nature. This recognition has not been forthcoming. Therefore African Parks has decided that it shall terminate all operations in Nech Sar.

Omo National Park.

In November 2005 African Parks signed a similar agreement for the management of Omo National Park. The complexities and challenges of managing Omo were recognised at the time, although the extent thereof was underestimated. There are eight distinct ethnic groups living in or utilising the Park. There is hostility between these groups as they compete for land and other resources and many men carry automatic or semi-automatic weapons. Wildlife has been decimated, other than in the “no-man’s land” between the different ethnic groups. African Parks put in place staff and mechanisms to build relationships and trust with the various ethnic groups. Our actions were based on the fact that the only chance of securing a sustainable future for Omo and the people dependent on the ecosystem, was negotiating limits of use of the land and natural resources by each one of the different ethnic groups. If successful this would have ensured the long term sustainability of sections of the Park, and the creation of community conservation areas in others. It would also have brought about regional peace and stability, something desired by all the ethnic groups. Such a negotiation process is extremely complicated and fraught with problems of representivity, legitimacy and self interest as well as extreme logistical challenges. However, to make matters more complicated, some human rights organisations immediately assumed mala fides on the part of African Parks, and without ever visiting the area and consulting with the very communities whose interests they purported to represent, publicly criticised African Parks for its endeavours. This criticism, although unjustified, has highlighted the need for this process to be objectively driven. If African Parks attempts to facilitate such dialogue, it will only attract hostility and legal challenges from one party or other. Africa Parks has been active in Omo for two years, and our contract anticipates an initial three year commitment. We do not believe that African parks can solve the complexities of Omo, at least not in the time frame anticipated. To continue is simply a waste of scarce resources which can be better appied elsewhere. Therefore we have requested the Ethiopian Governemnt to allow an early termination of the management agreement.

Between 8-12 November more than 250 members of more than 17 different ethnic groups will gather to talk about the rise of tourism, trade and economic diversification, the management and eradication of conflicts as well as social change and basic services. Also to be discussed are changes in land use, opening of new transport, communication and market links, development of education and new opportunities for participation in national affairs.

Inspired by visits to other pastoralist gatherings in Ethiopia and Kenya, members of South Omo’s pastoralist groups welcome this unique opportunity to discuss how rapid changes are altering the face of South Omo zone in ways that are both appreciated and giving rise to concern.

The gathering will be facilitated by members of the Nyangatom Community in conjunction with Atoweksi Eksil Pastoralist Development Association and will additionally be attended by members of local and national administrations, development agencies and pastoralists from neighbouring groups in Bench Maji Zone, northern Kenya and Southern Sudan.’

For more information go to the website of the Pastoralist Communication Initiative (PCI) at www.pastoralists.org