Journal of Environment and Earth Science www.iiste.org ISSN 2224-3216 (Paper) ISSN 2225-0948 (Online) Vol. 3, No.9, 2013 143 Major Human and Natural Disruptions that Facilitated Vegetation Cover Removal in the Ethiopia Highlands Maereg Tafere 1 , Jana Olivier 2 , and Maarten Jordaan 2 1 World Vision International (Maereg_tafere@wvi.org; mtafere@yahoo.com; mtafere2@gmail.com) 2 University of South Africa – UNISA (jana1@mweb.co.za; jordam@unisa.ac.za) * E-mail of the corresponding author: Maereg_tafere@wvi.org; or mtafere2@gmail.com Abstract The Ethiopian highlands, occupying 44% of the total surface area of the country, are home to over 80% of the people, 75% of livestock, and are where up to about 95% of the crops are grown. However, they are among the most degraded in Africa due to a long tradition of settled agriculture that dates back to more than 3000 years. This has been aggravated by climatic strains and civil unrest. As the frequency of such extreme weather conditions increase, subsistence farmers become even more desperate, resulting in actions that cause significant damages to the environment. In addition, civil unrest aggravates the threat to the environment. Even though, much of Ethiopia’s history has been dominated by war between internal rivals for domestic supremacy and against external invaders, the environmental implications of such recurrent destructive wars have not been studied. A survey was carried out in the northern and southern parts of the Ethiopian highlands in order to understand deforestation patterns. The result of a focused group discussion indicated that the removal of forest covers in the highlands followed a non-linear trajectory over the past five decades. Catastrophic climatic conditions and civil unrest posed turning points in deforestation and mismanagement of natural resources. During times of severe droughts, instability, and civil conflict, only forests around religious institutions, homesteads, and those found among communities with local bylaws (written or otherwise) have survived compared to those exposed to free human and animal access. In a country whose history is characterized by prolonged civil war and instability, the impacts of protracted and prolonged wars should come to the Centre of the environmental degradation discourses. The conventional thesis of blaming only the poor farmers, who struggle to make ends meet, for destroying their environment due to their “ignorance” and to completely neglect the destructive acts of powers, does not seem fair, to say the least. Keywords: Drought, civil unrest, environmental degradation, Ethiopian highlands 1. Introduction Ethiopia has a long history of land use and agriculture, especially in the highland areas. Land cultivation and population expansion has been practiced in the areas currently under the Ethiopian territory for over 5000 years (Patterson, 2007). The Ox-plough system, one of the most productive but arguably the most destructive methods, was introduced in the highland areas of Ethiopia some 2000 years ago (Webb & Braun, 1994). While the majority of these highland areas, which cover 45% of land mass, and are home for 80% of people are degraded (Patterson, 2007), the northern highlands, where cultivation started earlier, are severely degraded compared to those in the southern and western part of the country (Hurni, 1994). The fact that these highlands are among the most degraded environments in Africa may not be contested, the rate at which the environmental degradation occurred is debated. Some believe that the environment has deteriorated tremendously in the past few decades, attributed to recent deforestation, recurrent droughts and famine (EFAP, 1994, Hagos et al, 2002; Dessie & Kleman, 2007), while others suggest that the changes have instead occurred over hundreds of years and recent changes are limited, at least in the northern highlands (Bewket, 2002; Boerma, 2006; Munro et al, 2008; and Nysse et al, 2008). In fact, the latter challenges the presumption that natural resources are rapidly dwindling in the highlands by suggesting that stabilization and even recovery is occurring. The improvements are attributed to environmental education (Bekalo & Bangay, 2002) and physical and biological conservation measures carried out in the past few decades. However, qualitative deterioration of vegetation where indigenous and more productive trees are replaced by fast-maturing exotic types such as eucalyptus or acacia cannot be overruled (Jagger & Pender, 2003; Tafere, 2011). The reasons for land degradation in the rugged mountainous highlands form a complex interaction of various factors, including farming on steep slopes and marginal lands, erratic and torrential rainfall patterns, inadequate investment in soil protection, poor and/or absence of natural vegetation protection policies, lack of fallow periods, poor recycling of crop residuals to the soil, overgrazing, and limited external plant nutrients (EFAP, 1994; Hurni, 1994; Hagos et al, 2002). However, the importance given to the various factors is at times diametrically opposing. Some argue that climate has been the main driving force for the long-term