Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Paradox of Range Degradation: Borana Pastoralism and Bush Encroachment in Southern Ethiopia

在埃塞俄比亚南部博拉纳高原上形成的牧区系统被认为是一种高产和无害环境的系统。其生产力与牲畜管理的“机会主义”性质有关，特别是畜群的流动性和放牧压力随饲料和水的可用性而不断变化。据推测，这一系统产生了稳定植被模式的条件，但最近的研究表明，在半干旱和干旱地区，这种被认为管理良好的牧场正越来越多地生长着灌木和木本灌木。本博士论文研究项目将研究博拉纳高原畜牧业实践与环境变化生物物理动力学之间的关系。对航空照片和卫星图像的分析、家庭调查和对范围条件的实地观察将用于在三个研究地点检查人类与环境的相互作用：湿润地区的Hidi Lola、半干旱地区的Did Hara和干旱地区的Hobok。要审查的变量包括牧群流动模式、火灾制度、牧场和水的地理分布，以及影响家庭从事机会性放牧能力的社会和物质条件。该项目将阐明牧区管理与植被变化之间的复杂关系。这些结果将有助于当前政治生态学中关于社会和生态力量作为改变环境条件的因素的相对重要性的理论辩论，它们将提供超越浪漫化和过于简单化的土著资源管理系统特征的观点。作为博士论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将提供支持，使有前途的学生建立一个强大的独立研究生涯。

The pastoral system that has evolved on the Borana Plateau of southern Ethiopia has been cited as a highly productive and environmentally sound system. Its productivity is linked to the "opportunistic" nature of livestock management, particularly the mobility of herds and continual variation in the grazing pressure in response to the availability of forage and water. This system is presumed that engender conditions that stabilize vegetative patters, but recent studies have shown that this supposedly well-managed rangeland is increasingly experiencing the growth of shrubs and woody bushes in semi-arid and arid areas. This doctoral dissertation research project will investigate the relationship between the pastoral practices of livestock raisers and biophysical dynamics of environmental change in the Borana Plateau. Analyses of aerial photos and satellite images, household surveys, and field observations of range conditions will be used to examine human-environmental interactions at three study sites: Hidi Lola in a humid zone, Did Hara in a semi-arid region, and Hobok in an arid zone. Among the variables to be examined are herd mobility patterns, fire regimes, the geographic distribution of pasture and water, and the social and material conditions that influence the ability of households to engage in opportunistic grazing. This project will illuminate the complex relationship between pastoral range management and vegetation change. The results will contribute to current theoretical debates in political ecology regarding the relative importance of social and ecological forces as factors altering environmental conditions, and they will provide perspectives that transcend romanticized and overly simplistic characterizations of indigenous resource-management systems. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.