Doctoral Dissertation Research: Community Resilience to Resource Scarcity in the Context of Population Growth in Tigray, Ethiopia

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Global environmental change has accelerated due to the scale and intensity of human activities. Understanding the human dimensions is increasingly important, especially the vulnerability, resilience, and adaptive capacity of communities, in addition to a better knowledge of the causes and impacts of these changes on communities. This doctoral dissertation research addresses how community resilience decreases vulnerability to global environmental change and resource scarcity in the context of population growth. It aims to understand different levels of community resilience as expressed in the management of natural resources; i.e. factors, processes, institutions that influence resilience. This study defines resilience as the ability and capacity to absorb change, and seize opportunity to improve living standards. The research in unique in addressing resilience at the community level and recognizing people as active agents in decision-making rather than passive victims of change. It is designed to document resilience and its variability across selected communities. The assessment of resilience is complex and relies on the participation of community representatives and other stakeholders, and on the integration of information from multiple sources. Resilience is not easily measurable and indicators are context specific, hence, this research will identify local resilience indicators. Given its complexity one may expect a multitude of possible indicators, including institutions, social capital, community structure, environmental conditions, and governance. As emphasis is placed on utilizing local knowledge, participatory rural appraisal methods form the basis of community interactions. The indicators will be described in participatory workshops, spatially analyzed and combined to create a community resilience index. The index will help provide an understanding of relative resilience of communities. This research will be carried out in Tigray, Ethiopia where food insecurity and poverty remain pressing problems that are linked with rapid population growth and increasing resource scarcity. With livelihoods dependent on natural resources, vulnerability to global environmental change is directly linked to resource scarcity. Four communities are selected from one agro-ecological zone, representing the majority of the population that depends on mixed crop-livestock farming. The selected communities show marked variability in exposure to environmental pressures and accessibility. This research will further the concept of resilience by contributing towards an understanding of community resilience within the context of global environmental change. The main outcome will be an improved understanding of community dynamics and decision-making processes with respect to natural resource management in the light of global challenges. The use of locally defined indicators compiled to create a community resilience index will enhance knowledge about factors, processes and institutions that determine resilience at the community level. An improved understanding of community resilience will provide a means to enhance adaptive capacity and give communities an active role in local decision-making. The results will be shared with the participating communities and local government, and presented to a wider audience of academics and development professionals. This research aims to make a meaningful contribution towards developing sustainable pathways out of poverty in Ethiopia, by strengthening local development efforts and adaptive capacities in the light of global environmental change. Enhanced understanding of community resilience will help build local capacity to seize opportunities for development.