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

在埃塞俄比亚南部的Borana高原上发展起来的畜牧系统被认为是一个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，特别是牲畜的流动性和放牧压力因饲料和水的供应而不断变化。 据推测，这一系统产生了稳定植被格局的条件，但最近的研究表明，这片理应管理良好的牧场在半干旱和干旱地区正越来越多地经历灌木和木本灌木的生长。 本博士论文研究项目将调查在Borana高原的畜牧业的做法和环境变化的生物物理动力学之间的关系。 航空照片和卫星图像的分析，家庭调查，以及范围条件的实地观察将被用来研究人类与环境的相互作用在三个研究地点：希迪洛拉在潮湿的地区，在半干旱地区，和Hobok在干旱地区。 要审查的变量包括畜群流动模式、火灾情况、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。 该项目将阐明牧场管理和植被变化之间的复杂关系。 结果将有助于当前的政治生态学理论辩论的社会和生态力量的相对重要性，改变环境条件的因素，他们将提供超越浪漫化和过于简单化的土著资源管理系统的特点的观点。 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的研究生涯。

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.