Shifting In/equality Dynamics in Ethiopia: from Research to Application (SIDERA)

埃塞俄比亚的下奥莫谷正在发生自然、社会和经济环境的快速变化，这是国家主导的发展愿景的一部分，该愿景将该地区重新定位为主要的食糖出口国。与此同时，这些变化增加了环境退化的风险，并出现了新的不平等和冲突。下奥莫是大量牧民群体的家园，也是种族、语言和文化多样性的主要中心-这反映在其被指定为联合国教科文组织世界遗产（Schlee，2009年; Turton，1991年）。虽然新的糖业庄园有望创造超过15万个新的就业机会，但它们也吸引了来自其他地区的劳动力移民，建立了新的财富和机会等级制度，并加剧了社会紧张局势（Tewolde和Fana，2014年）。作为其雄心勃勃的增长和转型计划（FDRE 2010，2015）的一部分，埃塞俄比亚政府已为甘蔗项目分配了175，000公顷（超过肯尼亚整个灌溉面积），旨在将全国糖产量从1700万吨增加到4200万吨。据政府称，没有最佳利用土地的牧民将其“未充分利用”的土地重新用于甘蔗种植园和工业用地，这些土地将生产价值6.617亿美元的糖，并生产替代能源（每年304，000立方米乙醇和607兆瓦电力）。这一情景提出了关于当前发展模式的社会正义层面及其对社会生态复原力的影响的紧迫问题。以下相互关联的研究问题将构成我们对正在发生的变化及其后果的探索：1。最近的事态发展如何影响本区域自然资源的空间和时间供应和获取？（环境可持续性/退化）2.不断变化的资源如何影响该区域的冲突动态？（冲突与恢复力）3。这些变化如何影响物质不平等关系？（财富和贫穷/资源安全）这些问题将由分别在环境可持续性、冲突研究和贫穷研究领域具有专门知识的三个工作组处理。该小组将首先进行研究，涉及跨学科和利益相关者群体的知识生成，然后以知识交流和综合的形式进行应用。研究设计的第一步将包括确定利益攸关方、确定范围和测试研究假设的周期;然后是使用传统（调查、焦点小组）和参与性研究方法收集数据的密集期。至关重要的是，我们的工具将包括参与式视频方法，这些方法将用于激发关于当前发展模式的对话，这些模式由于语言，距离和权力的障碍而很少可能实现。因此，该项目将促进知识共享、处理和利用，并探讨如何将有关环境变化及其对贫困、和平与安全的影响的知识最好地纳入不同利益攸关方的决策。

Rapid changes in the natural, social, and economic environment are occurring in Ethiopia's Lower Omo Valley, as part of a state-led development vision of repositioning the region as a major sugar exporter. At the same time, these changes raise risks of environmental degradation, and the emergence of new kinds of inequality and conflict. The Lower Omo is home to a large number of pastoralist groups, and is a major centre of ethnic, linguistic and cultural diversity - reflected in its designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site (Schlee, 2009; Turton, 1991). While new sugar estates promise to create >150,000 new jobs, they are also drawing labour migrants from other regions, setting up new hierarchies of wealth and opportunity, and raising social tensions (Tewolde and Fana, 2014). As part of its ambitious Growth and Transformation Plans (FDRE 2010, 2015), Ethiopia's government has allocated 175,000 hectares to the sugarcane project (more than the entire area under irrigation in Kenya), and aims to increase national sugar production from 17 million to 42 million tons. Pastoralists who, according to the government, do not use the land optimally, have had their "underutilized" lands repurposed for sugarcane plantations and industrial sites that will produce sugar worth 661.7 million USD and produce alternative energy sources (304,000m3 of ethanol per year and 607 MW electricity). This scenario raises urgent questions about the social justice dimensions of current development models, and their implications for socio-ecological resilience. The following interlinked research questions will structure our exploration of the on-going changes and their consequences:1. How have recent developments affected the spatial and temporal availability of and access to natural resources in the region? (Environmental sustainability / degradation)2. How are changing resources affecting conflict dynamics in the region? (Conflict and resilience)3. How are these changes influencing relations of material in/equality? (Wealth and poverty / resource security)These questions will be addressed by three Working Groups with expertise in the fields of environmental sustainability, conflict studies, and poverty research respectively. The group will first conduct Research involving knowledge generation across disciplines and stakeholder groups, and second work towards Application in the form of knowledge exchange and synthesis. The first step in the research design will accommodate a cycle of stakeholder identification, scoping and testing of research assumptions; followed by an intensive period of data collection using both conventional (survey, focus group) and participatory research methods. Crucially, our tools will include participatory video methods that will be used to stimulate conversations about current models of development that are rarely possible due to barriers of language, distance, and power. The project will thereby facilitate knowledge sharing, processing, and utilisation, and explore how knowledge regarding the environmental changes and their implications for poverty, peace, and security is best integrated in decision-making for diverse stakeholders.