From Local Tensions to National Lessons: Environmental Insecurity and Governance Challenges in Ethiopia

Erestu Legese Beyen, Federal University of Uberlandia (Ethiopia)

The panel investigates the way in which the environment is challenged and resources are strained, as well as governance weakened, to determine insecurity and inter-communal conflicts in Ethiopia. The session explores the connection between competition over water and agricultural land and identity politics, mistrust, and poor institutional responses, using the qualitative experience and field experience of the Awi Administrative Zone. The presentation applies the ideas of political ecology and human security to show that through the inclusion of participation, civic education, and equitable resource management, communities may transform an adversarial relationship into cooperative relations. Though these sub-national processes will not fix the wider national unrest in Ethiopia, they provide good insights into environmental governance sensitive to conflict and bottom-up peacebuilding. This panel will add practical insights to the world's consideration of environmental peacebuilding in fragile situations by linking grassroots experiences with national debates.