Borana views on impact of water development on rangelands

The study “Effects of traditional and project waterponds and herder perception on the vegetation changes in Borana rangelands of southern Oromia, Ethiopia” by Chaltu Dula Buyo (Noragric MSc thesis, 2006, 42pp) compared project and traditional waterponds in terms of vegetation diversity and effects of distance from water on plant species richness and land cover. It explored local perceptions of changes in vegetation at different distances from the waterponds. The Borana pastoralists perceived significant differences between traditional and project waterponds in herbaceous richness, wood density, bush cover and vegetation diversity. They noted that woody plant species were increasing and herbaceous ones decreasing. This corresponded with the empirical evidence obtained through scientific methods. The Borana perceived the relative contribution of project waterponds in degrading the rangelands, particularly with respect to overgrazing and trampling, to be far greater than that of traditional waterponds.

Posted on 14 January 2022 in Pastoralism & Natural Resources