Environmental degradation and land tenure during the Ethiopian revolution (1974/5-1991)

* Terefe Degefa, ISS/ASC.

Land tenure is an important factor influencing the decision-making process of peasants in the use of land resources. Empirical evidence from two villages in Central Ethiopia show close links between various factors of land tenure (insecurity, extraction of peasant resources, lack of legal bases for the newly emerging land use dynamics, etc.), and the conservation of land resources and the extent to which environmental degradation is exacerbated. These factors impose less pain on the richest than on the poorest peasant households, although constraints on tree planting and soil conservation are considerable in all circumstances. The evidence further shows that peasants are forced to undermine long-term use of land resources and concentrate on shor term gains, as is the effect of incentive and disincentive structures created by state land ownership policy.