The relocation of the village of Arkwasiye in the Simien Mountain National Park in Ethiopia: an intervention towards sustainable development?

Abstract

The study analyses the effects of the relocation of the village Arkwasiye in the Simien Mountains National Park, a most spectacular landscape in the northern highlands of Ethiopia. The relocation was deemed necessary as just one component in a bundle of measures proposed by the UNESCO World Heritage Commission. In 2007 some 165 households were relocated voluntarily to the new village of Kayit. The socio-economic effects of the relocation were evaluated by carrying out on-site interviews with the residents. The results indicate that the relocated villagers are satisfied with the new infrastructures and social services. However, relocation has also brought certain disadvantages with far-reaching consequences for the everyday life of the villagers, and thus their livelihoods, as these have led to a considerable loss of earning opportunities and -against the aims of the relocation -to intensified grazing in the area. The authors discuss these results in the light of a recent global discussion on relocation for conservation purposes and come up with five recommendations. Close monitoring of key parameters is seen as a minimum requirement for such an undertaking.

Exploring the Past and the Present: Examining Preservation, Management and Resistance practices in the Simien Mountains National Park, Ethiopia

“…This time around, the park's main priority was to ensure the survival of the Walia ibex population. Many experts and visitors from all over the world have flocked to the Simien Mountains since the park was formally established so that they might see the Walia ibex (Puff and Nemomissa 2001;Tessema et al 2012).…”

“…Once the park had been set up, new logics began to supplement the local communities' initial rationale. However, all representatives of international conservation bodies recommended that all residents in the park area should be expelled to protect the Walia ibex (Tessema et al 2012;Blanc 2018). The federal government accepted this recommendation, and it urged the local government to act accordingly, but they answered as it is an impossible task.…”

“…The relocation of Arkwazye residents in the SMNP in 2009 was successfully done, and it was rated good by UNESCO ( Tessema et al 2012;Tessema 2019). However, because Ethiopia became a republic, and international conservation groups adopted the theory of "parks for people," therefore the concept of forcible expulsion was replaced by that of "voluntary resettlement."…”

“…With this goal in mind, the federal government established the Integrated Development Project (IDP) in collaboration with the Austrian government (EWCA 2014). UNESCCO and IUCN also introduced a mission to rehabilitate the Simien Mountains in the early 2000, but it was in vain due to the rejection of the local people for the relocation proposal (Tessema 2012;Iori 2012). The FGD discussion among the community showed that, "we were wise enough to the IDP's ploy, and we know that they sought us to weaken through their new project so that we are so poor that we have no other solution but to leave our villages" (COMD1, Debark, 2023: 55).…”

The making of dispensable subjects in the Simien Mountains National Park, Ethiopia: the relocation of the Gich community as an example

“…In the 19th and early 20th century, scientists were too quick to assume that the best way to conserve nature is to keep people out in the form of relocation. The relocation of people has frequently been accompanied with poverty and dispossession to improve standards of environmental protection (Tessema et al 2012). This, in turn, has a huge impact on the administration of protected areas.…”