The Need for Integrated Natural Resource Management (INRM) in Refugee Settlement Areas: A Case Study of Eritrean Refugees in and Around Shimelba Camp, Tigray National Regional State, Ethiopia.
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Date
2007-08
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
In Ethiopia, the Tigray national regional state, due to its geographical proximity to Eritrea, has
been hosting around 15,000 Eritrean refugees fleeing from their country of origin crossing the
Ethiopian border starting from May 2000 because of the worse political and socio-economic
conditions in Eritrea especially after the Ethio-Eritrean war. As large groups of people are settled
in an area, they exert pressure on the natural environment especially in the case of refogees where
insufficient assistance is providedfrom relief organizations. The areas of refugee settlement have a
direct bearing on the environment and the environment, in turn, has a direct bearing on the welfare
and well being of people in the vicinity. And it is not realistic to expect that the current carrying
capacity of the refugee settlement area can withhold the increasing number of refugees. This has
resulted in local settlers in the area to compete for scarce natural resources which have lead to a
growing tendency of conflict between the refogees and the locals.
Therefore, it was crucial to examine the current natural resource degradation level, the socioeconomic
jactors of refugees and locals towards natural resource consumption, assess the cause of
resource conflict and evaluate the current natural resource management practices to recommend
possible alternative actions and to take the lesson to similar refugee settlement areas.
In order to achieve the objectives, qualitative and quantitative methods were used Data was
collectedfrom primary and secondary sources. The qualitative aspect focused on major PRA tools,
while the quantitative aspect was based on formal survey (J 50 sample households), which was
analyzed using descriptive analysis, t-test and Chi-Square test.
The high population pressure has seriously affected and damaged the scarce natural resources and
the agricultural productivity of the study area. There is a serious problem of foel wood, grazing
land and water resource scarcity which resulted due to the competition for these resources and lead
to a conflict between rejilgees and the local population. However, Natural resource management
practices taken by the concerned bodies to date were found to be minimal compared to the
environmental impacts. The result suggests the need for user oriented, integrated, participatOlY
approach to ensure sustainability of natural resource use by refugees and local communities,
which is in line with the basic prinCiples of Integrated Natural Resource Management (INRM).
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Keywords
Integrated Natural Resource Management