The Role of Gada System in Natural Resource Conservation in the Case of Ambo District

Abstract

Depletion of natural resources is among the major problems facing human beings all over the world in general and Ethiopia in particular. Decades ago the natural resources of the country were in a better condition as compared to today's status which might be due to population pressure and unwise utilization of the resources in which the management approaches is completely depend on an externally induced knowledge and system and ignored the traditional management system. The main objective of this study is to examine the role of the Gada System in natural resources conservation in Ambo District. The study has employed mixed method research design. Data for the study were collected using various data collection technique such as the questionnaire, interview, focused group discussions and document analysis. The findings of the study show that the Gada system as indigenous knoldge contributed a lot in binding the importance of conserving natural environment for sustainable human life. It served as a source of knowledge for the local community regarding the importance of natural resource conservation. The finding also shows that lack of awareness making on Gada values negatively affecting the communities’ natural resource conservation practices. Furthermore, the study revealed that challenges like ignorance of indigenous knowledge by the stakeholders and absence of the Gada rules in a written form highly affecting the utilization of the Gada values for natural resource conservation. Based on the findings, the study recommends some important measures to be practiced. Thus, there is a call for participatory decision-making between policy makers, implementers and actual resource users to utilize indigenous knowledge for sustainable development.