The Nexus between Environment and Society in Sätit Humära, Northwestern Ethiopian Borderland, 1960s- 1991

Abstract

This study examines resettlement practices and the resultant environmental changes, recurring droughts, and famines that plagued Sätit Humära a borderland in northwestern Ethiopian in the second half of the twentieth century. Prior to the 1950s, Sätit Humära, situated between the River Sätit in the North to River Angäräb (Bahrä Sälam) in the South remained uninhabited. However, following the expansion of commercial agriculture in the borderlands in the late 1950s, Sätit Humära gained state attention and became a hub for agrarian communities that came from highland areas of Bägémeder and Semén, Eritrea, and Tigray. Between the mid-1970s and late 1980s, the Ethiopian government conducted an extensive resettlement scheme in Sätit Humära, resulting in significant deforestation, drought and famine. These cumulative activities left repercussions on both the population and the environmental landscape of the Borderlands. In producing this paper, the researchers consulted provincial archives kept in Gondar Town and aerial photographic and satellite imagery data that depicts forest cover in Sätit Humära in the second half of the twentieth century. Additionally, focus group discussion and indepth interviews were conducted in the study area.