go to top scroll for more

Projects: Summary of Projects by Region Projects in Region Scotland involving The James Hutton Institute : ES/P002501/1
Reference Number	ES/P002501/1
Title	Improving Organic Resource use in rural Ethiopia (IPORE)
Status	Completed
Energy Categories	Not Energy Related 70%; Renewable Energy Sources(Bio-Energy, Applications for heat and electricity) 30%;
Research Types	Basic and strategic applied research 100%
Science and Technology Fields	SOCIAL SCIENCES (Development Studies) 20%; AREA STUDIES (Middle Eastern and African Studies) 20%; BIOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES (Biological Sciences) 30%; ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES (Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences) 30%;
UKERC Cross Cutting Characterisation	Systems Analysis related to energy R&D (Other Systems Analysis) 40%; Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Environmental dimensions) 40%; Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Policy and regulation) 20%;
Principal Investigator	Professor E Phimister No email address given University of Aberdeen Business School University of Aberdeen
Award Type	Standard
Funding Source	ESRC
Start Date	01 July 2016
End Date	31 October 2017
Duration	16 months
Total Grant Value	£150,288
Industrial Sectors
Region	Scotland
Programme	Global Challenges Research Fund
Investigators	Principal Investigator	Professor E Phimister , University of Aberdeen Business School, University of Aberdeen (99.992%)
	Other Investigator	Professor P D Hallett , Inst of Biological and Environmental Sci, University of Aberdeen (0.001%) Professor J Smith , Inst of Biological and Environmental Sci, University of Aberdeen (0.001%) Dr A Fischer , Social, Economic and Geographical Scie, The James Hutton Institute (0.001%) Mr GY Edo , Natural Resources Research Directorate, Southern Agricultural Research Institute (0.001%) Mr A F W Fekadu , Natural Resources Research Directorate, Southern Agricultural Research Institute (0.001%) Dr T Tefera , Environment Gender & Development Studies, Hawassa University (0.001%) Dr SJ Langan , WAT, Intl Inst Applied Systems Analysis IIASA (0.001%) Dr W Mekuria , Nile Basin & East Africa Office, International Water Management Institute (0.001%)
Web Site
Objectives
Abstract	The shortage of organic resources in rural Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) for improving long term energy, food and water provision is one of the region's greatest challenges. The Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region in Ethiopia (SNNPR) provides an excellent case study for transdisciplinary research on how community sustainability and resilience might be improved by better use of organic resources. Organic resources are scarce, with seasonality causing significant variation in available water across the year, while diverse cultural norms and institutional arrangements, framing access to land, water and energy, emphasise that the success and impact of interventions depends on complex interactions between what science makes possible and how decisions are made by individuals and communities.In a Nexus Network grant, engagement with farmers, householders and policy makers from Halaba District and the wider SNNPR identified key Nexus challenges as complex, multi-dimensional and inter-connected. The interaction between the use of organic resources for energy, water and food in the region is dynamic, extremely complex and highly spatially variable. As elsewhere in SSA, most of the rural population use solid biomass for cooking and heating, with wood, dung and crop residues the main energy sources. However, these resources are also crucial to long term sustainable food production and water use. Dung and crop residues provide organic fertilisers that improve water holding capacity of the soil. Demands on organic wastes for fuel and livestock feed reduce the use of dung and crop residues as soil amendments, which reduces biomass production and organic inputs to the soil.Soil carbon loss and deforestation have also been a cause of significant soil erosion in Ethiopia, while many households have responded to diminishing biomass availability by planting fast growing and water hungry tree species on home plots, such as Eucalyptus, which negatively impact food production and potentially reduce groundwater availability. Governance arrangements which frame access to resources are also key. For example, traditional open animal grazing practices can determine the amount of crop residues retained in fields and undermine the maintenance of water harvesting structures.Shortage of organic resources also results from the difficulties faced by farmers in responding to changing (and increasingly erratic) seasons. Water scarcity in the typical extensive livestock system means that farmers spend significant periods away from the homestead, taking their livestock to water; this reduces time available for other activities. Lack of proximate water in the dry season (or throughout the year due to absence or breakdown of community pumps), impacts the time spent by household members (typically women and children) collecting water, and also affects school attendance.The spatial variability in organic resources, and formal and informal cultural norms and social institutions means that successful policy interventions need to be adapted to the specific local context. This requires appropriate locally specific scientific and socio-economic data, and engagement with policy makers and other stakeholders so that proposed solutions are jointly owned.This project will increase our understanding of the interactions between food, energy and water associated with organic resource use in this specific geographical and social context, and will help identify appropriate locally adapted solutions to improve community sustainability and resilience. This will provide a model for application of transdisciplinary Nexus thinking to improve policy design.
Data	No related datasets
Projects	No related projects
Publications	No related publications
Added to Database	05/12/17