Indigenous claims and conflicts in managing the Abijata-Shalla Lakes National Park, Ethiopia

This paper examines claims and conflicts in the management of the Abijata-Shalla Lakes National Park in the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia. We used data from households, key informants (elders, park managers), and focus group discussions. Poor wildlife policy resulting in space competition between wildlife and humans (other forms of land use), limited means of revenue generation for insiders and centralized benefits from tourism have accumulated grievance and then conflict between national park authority and local communities. Contested land tenure and overlapping claims generated by ill-defined property rights, as interrelated factors, sustained the conflicts. Weak information sharing, rising demographic pressure and conservation policies, giving more priority to global and national than local interests, contributed to the conflict. The result implies that efforts in revitalizing customary authorities and institutions and introducing a co-management strategy can immensely provide an avenue to manage conflicts between communities and park managers.