AFRAS Research Could Regenerate War-Torn Countries

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Wars rip through the land in which they are fought, often causing severe damage to fragile environments. The systems which are built up painstakingly over generations for managing land, water and forestry resources may also be decimated when conflict tears people away from their homes. Yet the aftermath of war can provide an opportunity for regeneration; for a new start which avoids the mistakes which were made in the past. Instead of being exploited, there is a chance for resources to be managed more effectively. It is this chance of a new beginning which has inspired Dr Elizabeth Watson and her colleagues in AFRAS to embark on the MARENA project.

The MARENA (Management of Renewable Natural Resources) team will be looking at the way water, land and wildlife are managed in Ethiopia and Mozambique, two countries which have both been ravaged by protracted wars. Crucially, both countries were also ruled under strong, centralised state control. Before the conflict, state institutions were responsible for managing natural resources. Now, responsibility is being devolved to 'community' organisations. As Elizabeth explains, "It's very much the idea of moving from a top-down to a bottom-up way of management."

But this process is not as simple as it sounds. The idea of 'stakeholder participation' rings with idealism at any time, but it may be even less viable after a war. As Elizabeth points out, "In a post-conflict situation you often have very mixed communities, or communities which have been extremely disrupted. People have been displaced and regrouped, some groups have been riven apart, and there may still be a lot of tension. The idea of 'the community' is really a romantic ideal." This has become apparent in Boran in Ethiopia, where right of access to water wells for herders and their livestock, which was once controlled by community elders, has now become haphazard as the elders have been displaced. And in Mozambique, forests are being damaged by overpopulation as soldiers who staked rebel bases there in the war have now settled and started families.

Despite these problems, it is still empowering for the people who use these resources to have a say in how they are managed. Local people are perhaps more likely to manage resources in a sustainable way, and have pools of knowledge which people from NGOs and governments don't have. Elizabeth and her MARENA colleagues hope to construct a model of the way that all the institutions involved interact, with a view to strengthening indigenous control in a workable way. Their model could well point the way to a totally new sort of management, born out of the ashes of war.