Walia Special Edition on the Bale Mountains (2011) - Zoologische ...

of management decisions thus informing targeted development support on the basis of household
attributes such as, education, skills, and social status.
Despite local variations in direct use values from principal livelihood components, aggregate
household value is found not to significantly differ between kebeles. These findings suggest a
baseline level of goods and services are needed to sustain a certain level of wellbeing; a subsistence
level. Derived from the three key components, crops, livestock and forest products, household
production decisions are based on local environmental conditions, as well as access to arable land.
Where land is unsuitable for ploughing and crop growth, households may rely more heavily on
livestock production, or where access to grazing lands is limited, forest products can be relied upon
instead. Chiri exemplifies this, as the presence of forest coffee is such a substantial source of value
that households rarely report any secondary work activities after agriculture, within which they
include the harvest of forest coffee, and so Chiri derives the lowest value from both livestock and
crop production. The livelihood strategies of communities are a balance of the principal components
of direct consumptive use value according to the availability of natural resources; the divergence of
relative value is ecological rather than economically based.
In light of the significant lack of job opportunities in the Bale Mountains Eco-region, it
is possible that the economic value derived from the components assessed in this study represent
the major income of the household. If this were the case, the consistency of the estimated direct
consumptive use value over kebeles suggests that this is the economic value required for a household
to make ends meet. With the observed high rates of time preference found in Ethiopia due to lack
of saving and investment opportunities (Pender and Walker 1990; Holden et al. 1998) this would
be rational; there are no incentives for households to produce more than required to cope from
year-to-year. In keeping with our subsistence theory, income from sold produce will be used for
basic household expenses such as additional food, clothing, medical fees, school fees, household
utensils, and transport fees, as well as for social obligations such as community contributions, tax
and ceremonial expenses. This annual income amounts to US$287 ± 16.16 per person, or a daily
per capita value of US$0.79 ± 0.04. This is higher than the Ethiopia wide average GDP per capita
value of US$114 (UNDP 2007) supporting the generalisation that the Bale Mountains Eco-region
is a relatively ‘rich’ area relative to the rest of the country. While households rely on components of
direct consumptive use value according to site specific resource endowments, the finding that mean
household value does not vary significantly between survey sites allows us to confidently aggregate
direct consumptive use value. The Bale Mountains Eco-region has an estimated population of
1,277,131 rural dwellers. The annual flow of direct consumptive ecosystem goods and services is
therefore, estimated at US$366,439,518. This is a substantial value and excludes other sources of
value arising under the total economic value framework. In response to the continued decline of
managed agricultural land and natural areas, this assessment of ecosystem contribution to economic
activity helps to justify the financial resources required to ensure that conservation targets are met.
This household value can predict how changing resource access and management strategies will
affect rural livelihoods and help determine the measures to be taken to meet both development and
poverty reduction goals.
<strong>Walia</strong>-<strong>Special</strong> <strong>Edition</strong> on the Bale Mountains 194