International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy

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Indigenous Practices of Ganta Community in Protecting Natural Resources, Gamo Gofa Zone, Ethiopia

Received: 27 November 2016    Accepted: 26 June 2017    Published: 30 November 2017
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Abstract

Indigenous knowledge (IK) is a knowledge that people in a given community has developed over time, and continues to develop. IK on environment contributes to sustain ecosystem services and to mitigate climate change. The study explored the role of indigenous practices in protecting natural resource around Arba Minch ZuriaWoreda of ZigityKebeles. It used perception of people on the role of indigenous practices in natural resources management and environment protection using structured and non-structured questionnaires, focused group discussions with key informant and interview of 143 individuals. Data on ecological knowledge was collected from 12 sample villages with 40 key informants. Accordingly, 75% of the respondents agreed that the communities are not using indigenous practices for natural resources management in their area development program. Similarly, 76% of the respondents agreed that there was little support from government, and other institutions on traditional knowledge capacity building. However, indigenous practices of traditional land management have existed as the part of Ganta community and this was reflected by different local terminologies, proverbs, and sayings. There is a well-structured traditional institution that benefits the conservation of natural resources. The study recommended that traditional practices of the community have to be fully applied in natural resource management strategies of any development program in the area. Integrating the local knowledge to work with the existing social institutions will increases the efficiency of natural resources management system.

DOI 10.11648/j.ijepp.20170505.12
Published in International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy (Volume 5, Issue 5, September 2017)
Page(s) 74-83
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Indigenous Knowledge, Traditional Practice, Natural Resources Management, Environment, Ecological Knowledge

References
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Author Information
  • Project Concern International (PCI), Robe, Ethiopia

  • Department of Biology, Arba Minch University, Arba Minch, Ethiopia

  • Department of Biology, Arba Minch University, Arba Minch, Ethiopia

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  • APA Style

    Daniel Shiferaw, Serekebirhan Takele, Alemayehu Hailemichael. (2017). Indigenous Practices of Ganta Community in Protecting Natural Resources, Gamo Gofa Zone, Ethiopia. International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy, 5(5), 74-83. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijepp.20170505.12

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    ACS Style

    Daniel Shiferaw; Serekebirhan Takele; Alemayehu Hailemichael. Indigenous Practices of Ganta Community in Protecting Natural Resources, Gamo Gofa Zone, Ethiopia. Int. J. Environ. Prot. Policy 2017, 5(5), 74-83. doi: 10.11648/j.ijepp.20170505.12

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    AMA Style

    Daniel Shiferaw, Serekebirhan Takele, Alemayehu Hailemichael. Indigenous Practices of Ganta Community in Protecting Natural Resources, Gamo Gofa Zone, Ethiopia. Int J Environ Prot Policy. 2017;5(5):74-83. doi: 10.11648/j.ijepp.20170505.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijepp.20170505.12,
      author = {Daniel Shiferaw and Serekebirhan Takele and Alemayehu Hailemichael},
      title = {Indigenous Practices of Ganta Community in Protecting Natural Resources, Gamo Gofa Zone, Ethiopia},
      journal = {International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy},
      volume = {5},
      number = {5},
      pages = {74-83},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijepp.20170505.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijepp.20170505.12},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijepp.20170505.12},
      abstract = {Indigenous knowledge (IK) is a knowledge that people in a given community has developed over time, and continues to develop. IK on environment contributes to sustain ecosystem services and to mitigate climate change. The study explored the role of indigenous practices in protecting natural resource around Arba Minch ZuriaWoreda of ZigityKebeles. It used perception of people on the role of indigenous practices in natural resources management and environment protection using structured and non-structured questionnaires, focused group discussions with key informant and interview of 143 individuals. Data on ecological knowledge was collected from 12 sample villages with 40 key informants. Accordingly, 75% of the respondents agreed that the communities are not using indigenous practices for natural resources management in their area development program. Similarly, 76% of the respondents agreed that there was little support from government, and other institutions on traditional knowledge capacity building. However, indigenous practices of traditional land management have existed as the part of Ganta community and this was reflected by different local terminologies, proverbs, and sayings. There is a well-structured traditional institution that benefits the conservation of natural resources. The study recommended that traditional practices of the community have to be fully applied in natural resource management strategies of any development program in the area. Integrating the local knowledge to work with the existing social institutions will increases the efficiency of natural resources management system.},
     year = {2017}
    }
    

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    T1  - Indigenous Practices of Ganta Community in Protecting Natural Resources, Gamo Gofa Zone, Ethiopia
    AU  - Daniel Shiferaw
    AU  - Serekebirhan Takele
    AU  - Alemayehu Hailemichael
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    AB  - Indigenous knowledge (IK) is a knowledge that people in a given community has developed over time, and continues to develop. IK on environment contributes to sustain ecosystem services and to mitigate climate change. The study explored the role of indigenous practices in protecting natural resource around Arba Minch ZuriaWoreda of ZigityKebeles. It used perception of people on the role of indigenous practices in natural resources management and environment protection using structured and non-structured questionnaires, focused group discussions with key informant and interview of 143 individuals. Data on ecological knowledge was collected from 12 sample villages with 40 key informants. Accordingly, 75% of the respondents agreed that the communities are not using indigenous practices for natural resources management in their area development program. Similarly, 76% of the respondents agreed that there was little support from government, and other institutions on traditional knowledge capacity building. However, indigenous practices of traditional land management have existed as the part of Ganta community and this was reflected by different local terminologies, proverbs, and sayings. There is a well-structured traditional institution that benefits the conservation of natural resources. The study recommended that traditional practices of the community have to be fully applied in natural resource management strategies of any development program in the area. Integrating the local knowledge to work with the existing social institutions will increases the efficiency of natural resources management system.
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