Participation of rural communities in management and conservation of rangeland resources: the case of Elodaya project, Sudan

Abstract

The study was carried out to determine the roles of community participation in management and conservation of rangelands and the socio-economic impact of Elodaya project on the local communities using direct interviews and a questionnaire between February and April 1995. The study of effectiveness and sustainability of technical interventions introduced in the study area was done by determination of the changes in some vegetation attributes which might take place as a =re su lt of the project interventions. The stratified random sampling wa.s adopted to divide the study area into project area and non-project area. Information generated by the questionnaire was computed in terms of percentages and analysis of variance to analyze the data on vegetation attributes. The study revealed that community participation approach has proved to be successful in mobilizing voluntary labour force to take part in different project activities. It has therefore proved to be a key factor to the success of management and conservation of rangeland resources. The Village Development Committees were helped ~ local communities to become more aware of the strong relationships existing between the different components of the local ecosystem and the causes of the natural resource depletion and land degradation. The technical interventions introduced in the project were contributed positively to bio-physical and socio-economic improvements. Some vegetation parameters such as herbaceous plant cover, botanical composition, plant density and standing crop biomass were changed in the positive direction since the project implementation. The Percentage ground cover increased from 20.97% to 62.25% while percentage bare soil declined from 79.03% to 37.75% between 1983 and 1995. Analysis of botanical composition and field observations showed that, plant species have increased from undesirable to more desirable ones, an indication of rangelands improvement. Herbaceous biomass production in the project area was significantly different {p< 0.05) from that outside the project area. Elodaya project contributed positively to the conservat ion of range land resources, income generat ion and water development. Considering the adverse environmental conditions and increasing human activities these bio-physical and socio-economic changes might be partially attributed to technical interventions introduced in the study area. The study also revealed that there are some factors contributing to natural resource deterioration and some constraints restricting people from involvement in natural resource conservation activities. If these factors are properly addressed, rehabilitation of natural resources and improvement of living standards of local communities could be achieved. The study recommended that inherent ecological features of study area and human activities which are incompatible with productivity of the rangelands should not be ignored in future planning of resource management. App licat ion of new techniques related to land-use and natural resource management should be based on simple traditional measures which could be easily understood and adopt by 1oca 1 farme r s and he rdsmen. They mus t be adapt ed to 1oca 1 ecological conditions and relevant to needs and circumstances of local communities. The study also recommended that there is urgent need for an extensive inventory and mapping of grazing resources and socio-economic status of rural population to be carried throughout the country to facilitate check in ecological deterioration and assure sustainable future resource utilization.