Dwindling Ethiopian Forests: the ‘carrot’ and ‘stick’ dilemma

No Abstrac

Overview of Country Experience in Land Rights and Developmental Statehood: South Korea, Taiwan, China and Singapore

This article examines lessons that can be drawn from the land rights regimes of four countries that have commendable economic performance. It highlights the nature of land rights during the developmental statehood pursuits of three East Asian states (South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore) and a country that currently pursues socialist market economic policy, i.e. China. The themes that are considered include (a) lessons from the land rights regime in South Korea including the salient features of  developmental states, (b) Taiwan’s land reform during the early 1950s and land requisition for industrial use, (c) China’s land rights regime and administrative laws, and (d) land rights in Singapore and entrepreneur perceptions about its institutions. These countries are chosen due to their relevance to the Ethiopian land law regime. The article highlights how South Korea and Taiwan carried out effective land reform by redistributing private land rights without resorting to nationalization. It is argued that neither the notion of state ownership of land as practised in Singapore nor current improvements in the scope of Chinese land use rights explain the denial ofeconomic value to land use rights.Key words: Land use rights, developmental state, land reform, property rights

Ambiguities and inconsistencies in the ‘prescriptions’ toward ‘development'

Ethiopia’s Investment Proclamation states that accelerated economic development and improved living standards of the Ethiopian people are the objectives of investment promotion. Moreover, the 1995 Ethiopian Constitution guarantees “the right to improved living standards and to sustainable development.” This paper deals with the ambiguities and inconsistencies in the path towards achieving one of the expectations enshrined in these laws, i.e., the aspiration to bring about development. It discusses the various notions of development that have influenced Ethiopia’s policies and further examines the challenges thereof in clarity, consistency and effectiveness

Role conflict between land allocation and municipal functions in Addis Ababa

The current accelerated growth of Addis Ababa has caused tension between the favourable aspects of urban redevelopment, and the corresponding wake-up calls against the risks of transforming various parts of the city into haphazard ‘concrete jungle’. I argue that there is role conflict in municipality authorities that are entrusted with the power to lease out urban land, and at the same time carry out the regulatory function of revising and implementing urban master plans and providing municipal services. It is argued that the land provision function of municipalities (and their corresponding interest in enhancing revenue from lease) induces them to lease out urban land to the detriment of green areas, neighborhood play fields, public parks, open spaces, riverbanks, street alignments and adequate space for bus and taxi terminals (menaheria). Such role conflict not only enhances administrative discretion and corruption, but also weakens urban land holding security, represses municipal services and adversely affects the propriety and effectiveness of urban plans

Between ‘Land Grabs’ and Agricultural Investment: Land Rent Contracts with Foreign Investors and Ethiopia’s Normative Setting in Focus

This article examines whether the land rent contracts and the Ethiopian legal framework on rural land use rights can assure win-win mutual benefits expected from large-scale land transfers to foreign investors. The article further examines the challenges in the realization of the Seven Principles for Responsible Agricultural Investments prepared by FAO, IFAD, UNCTAD and the World Bank Group as a framework of standards for the current global dialogue on large-scale farmland acquisitions.  I argue that land-use insecurity in the Ethiopian context results from the extensive powers of executive offices that are empowered to dispossess holders and reallocate land to investors. These powers can be even more discretionary where land transfers are made without prior mapping and demarcation of protected forests and wildlife, and where registration and the issuance of land-holding certificates to smallholder farmers and pastoralists have not yet been made. The article suggests the need to rectify the gaps in the land transfer contracts and most importantly, the need to render the government a custodian (and not owner) of land in conformity with the FDRE Constitution and to ensure that the termination of land use rights is decided by courts so that executive offices would not perform the dual functions of revoking and reallocating rural land use rights.  Key words: Land grabs, responsible agricultural investment, land rights, farmland acquisition, Ethiopi

Eastern Nile at crossroads: Preservation and utilization concerns in focus

“Yabayin lij wuha temaw” is an Amharic proverb that has the theme: “thirst at the bank of a stream” or “shortages in the midst of plenty.” The proverb literally means “Nile’s child got thirsty.” A question I had once raised in one of my elementary classes was whether a person can be considered child of a river. I recall that my Amharic Grammar teacher didn’t answer the question, but instead subtly relayed it back to the class so that we could explore the core message of the proverb. Indeed, we human beings are children of the air we breathe (without which we can’t survive beyond few minutes), the water we drink (that constitute 60 to 80% of the human body and without which we can’t stay alive beyond a few days). We are also children of the soil and energy (heat, light…) that nurture our crops and that enable us live our lives as generations come and go. The words “soil to soil and ashes to ashes” signify this truth. Ancient Egyptians believed that Ptah was the Nile god and that his “head supported the sky, his feet rested upon the earth”. They also believed that the sun and the moon were the eyes of Ptah and that air came from his nostrils and “the Nile from his mouth. … Egypt’s first temple was created to Ptah by King Memes.”1 Such reverence to the source of the Nile was long forsaken by Egypt who has been (for over a century) pursuing a geopolitical strategy towards controlling the utilization of the Nile waters, rather than equitably sharing it with upstream riparians. As decades rolled on, however, development of international law towards the principle of equitable and reasonable utilization and the current concern for the protection of the Nile basin ecosystem seem to necessitate changes that require fraternal concessions towards mutual benefit and ultimate regional integration