ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION THROUGH RURAL LAND LAWS IN SOUTH WOLLO ZONE OF AMHARA NATIONAL REGIONAL STATE: THE LAW AND PRACTICE

Abstract

Environmental degradation related to rural land in Ethiopia in general and in ANRS, in particular, is reflected in the form of land degradation, loss, and degradation of water resources, deforestation as well as decline and/or loss of biodiversity. Ethiopia has designed a number of environmental laws. But such laws suffer from various defects which affect their ability to promote environmental protection. So efforts to use laws to protect the rural environment should look beyond just environmental statutes. Therefore seeking a solutions and studying rural land administration laws will be helpful to defy land degradation in rural areas. Using qualitative method this study tries to find out whether the ANRS rural land laws normative and institutional frameworks and their enforcement mechanisms are adequate or not in protecting environmental degradation in rural areas of South Wollo Zone. legal provisions of the ANRS rural land laws which deal with unlimited land use right, limited land distribution, land right registration and certification, obligations to conserve and protect the land, expropriation for environmental purpose , incentive and the existence of legal remedy will encourage the zone’s rural environmental protection. However this does not mean that such laws are comprehensive rather such laws fails to comprise all possible obligations of land users, lacks clarity and provided in general terms with weak remedies. In South Wollo Zone there is no effective and functional rural land use plan, land registration of the Zone has not been yet finalized, individual and communal holders did not get certification accurately, there is continuing land invasion and inappropriate use of rural land against land use plan and less attention is given to sustainable administration of rural land. This shows land administration system of the Zone is weak. This could create a negative impact on rural land environmental protection in the Zone. There is also no cooperation mechanism or forum among stockholders in the areas of rural land administration and environmental protection. Much attention is given to land administration issues than environmental protection. The rural land and environmental protection institution also lack financial, material and manpower capacities which hold back to carry out its duties. Due to these reasons, the rural land administration and environmental protection institutional setup of the Zone remains inadequate to properly protect the rural environment. In relation to rural land environmental protection, the ANRS rural land laws are practically not enforced in the zone due to the legal gap and unclearness, insufficient and political will to enforce the rural land laws. So the rural land environment of the South Wollo Zone remains in peril so long as there is no effective and enforced rural land law, government commitment, and well-designed, empowered and coordinated institutions.