Paper short abstract:

This paper deals with a contested landscape – the Nech Sar National Park in Southern Ethiopia – that has become an arena of struggle between multilayer actors over access, management and utilization of the territory.

Paper long abstract:

Much of the works on nature conservation in Africa have often sidelined the agency of different actors, particularly of local people in articulating, negotiating and contesting discourses related to establishment of protected areas. Recognizing multiple interpretations and struggles over land hinges on how various actors employ different negotiation strategies and power positions in the process of achieving their interests and/or blocking the interests of others. In the Nech Sar National Park case, the Guji and Koore people have been challenging state intervention by systematically employing different forms of resistance and negotiation including open violence, cattle trespass, encroachment, hunting and using state judiciary system itself. In addition to the local people, there are regional and international actors involved in the contestation over the territory whose representation of the space varies significantly. While the territory signifies livelihood space for some actors, others such as the state and Multinational Conservation Companies label it as "Wilderness" that deserves human stewardship. It is also marked as a cultural and spiritual space for the Guji Oromo, for example. Thus, this paper argues that for a better understanding of land-related conflicts, recognition to multiple interpretations of representations of the land and how actors define it are important. Drawing on empirical data and theoretical arguments, the paper tries to unveil broader understanding on the cultural, political, economic and environmental dimensions behind land-related conflicts.