Indigenous institutions and wildlife conservation: The case of the Oromo Gada System protecting Swayne's hartebeest in Ethiopia

Conflicts between people and protected areas (PAs) managers over land use create serious problems in Africa (Jacobs & Schloeder, 2001). Since its 1960s advent of wildlife PAs, the Ethiopian government has imposed exclusionary policies that marginalize local communities and deprive them of their historical natural resource use rights within PAs. Marginalization and loss of use rights have fostered negative attitudes within local communities towards PAs, placing communities at odds with wildlife conservation. The consequences have been severe wildlife poaching and opportunistic destruction of wildlife habitats, particularly during periods of political unrest. For example, heavy wildlife poaching and destruction of natural resources occurred following the downfall of the socialist regime in 1991 and recently during the 2016 Oromo protests against the current government. Despite these persistent challenges, our experience shows that there is hope for protecting Ethiopia's remaining biodiversity. Here we argue that realizing this hope should begin with valuing the role of local communities and partnering with indigenous institutions in achieving shared conservation goals. We use the “Oromo Gada System” in Ethiopia as it relates to the Senkelle Swayne's Hartebeest Sanctuary (SSHBS) (see Supplemental Material 1) as a case study to support the thesis that indigenous institutions can have vital relevance for enhancing effectiveness of wildlife conservation. The SSHBS (36 km) is located on the west side of the Great Rift Valley (7 100N; 38 200E) and was established in 1976 to protect the Swayne's hartebeest (Alcelaphus buselaphus swaynei), an endangered antelope subspecies endemic to Ethiopia (Simon, 1972; Supporting Information 1 and Figure S1). The “Gada System” is an indigenous socio-political institution of the Oromo nation in Ethiopia. It was registered in 2016 on UNESCO's List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (UNESCO, 2016; Supporting Information 2). We focus on describing (a) the causes and consequences of conflicts in the sanctuary since 1990s, and (b) outcomes of the actions taken by the “Gada System” leaders. Our aim is to inform conservation practitioners, planners, and policy-makers to consider the contribution of such local institutions in enhancing effectiveness of PAs management. Historically, the Senkelle plain had been used as a livestock pasture land by local communities. However, these communities were not consulted during establishment of the SSHBS, resulting in recurrent conflicts over grazing between the community and SSHBS managers (Nishizaki, 2004). Following the downfall of the socialist regime in May 1991, as was the case of most PAs of Ethiopia, SSHBS was severely affected due to mass poaching of hartebeests and destruction of residence and office buildings and facilities by local communities. As a result, the hartebeest population dramatically declined from 3,000 to 200 individuals from 1990 to 1993 (Nishizaki, 2004). On June 5, 1993, four Ethiopian conservationists, including the last author (R.A.), met the then Abba Gada (Gada leader), and informed him of the situation and the need to conserve the hartebeests. This team asked the Abba Gada to safeguard the animals. Accordingly, the Abba Gada ordered the community to attend a public meeting, which was held on June 15, 1993. The meeting attracted over 10,000 people, Received: 10 May 2019 Revised: 15 August 2019 Accepted: 16 August 2019