Environmental Policies for Combating

Desertification Strengthens Nigeria and

Ethiopia: Reinforcing World Order

International Relations
Political Science 180
October 8, 2010
Prof. Brian C. Ventura

Jamiline Marie Lebrilla

INTRODUCTION

On the issue of whether international environmental politics reinforces or

challenges the world order, this paper contends that it reinforces world order. World

order is seen as one consisting of a state-centric perspective. Specifically, states are the

major actors in a Westphalian system, wherein it has supreme authority over its own

domestic and foreign affairs.

This paper focuses on the phenomenon of desertification in Nigeria and Ethiopia

and how the environmental policies designed to combat it actually strengthen the state,

reinforcing world order in the process. Desertification is defined as the gradual land

degradation of arid, semi-arid, dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors,

including climatic variation and human activity. It is a phenomenon of global

significance as it involves ecological changes that sap the land of its ability to sustain

agriculture and human habitation. Worldwide, 70% of all agriculturally used drylands are

affected to various degrees by desertification. The worst affected regions are Africa,

North and South America, and Asia.

This paper explores the policies Nigeria and Ethiopia, with assistance from the

United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), put in place to combat

desertification. It will then show how these policies strengthen their corresponding states

by increasing their power, making them more powerful actors in the international system,

and then subsequently reinforcing the world order.

STATE POWER

Before everything else, an important concept to be understood in this paper is

statism and its relation to state power. According to the realist theory of international
political economy, statism is the subordination of all economic activities to the goal of

state building, as well as maintenance of state security and military power.

With such a perspective, economics becomes subservient to politics. There are no

more notions of free trade wherein politics must separate from the market. Government

intervention in the economy is seen as right and sensible. In an anarchic system where all

states cannot enjoy statism together, states constantly compete with each other in order to

achieve a higher economic position, even at the expense of other states. They do this in

order to protect themselves.

By increasing economic strength, states are able to increase their power. With

higher economic strength comes a higher ability to command more troops, build more

advanced military weaponry, develop new technology, etc. The possibilities are endless,

and if a state is secure, or holds enough power, then that state would have not be at a

disadvantage in its interaction with other actors in the international system.

ETHIOPIA

In Ethiopia, agriculture is the backbone of the economy, accounting for 43.8% of

the GDP. However, desertification has resulted to an estimated 70% loss of arable land

and GDP loss from reduced agricultural productivity is estimated at

$130 million per year. The livelihood of 85% of the Ethiopian population is

dependent on natural resources. Depletion and deterioration of these resources have

resulted in lower agricultural productivity, producing a lower standard of living. 95% of

the cultivated land in Ethiopia is used by small-farming policies, and as a result of

increasing population; biomass cover is decreasing every year. 52% of population is food

insecure, and below the poverty line. Desertification was occurring, but it was speeded up
due to human activity, mainly the overpopulation and overuse of natural resources,

however in a backlash, desertification makes the Ethiopian population poorer than ever.

The Ethiopian government has put environmental policies in place even prior to

1975, however, due to structural inadequacies and policies flaws, policies to combat

desertification were never stringently followed. However, around the 1990s, the

Ethiopian government began to take a more active interest in their environment, spurred

on by student activists and many sectors of Ethiopian society which favored land reform.

Several measures were undertaken in order to counteract desertification, with assistance

from the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

EFFORTS AND MEASURES

• NAP finalization in 1998, after NAP ratification in 1997. NAP stands for National

Action Program, a tool for implementing the provisions of the UNCCD.

Promoting Peoples participation in sustainable development and natural resource

management;

• Implementation of NAP involved the Formulation of Policies and Laws

• The Conservation Strategy of Ethiopia

• The Environmental Policy of Ethiopia

• Agricultural and Rural Development

• Institutional Measures

• Decentralization policy of the government and its relevance for UNCCD;

• Relevant Government Institutions at Federal and Regional levels;

• Adoption of NAP in the Government programs

 • District Environmental Management Plans prepared and implemented in

various districts;

• The effort to prepare District Environmental Management Plans at

Community level started

• Forrest, soil and water conservation, area closure, etc are the main

intervention areas

• Guideline for the preparation and implementation of Water Effeciency

Management Plans (WEMP) is being prepared;

• Training-of-Trainers (TOT) being provided on WEMP preparation and

implementation;

Ethiopia is also one of the selected pilot countries in the sub-Saharan African

countries for the Terr Africa Initiative. This initiative is hoped to bring a lot of resources

for Ethiopia.

EFFECT OF INITIATED MEASURES

In Ethiopia degraded patches of remnant forest areas have been rehabilitated

though enrichment planting, enclosure, and afforestation programmes. Fuel saving stoves

and renewable energy were introduced and disseminated to wean people off of use of

wood fuels. In the biodiversity sector, eco-tourism based investments have

been promoted in the form of national parks and wildlife sanctuaries. In the

water sector, moisture conservation and utilization have been introduced,

which includes water harvesting and small-scale irrigation. For innovative

community practices in natural resources use and management, utilization

of indigenous knowledge systems for land and natural resource

management such as in-situ conservation of crop varieties, indigenous

terrace building in Konso District, and application of an agro-forestry

system in Gedio zone has achieved reduction in the rate of genetic

erosion and restoration of the local seeds or landraces in regions where

they were wiped out by severe drought, control of land degradation in

the hilly and mountainous areas of Konso, and improved biodiversity

conservation, productivity and living standards of communities in

Gedio zone

From 1995, with a GDP of $7.606 billion, to 2008 with a GDP of $25.58 billion,

Ethiopia’s economy has grown. Ethiopia’s GDP is composed of agriculture (43.8%),

industry (13.2%), and services (43%). Agriculture also accounts for 83.9% of exports

and 80% of the labor force. The major agricultural export crop is coffee, providing about

65% of Ethiopia's foreign exchange earnings. Coffee is critical to the Ethiopian economy.

More than 15 million people (25% of the population) derive their livelihood from the

coffee sector. According to current estimates, coffee contributes 10% of Ethiopia's GDP.

The service sector in Ethiopia consists mostly of tourism, primarily being the growing

popularity of ecotourism. Although slow, there is significant potential for growth in

Ethiopia. Travel retail sales are expected to continue to grow, posting an increase of 7%

in 2006 and with a forecast 5% increase in 2007.

Agriculture is integral to the economy of Ethiopia. If agricultural production goes

down, GDP goes down. The rise in GDP of Ethiopia from 1995 to 2008 shows the

positive effect of environmental policies as agricultural production increases. The

investment in eco-tourism to promote biodiversity has also been productive as the service

sector accounts for almost half of GDP.

NIGERIA

Yearly, Nigeria is reported to lose 1,355 square miles of

rangeland and cropland to desertification. This affects each of the 10

northern states of Nigeria. Even Nigerian lowland forests have

undergone a transformation as 351,000 hectares of land (95%), turn

into desert each year. Overgrazing, over-cultivation, dependency on

wood fuel, and overpopulation have resulted in conditions which put

Nigeria in an increasingly grave position.

Socio-economic conditions have grown worse as the livelihood of

people have been affected, aggravating the problems with food

security. Water resources like Lake Chad, has receded far beyond

Nigeria’s borders. Conflict and violence arise, which threaten regional

or national security, as Nigerians compete with each other for cropland

resources. With an ever-growing population, but a finite supply of land,

farmland for individuals grow smaller and smaller, speeded up by

desertification. And in the Sudano-sahelian zone, flora and fauna have

deteriorated as a result of both climatic and human influences. Such

fauna as the antelope, cheetah, lion, giraffe, have become

endangered.
 EFFORTS AND MEASURES

In 1988, Nigeria established the Federal Environmental

Protection Agency, and on October 31, 1994, Nigeria signed the

Decertification Convention, and ratified it on July 8, 1997, thereby now

qualifying the country to be a part of the UNCCD. And in 2001,

President Obasanjo launched the National Action Program (NAP) on

desertification.

Several sectoral programs have been put in place to tackle the

problem of desertification. These programs are:

• Management of Water Resources. These are programs promoting sustainable

utilization of water resources in the drylands.

• Forestry Programmes. These are programs that focus on land use policy, fuel

energy, mass tree planting campaigns, prevention of bush fires, pastoral systems,

and sand dune fixation.

• Agricultural Development Programme. This program is employed for the

dissemination of proven agricultural technologies (aimed at ensuring sustainable

development) to the small-scale, resource poor farmers who are responsible for

well over 90% of the national food production.

• Energy Resources. These are programs that have been put in place for the purpose

of promoting optimal utilization of renewable energy resources with a view to

reducing deforestation associated with fuel wood sourcing.

• Integrated Programmes Targeted at Poverty Alleviation. These programs cover a

lot of fields. The major components of it are water resources development and
 management, provision of micro-credit for off season economic activities, cottage

industries, livestock fattening, rural banking and popularization of animal traction

for land preparation for agricultural activities.

The other measures taken by Nigeria are Partnership Building,

facilitating interaction and cooperation between different actors in

society like the private sector and NGOs. There are also projects

initiated by the government that are currently operating like the

Nigeria-Niger Trans-boundary Ecosystem Management Project.

EFFECT OF INITIATED MEASURES

Successful afforestation measures were carried out in Kano and

Jigawa States which cover a combined area of 43,000 km2 in the Sudan Savannah

vegetation zone of Northern Nigeria. Participating farmers and local villagers have found

new sources of livelihood as they carry out their own afforestation programs, soils were

stabilized, and increased crop yields were experienced on farms with shelterbelts and

woodlots.

Successful agricultural development measures in the areas of Bauchi and Kano

produced a 10% and 16% increase in crop production respectively.

For renewable energy measures, far flung villages in Jigawa State who used to

find it hard to get diesel batteries for their diesel powered pumps, now pump water form

solar-powered pumps who will run for as long as eight years. Village health clinics now
benefit from solar power by being able to store their vaccines in solar-powered

refrigerators. In every village school there are at least two illuminated classrooms.

Successful water conservation programs, like the Kano River Irrigation Program

has generated year round employment for family members near the project. The

incidence of work has increased among women and provided sufficient incentives to slow

down the process of urban migration, alleviating underemployment. Another important

result of the project if the increased income and improved living standards of the farming

population

ANALYSIS

As can be seen, policies for water conservation, forestry preservation, livestock

management, renewable energy, poverty alleviation and agricultural development not

only combat desertification but also increase the production derived from natural

resources. And not only are they environmentally friendly, but are more efficient as well.

Going back to the statist perspective wherein the economy is subordinate to state

building, with the increase in economic productivity, there is an increase in the security

or power of the state as well. This is because with more economic resources, one can

obtain more security, military power, technology, etc.

This reinforces the state-centric world order because first, nothing has changed.

Ethiopia and Nigeria remain sovereign. They have not surrendered or given partial

control to any foreign entity which has decided to help them. The UNCCD, for example,

gave them assistance and funding from its members, but all it required in return was that

Ethiopia and Nigeria enact policies which combated desertification and increased
economic productivity. There is no punishment for non-compliance with policies, or for

not continuing with the program all the way to the end.

Second, there is reinforcement because Ethiopia and Nigeria not only stay

sovereign, but they gain power as well. In addition to saving the environment, these

policies strengthen states, and make it more unlikely that foreign entities can take part of

their sovereignty or control from them. All they do is reinforce state self-interest by

making states in the international system more competitive.

CONCLUSION

I therefore conclude that international environmental politics reinforces the world

order, because every piece of environmental policy one can find here in the cases of

Nigeria and Ethiopia have been policies that have touted the most advantageous position,

given the gravity of the situation, to that state. And by the most advantage, I mean the

most states can obtain economically.

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