Resource Scarcity Induced Conflict and its Management: Implication for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods in Eastern Ethiopia

Land is considered the most fundamental resource to the poor and is essential to generate income, accumulate wealth and transfer it between generations, and enabling them to lift themselves out of poverty. More than 85 percent of the population in Ethiopia is dependent on land for livelihood. The last four decades have witnessed some land reforms in the Country, which were aimed at land redistribution and very recently introducing land titling. There is also a growing recognition of the centrality of land tenure in sustainable development process in the Country as witnessed by a number of regional initiatives. In this context, providing security of tenure is often seen as a precondition for intensifying agricultural production; and it is now being increasingly stressed as a prerequisite for better natural resource management and sustainable development.