Ethiopian socio-hydrology: geographies of development and change in the water tower of Africa
Date
2017
Authors
Chignell, Stephen M., author
Laituri, Melinda J., advisor
Evangelista, Paul H., committee member
Leisz, Stephen J., committee member
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Abstract
Water access, sanitation, and security remain key foci of international aid and development initiatives. However, the increasing interconnectedness of hydrologic and social systems can cause such initiatives to have unexpected and cascading effects across geographic scales. This presents new challenges for meeting ever-growing demand, as distant and complex socioeconomic and environmental relationships, or "telecouplings," may significantly influence the outcomes and sustainability of development projects. Predicting future water scenarios thus requires both integrative and basic research into the structure and function of socio-hydrological systems. I explored these emerging concepts in Ethiopia, which is the source of water for much of the Horn of Africa and receives over half of its annual budget from foreign development aid. I analyzed the geography of water in Ethiopia from two perspectives. First, I used examples from the literature to identify water development initiatives in rural and urban settings and at local and national scales. I then situated these initiatives within the telecoupling framework to reveal underlying socio-hydrological relationships. My results indicate that water development is linking Ethiopia's hydrology with geographically distant communities and markets and creating new and often unexpected flows of people, material, and capital. This is resulting in cross-scale feedbacks among urbanization, geopolitics, and the food-energy-water nexus in Ethiopia. Second, I conducted basic research into alpine wetland dynamics in the Bale Mountains, which provide the only perennial source of water to highland communities and 12 million downstream water users in East Africa. I found that wetlands more than double in extent between dry and wet seasons, and that just 4% of the alpine zone is saturated year-round. I found evidence of a hydrological continuum based on geologic and glacial legacies, which suggests that geology is a principal control on alpine wetland hydrology in Bale. I used this to develop a typology of wetland function, which provides a baseline for future research into climate change impacts and surface-groundwater connectivity.
Description
Rights Access
Subject
development
telecoupling
wetlands
Ethiopia
Bale Mountains
water