Retrospective household and livelihoods survey in Nyangatom District, South Omo, Ethiopia 2019

These data are from a household survey conducted in Nyangatom District, South Omo Zone, Ethiopia, in 2018/19. The primary research question we sought to address was how the end of the annual flood of the Omo River, which was integral to the flood recession agricultural systems of downstream communities, affected food security. Data relate to agricultural production before and after the end of flood retreat agriculture which followed the construction of the Gibe III dam upstream. [2005 and 2010 in the Ethiopian Calendar]. We also sought to account for changes in non-farm wealth including livestock holdings over the same period.<p>Rapid changes in the natural, social, and economic environment are occurring in Ethiopia's Lower Omo Valley, as part of a state-led development vision of repositioning the region as a major sugar exporter. At the same time, these changes raise risks of environmental degradation, and the emergence of new kinds of inequality and conflict. The Lower Omo is home to a large number of pastoralist groups, and is a major centre of ethnic, linguistic and cultural diversity - reflected in its designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site (Schlee, 2009; Turton, 1991). While new sugar estates promise to create &gt;150,000 new jobs, they are also drawing labour migrants from other regions, setting up new hierarchies of wealth and opportunity, and raising social tensions (Tewolde and Fana, 2014).
As part of its ambitious Growth and Transformation Plans (FDRE 2010, 2015), Ethiopia's government has allocated 175,000 hectares to the sugarcane project (more than the entire area under irrigation in Kenya), and aims to increase national sugar production from 17 million to 42 million tons. Pastoralists who, according to the government, do not use the land optimally, have had their &quot;underutilized&quot; lands repurposed for sugarcane plantations and industrial sites that will produce sugar worth 661.7 million USD and produce alternative energy sources (304,000m3 of ethanol per year and 607 MW electricity). This scenario raises urgent questions about the social justice dimensions of current development models, and their implications for socio-ecological resilience. The following interlinked research questions will structure our exploration of the on-going changes and their consequences:
1. How have recent developments affected the spatial and temporal availability of and access to natural resources in the region? (Environmental sustainability / degradation)
2. How are changing resources affecting conflict dynamics in the region? (Conflict and resilience)
3. How are these changes influencing relations of material in/equality? (Wealth and poverty / resource security)
These questions will be addressed by three Working Groups with expertise in the fields of environmental sustainability, conflict studies, and poverty research respectively. The group will first conduct Research involving knowledge generation across disciplines and stakeholder groups, and second work towards Application in the form of knowledge exchange and synthesis. The first step in the research design will accommodate a cycle of stakeholder identification, scoping and testing of research assumptions; followed by an intensive period of data collection using both conventional (survey, focus group) and participatory research methods. Crucially, our tools will include participatory video methods that will be used to stimulate conversations about current models of development that are rarely possible due to barriers of language, distance, and power. The project will thereby facilitate knowledge sharing, processing, and utilisation, and explore how knowledge regarding the environmental changes and their implications for poverty, peace, and security is best integrated in decision-making for diverse stakeholders.</p>

本数据集源自2018/2019年度在埃塞俄比亚南奥莫地区尼亚加托姆区开展的家庭调查。本研究核心旨在厘清：作为下游社区退洪农业系统不可或缺组成部分的奥莫河年度洪水终止后，对当地粮食安全造成了何种影响。本数据集涵盖上游吉贝III大坝建成后，退洪农业终止前后的农业生产相关数据【对应埃塞俄比亚历2005年与2010年】。本研究同时考量同期非农财富（包括牲畜存栏量）的变化情况。

埃塞俄比亚下奥莫河谷正经历自然、社会与经济环境的快速变革，这一进程系该国国家主导发展愿景的一部分——该愿景旨在将该地区打造为主要食糖出口地。与此同时，此类变革亦带来了环境退化风险，以及新型不平等与冲突的滋生隐患。下奥莫河谷聚居着大量游牧族群，是民族、语言与文化多样性的核心区域，这一点亦通过其被列入联合国教科文组织（UNESCO）世界遗产名录得到印证（Schlee, 2009; Turton, 1991）。尽管新建甘蔗种植园有望创造超过15万个就业岗位，但同时也吸引了来自其他地区的务工移民，催生了新的财富与机会层级体系，并加剧了社会紧张局势（Tewolde and Fana, 2014）。

作为其雄心勃勃的《增长与转型计划》（FDRE, 2010, 2015）的一部分，埃塞俄比亚政府已为该甘蔗项目划拨17.5万公顷土地（面积超过肯尼亚全国灌溉总面积），并计划将全国食糖产量从1700万吨提升至4200万吨。根据埃塞俄比亚政府的说法，未对土地进行最优利用的游牧族群，其被认定为“未充分利用”的土地已被重新规划为甘蔗种植园与工业用地——这些设施将年产价值6.617亿美元的食糖，同时产出替代能源：年产30.4万立方米乙醇以及607兆瓦电力。这一发展场景引发了诸多亟待解答的议题：现行发展模式的社会正义维度，及其对社会-生态韧性的影响。下述相互关联的研究问题将构成本研究对当前变革及其影响的探索框架：
1. 近期发展对该地区自然资源的时空可得性与获取途径造成了何种影响？（环境可持续性/退化）
2. 资源变迁如何影响该地区的冲突动态？（冲突与韧性）
3. 此类变革如何影响物质层面的平等/不平等关系？（财富与贫困/资源安全）

上述研究问题将由三个分别具备环境可持续性、冲突研究与贫困研究领域专长的工作组负责推进。本项目首先将开展跨学科与跨利益相关方的知识生成研究，其次将通过知识交流与综合的形式推进成果应用。研究设计的第一步将遵循利益相关方识别、范围界定与研究假设验证的循环流程；随后将进入密集的数据采集阶段，同时采用传统调查方法（问卷调查、焦点小组讨论）与参与式研究方法。尤为关键的是，本项目将采用参与式影像方法，以推动针对当前发展模式的对话——由于语言、地域与权力壁垒，此类对话此前极少能够开展。本项目将借此推动知识的共享、处理与利用，并探索如何针对不同利益相关方，将有关环境变革及其对贫困、和平与安全的影响的知识最优地融入决策流程。