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Community and Climate challenges  (October 7, 2021)
​In the following article, Deborah Henderson, Director of the Institute for Sustainable Horticulture, Kwantlen Polytechnic University (Canada) describes how 'Trees for Life' project is diversifying and addressing challenging resource for youth and women in West Arsi District, Oromia, Ethiopia during a time of Covid19 and climate change.
More than 88% of the population of Ethiopia is multidimensional poor (UNDP 2018) and poverty is primarily a rural phenomenon. Oromia state has suffered from a relatively low level of development in a country with many competing priorities. A complicating factor in the area for this project (Kofele District of West Arsi) is that the historically pastoral population was “settled” during the latter part of the last century. They now grow annual crops in addition to managing herds on small parcels of land without traditional land-based agricultural knowledge.

Climate change is hitting this region hard. In 2021 the “short rains” failed resulting in drought. This was followed by a delayed but more intense “long rain” season, which is currently causing a second significant crop loss for this year. Family food security is becoming a crisis. The Covid19 pandemic in addition to a cyclic epidemic of measles and a recent election have added to the challenges for this population. As early as 2010, OXFAM acknowledged that agro-pastoralist women were disproportionately affected by climate change, prompting recommendations that they receive more support in terms of market linkages, livestock health and access to food and water.

Oromo agro-pastoralist women in this region suffer often from education inequality and fewer opportunities to earn money. Families traditionally prefer to send boys to school while girls are assigned household chores, often out of fear of abduction when allowing girls to walk to distant schools. Families preferentially teach their sons how to generate income which further limits life options for daughters. A woman who has learned how to generate even a small amount of income for her family however, gains in social and economic status. Most such opportunities for women revolve around micro-businesses: a woman with chickens can sell eggs, a woman with extra home garden produce can sell it. The intergenerational benefit of an economically independent mother is to encourage and normalize economic independence for girls. These daughters have more choices in life than girls without such role models. 'Trees for Life' is helping teach youth and young women how to have nursery tree skills and how to earn independent income.

Indeed one of the goals of this project has been to provide opportunities for women and youth in settled agro-pastoral communities to make gains in economic independence, improve family food security and be role models for wider women's engagement in economic diversification. 'Trees for Life' extends on the tradition of Gada culture which gives women an equal role to men and in which women hold the honour of keeping traditional customs. One of these customs is Woli dabarsaa; the sharing of a gift.  Strengthening Gada cultural traditions in this project and in future developments will continue to have other benefits for participating community members; empowerment through choices in training, access to necessary supports to strengthen their family food security and economic independence, and opportunities to provide leadership to their communities. The gift of news skills and intergenerational knowledge is a wondrous part of Gada.

Since ROBA grew out of a vision of community Elders for a model of working collaboratively to benefit the population - it has grown over twenty years to have more than 5000 local members. ROBA has been during this time able to support many aspects of community development from campaigning and overseeing the delivery of medical clinics, schools, and milk and grain milling coops, all of which continue to be used to today.

It has been a pleasure to support 'Trees for Life' through sharing our horticultural research knowledge and development skills at the Institute of Sustainable Horticulture with ROBA and by extension to be act as a small component of the larger the ongoing aspects of Gada cultural traditions between ROBA and agro-pastoral communities.
About Dr Deborah Henderson
Deborah Henderson has been the Director of the Institute for Sustainable Horticulture since 2005 and LEEF Regional Innovation Chair since 2009 at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. She received her PhD from University of British Columbia in 1982, and established E.S. Cropconsult Ltd. in 1989 to offer IPM and research services to both conventional and organic agriculture in the Fraser Valley. Deborah developed an active research program in biological and non-chemical management strategies for pests and diseases to advance agriculture and landscapes towards ecologically sound alternatives. Her research at Institute for Sustainable Horticulture develops microbial biocontrols and environmentally sound bioproducts in partnership with agricultural industry partners. Her goal is to put more biocontrol option in the hands of growers. The Institute has both research capacity and production capacity for beneficial fungi and insect viruses and over the next few years, is developing this capacity to become an incubator for new bio-pesticides.

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About Institute for Sustainable Horticulture (ISH) | Kwantlen Polytechnic University, CanadaKwantlen's Institute for Sustainable Horticulture (ISH) was created in 2004 to be a partnership of academia with horticultural industries and the community to support demands for a higher level of sustainability and environmental responsibility from horticulture, silviculture, forestry, and urban landscapes. ISH understands "sustainable horticulture" as a system built on the pillars of environment, economy and culture: a system in which:
  • Resources are kept in balance through conservation, recycling and or renewal
  • Practices preserve horticultural resources and prevent environmental degradation to the site of use as well as off-site land
  • Production, profits and incentives remain at acceptable levels
  • Community is an integral part of the system
RESOURCES

Institute for Sustainable Horticulture
https://www.kpu.ca/ish/about
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To learn more about agropastoralists the following article in the World Environmental Library gives an overview to this specialized farming system.  
Who’s behind the project?
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​Trees for Life project has been supported by the British Council’s Creative Commissions 2021 programme.
This was a series of creative commissions exploring climate change through art, science and digital technology for presentation at COP26.
Trees for Life continues (2021 - present) as an active artists-community collaboration and illustrates that land rehabilitation doesn’t need to be expensive. We understand the benefit of trees to the land and that people can assist in creating better soils and future-proofing sites from climate issues by planting trees.

Trees for Life also highlights that sustainability is dependent on the motivation and generosity of citizens, communities, artists, and scientists working together to redefine the challenges of climate change and to foster the next generation with the idea that we can make an impact through climate art and other creative approaches.

Tree Circles and Trees for Life project are co-led by climate design and media artists, Sylvia Grace Borda (Canada) and J.Keith Donnelly (UK) together with partners Ethiopia (ROBA – Rural Organisation for the Betterment of Agro-Pastoralists ) in the UK (Dundee UNESCO City of Design, Dundee City Council, Scotland),  and Canada (Institute for Sustainable Horticulture, Kwantlen Polytechnic University) to creatively respond to global issues of climate change.  ​