Senior Researcher

Dr. Till Stellmacher
 
 
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Governing the Ethiopian Coffee forests: a local level institutional analysis in Kaffa and Bale mountains

The worldwide Coffea Arabica population originates from the mountainous rain forests of south-western Ethiopia. Today, there are still some primary forests containing various wild growing coffee populations, which constitute the last in-situ gene pool of Coffea Arabica.

The population living in or near these forests is facing a dilemma: on the one hand they traditionally utilize wild coffee by gathering berries directly from the shrubs, both for home consumption and for selling them on local markets. On the other hand – under demographic pressure - they need more land to farm, the source of which is mostly the nearby forest. Additional pressure on the forest is exerted by the immigration of allochthonous settlers.

The first objective of the research project is the analysis of the institutional factors that influence the utilization of wild Coffea Arabica and the destruction of its natural habitat, the primary rain forest. The second one is to assist in developing concepts for the in-situ protection and sustainable utilisation of wild Coffea Arabica and the primary forest. This includes practical recommendations for the protection of the forest, as well as a sustainable continuation of forest and semi-forest coffee utilisation systems. For this purpose, two pilot projects, the “Integrated Participatory Forest Management Project” by “Geo schützt den Regenwald e.V.” in Bonga Forest and a forest conservation programme in the Bale mountains conducted by GTZ will be assessed.

The central hypotheses of this work are:

Indigenous institutions comprise ethical rules or conventions that can determine a sustainable forest management of a group of people.
Exogenous institutions have impacts on the utilization of wild Coffea Arabica by the local population.
Ethnical heterogeneity exacerbates sustainable use of natural resources.
The existing forest management projects do provide a sustainable utilisation system of the primary forest and the wild Coffea Arabica population.
In order to conduct a detailed institutional analysis, I will clearly identify the relevant institutions, investigate them independently and recombine them into the overall framework where their interrelations can be analysed. Therefore, a methodological mix will be employed. It includes semi-structured interviews with key persons, e.g. village representatives, elders, coffee traders and decision makers in peasants’ associations, agricultural bureaus, regional forestry departments, national authorities and NGOs. These are complemented by Participatory Rural Appraisal techniques as well as by questionnaires.

The local level research will be conducted around Bonga and Boginda Yeba forest in Kafa-Sheka Zone of Southern Nation and Nationalities and Peoples Regional State (SNNPRS) and in the Bale mountains forests in Bale zone of Oromiya Regional State. Data collection on regional and national institutions takes place mainly in Jima and Addis Ababa.

Shaker Publishing, Aachen.

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Department ZEF A: Department of Political and Cultural Change
Research areas - Governance and Conflict
- Institutions and Strategic Groups
- Natural Resource Management
Research countries - Burkina Faso
- Ethiopia
- India
Degrees Master in Geography;
PhD in Agriculture at the Institute for Food and Resource Economics, Bonn
Professional experience Bread for the World; Church Development Service (EED)
Financially supported by Federal Ministry of Education and Reserach (BMBF); German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
Publications

Stellmacher, Till and U. Grote. 2011. Forest Coffee Certification in Ethiopia: Economic Boon or Ecological Bane?. ZEF Working Paper Series 76, ZEF, Bonn.

Stellmacher, T. and R. Nolten. 2010. Institutional change from below: conserving forest by strenthening community-initiated use rights? The case of Bale mountains coffee forests, Ethiopia. In: Eguavoen I. and W. Laube (eds.): Negotiating Local Governance. Natural Resources Management at the Interface of Communities and the State. Lit Publishing, Berlin,

Stellmacher, T., U. Grote and J. Volkmann. 2010. Protection of biodiversity through certification? Forest coffee in Kaffa and Bench Maji Zone, Ethiopia. In: TEEB - The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity for Local and Regional Policy Makers. United National Environment Programme, 170.

Wissel, S., A. Berghöfer, R. Jordan, S. Oldfield and T. Stellmacher. 2010. Certification and Labelling. In: TEEB - The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity for Local and Regional Policy Makers. United National Environment Programme, 161-171.

Grote, U. and T. Stellmacher. 2009. Coffee Certification in the International Trade. Aroma Coffee Magazine, 1/2009: 6-11.

Stellmacher, T. and P. Mollinga. 2009. The institutional spere of coffe forest management in Ethiopia. Local level findings from Koma forest in Kaffa zone. International Journal of Social Forestry, 2 (1): 43-66.

Stellmacher, T. 2008. Prospects and challenges of forest coffee certification in Ethiopia: the need to effectively link economic benefits to biodiversity conservation.
Further Information: web.fu-berlin.de/ffu/akumwelt/bc2008/papers/bc2008_9_Stellmacher.pdf

Stellmacher, T. 2008. Zertifizierung als Instrument zum Schutz von Biodiversität?. ZEF News No. 20. Special Issue on Biodiversity and Change, ZEF, Bonn.

Stellmacher, T. 2007. Das interventionistische Dilemma. Grundprobleme sozialwissenschaftlicher Feldforschung im ländlichen Afrika. In: Proceedings of the conference: Researching Africa, Bonn, 23-24 June 2007.

Stellmacher, T. 2007. The historical development of local forest governance in Ethiopia. From imperial times to the military regime of the derg. Afrika Spectrum, GIGA Institute of African Affairs, Hamburg, 42 (3): xx-xx.

Stellmacher, T. 2007. Governing the Ethiopian Coffee forests: a local level institutional analysis in Kaffa and Bale mountains. Shaker Publishing, Aachen,

Stellmacher, T. 2006. Informal Institutions on Local and Community Level: Property Rights Participatory Forest Management Project. University of Bonn, Germany,

Stellmacher, T. 2005. Institutional factors shaping coffee forest management in Ethiopia. The case of Bonga Forest/Kaffa Zone.
Further Information: www.coffee.uni-bonn.de/download/Stellmacher_2005_Institutional-Factors-shaping-Coffee-Forest-Managment-in-Ethiopia.pdf

 
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