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Abdulaziz Dino Gidreta
HOARCM18, the newly trained natural resource management expert says, “What we do
is giving advice. I had deliberately gone to talk to some target community members,
mostly females. There are, in fact, some people who seem to lose any other option. I have
two such cases. There is, for example, one mother who raises several children without a
father” (23/04/11).
HOARCM18 (23/04/11) insists that there is deforestation especially for charcoal by which
many people and the livestock lose their legs. Previously, many wild animals used to
show up. But now that visibility has become little more than seldom. “Even honey bees
failed to survive”, he adds. As the following comments underline, most of the community
members are giving up the practice no matter how they have been practicing this illegal
charcoal production for survival.
Many members of the community practice this illegal charcoal production just for
a current survival. I personally had to abandon this because I was repeatedly in-
formed about its negative impact, especially on uterus. I think several others also
need this awareness as soon as possible (HOARCM36, 26/04/11).
Currently, the people are aware. It seems that they ceased charcoal production
mainly due to its harms themselves (HOARCM44, 27/04/11).
Certainly, forests remain homes and sources of food for the wildlife; and so, the wildlife
is the immediate and permanent victim of deforestation. There had been regular hunting
all over the forests in the so-called Mena area of the neighborhoods. After warnings and
some awareness efforts, the people seem to lessen the frequency of hunting.
We used to hunt, but now we ceased to do that (HOARCM15, 26/04/11).
Rural Road Constraints and Collective Impacts on the Grassroots
Infrastructural diversification has been always valued in facilitating all forms of social
and economic developments. In this regard, telecommunication, transportation services,
schools, health centers, electricity and clean water remain aspects of unquestionable
essence. And almost all of these entities have strong relationships and impacts on one
another. Noticeably, the establishment of one has a facilitating role for the establishment
of the other.
Rural road, in particular, has enormous impact for the establishment of other infrastruc-
tures. It is only through long lasting roads that other service sectors such as telecommu-
nication and electricity can be well accessed. Above all, a rural road is what local and for-
eign investors can be attracted by. Obviously, investors prefer to invest on places where
there is favorable transportation service and/or at least a medium-level road. Primarily,
they need it to scan the socio-economic and geographical environments. Most impor-
tantly, they need it to catalyze the productivity of their investment by timely transportation
of yields to further rural, urban and foreign markets.
