Assessment of the Effects of Invasive Alien Species on Pastoralist’s Communities Livelihood and Coping Mechanism in Yabello Woreda Borena Zone of Oromia Region, Southern Ethiopia

Abstract

The existence of invasive alien species (IAS) puts substantial pressures to ecosystems in global scale. As a result, coping mechanisms to halt the effects of invasive alien species has been the major strategy in resource poor country recently. Therefore, the overall objective of this study was to assess the effects of Invasive alien species on pastoralist’s community’s livelihood and coping mechanism in Yabello Woreda Borena Zone of Oromia Region, Southern Ethiopia. Yabello woreda were selected purposively for this particular study due to the woredas accessibility for transportation. A total of 141 households were involved in the household survey. In addition focus group discussion and key informant interview were carried out. Moreover, Statistical package for social sciences (SPSS v.22) was employed for collected data analysis. Besides, qualitative data was analyzed by narratively. The result of this study revealed that most respondents, about 85% perceive that there is an adverse effect of invasive alien plants, while 15% of respondents perceived that there is no an adverse effect or they did not know about the nature of plants. Most of the interviewed pastoralist households stated that Invasive alien species are non-native organisms that can put pressure on ecosystems, biodiversity, and human livelihoods substantially. On the contrary, some pastoralist in the area believed that the species has certain beneficial roles. The adverse effects of invasive alien species (IAS) are apparent in pastoral community in Borena Zone in many circumstances. Around 87.2% of the respondents anonymously stated that, the species are threatening the rangeland sources. Likewise, 58.86% of pastoralist household assured that the IAS has devastating effect on conservation of biodiversity resources. Furthermore, the other remained respondents (56.7 and 30.5%) assured that the species has devastating effect on the human livelihoods and agricultural production respectively. The coping mechanisms against invasion of this particular species were Biological, Chemical and Mechanical. Among them, mechanical measures including removing flowers, burning weeds are most relevant ways due to its effectiveness and easily accessibility. The study concludes that policies that prioritize interventions to overcome the effects of invasive alien species should be established in the context of the area.